Whitetail deer near Appalachian Trail, North Carolina (#WF0017)


        Your chances of capturing great wildlife images will improve if you know what wildlife biologists know: the most biologically productive places within the natural world are often transitional zones between ecological communities.  For example, wildlife biologists speak in terms of "edge" - where woodland meets meadow.  It is here where greater plant diversity exists and, therefore, greater opportunities for food.  The meadow can provide grasses and other forage, while within the nearby woodland  there is shelter and hiding places.  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park consists of half a million acres of forested mountains.  Yet, more than eighty percent of the whitetail deer live within the few thousand acres of Cades Cove and Cataloochee Valley - the two places within the park where meadows are maintained through mowing.


Click on the links below for information on the following:

About the Photographer

© Berkshire Wild Publications & David Gafney 2004

Return to Gallery Home Page