Der Oe et rUN DUNG aU Lele Lala, a 
A Week in the Great Smokies 
By Dr. ALFRED LEWY 
THROUGH THE COURTESY of Mr. Victor Cahalane, Chief Biologist, National 
Park Service, Department of the Interior, and the kind and cooperative 
help of Mr. Arthur Stupka, the Park Naturalist, I was enabled to get 
somewhat acquainted with the bird population of the Great Smoky 
Mountains National Park during the first week of May, 1945. There was 
considerable precipitation nearly every day, which at the higher mountain 
levels meant snow and fog, so that the bird list of that area is very scant. 
Not once did I see the Carolina junco, which should be common at the 
higher levels, and the snow and mud made a trip to the breeding grounds 
of the duck hawk rather precarious going, and it was not undertaken. 
COURTESY OF NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 
Motorists in Great Smoky Mountains National Park usually pause at 
Newfound Gap (elevation 5,045 feet) to enjoy the fine view. 
But the “bad”? weather had its compensations. On May 4, with cold 
rain and fog off and on all day, we went over Newfound Gap to Oconoluftee 
Ranger Station, where Mr. Stupka was arranging a museum exhibit. As 
we approached the frost line at about 3600 feet elevation the fog lifted 
and we were treated to a most magnificent panorama. Below, spread over 
miles of beautiful mountainside, were the myriad shades of green that 
springtime brings to the abundant flora of this region, splashed with large 
areas of mountain laurel in full bloom, with occasional magnolias and other 
flowering trees; above the frost line, clearly demarcated across the broad 
sweep of the landscape, the darker green hemlocks, etched in filagreed 
