Speaker: John Carson

This presentation will describe a group trip to Reelfoot Lake in Northwestern Tennessee. Reelfoot Lake is a unique geologic feature formed when the area surrounding the Reelfoot River sank during the series of earthquakes that occurred near New Madrid Missouri in the early 1800s. This caused the Mississippi River to flow into the Reelfoot river – devouring the Reelfoot River and leaving a lake 20 miles long and seven miles wide-the largest natural lake in Tennessee. A unique ecosystem, the lakes average depth is only 5 ½ feet [maximum 18 feet] and it has many stands of bald cypress trees growing in the lake. It is regionally renowned for fishing, waterfowl and its large population of Bald Eagles.

Our trip was planned to coincide with the April 8th solar eclipse. Since Reelfoot Lake was just outside the zone of totality we took the Dorena-Hickman Ferry across the Mississippi on the morning of the 8th to watch the eclipse at Big Oak Tree State Park in Southeastern Missouri. Conditions were perfect, and a number of stunning photographs were obtained.

In this presentation you will learn about a unique area of the country with a unique history as well as some of the birds we observed during our travels. There are some nice photographs that will be shared.

This program will be presented by John Carson, and will be his first presentation about any topic outside of his career as a clinical pharmacist at St. Peter’s Hospital [now retired]. I am 69 years old, originally from Brooklyn [before it was cool] and have lived in the Capital Region since 1986.

Much of the photography was done by Laurie Keefe. Laurie has been a member of the HMBC for 3 years and a member of the board for a year and a half. She started birding and taking photos during the pandemic.