Photo Essay: Up Close With Creatures

A curious elk investigates the Lake Junaluska Overlook sign on Heintooga Ridge Road, a spur adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Cherokee, North Carolina.

A great egret catches a meal along the banks of Cherokee Lake in Rogersville, Tennessee after patiently waiting and without moving.

With still-growing velvet-covered antlers, this whitetail pauses for a moment on a foggy morning in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This image took several steps and patience, according to the photographer. She had planted the crocosmia, also known as Lucifer’s tongue, in her flower garden in Banner Elk, North Carolina, and then, during the plant’s bloom, sat for about two hours to end up with this capture.

A spring black bear cub looks up at its life-sustaining protector with all the love any offspring could ever have for its mother.

A juvenile eastern newt crawls along springtime green leaves at Laurel Run Park in Church Hill, Tennessee. With age, the newt’s orange color will turn to dark green.

An eastern cottontail appears to pose for the camera in Washington County, Tennessee.

A chipmunk stops to raid a birdfeeder in Washington County, Tennessee.

These two wild turkeys were photographed near Milepost 316 of the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Linville Falls Visitor Center.

The Roosevelt elk have made an amazing comeback in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They frequently wade into the creeks to cool themselves and drink their fill of water. This mature bull was photographed close to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Milepost 469 on the outskirts of Cherokee, North Carolina.

A male wood duck shows off his beautiful colors on Watauga River in Carter County, Tennessee.

This bluebird image was captured at Valle Crucis Park, North Carolina. He and his mate were near their nest box and flew into the weeping cherry together, where he paused on one of the branches as if posing for the photographer’s camera.

A wild bobcat pauses for a brief moment along the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Devil’s Courthouse in western North Carolina before making his way down the mountain.

This scarlet tanager was on a branch in Linville, North Carolina, just below Grandfather Mountain, where the photographer finds them every year, flitting from tree to tree and thus difficult to capture with a camera.