Author: Mike Dunn
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Red-belly
Red-belly ~A poem by Melissa Dowland, images by Mike Dunn Down in my woods grows a graceful old oak With a stout trunk and a crown of branches, Splitting like feathers, reaching for the sky. It has stood, thus, for centuries. Nearby, a smaller maple. Its crown lost in an ice storm, A few broken… Read more…
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Merlin Magic
…we will not care about what we do not recognize. ~Tim Beatley I have spent a lifetime trying to learn about the world around me. Not about the financial sector, or cars, or electricity (all of these, I now realize, might actually have come in handy), but about the natural world, the plants and animals… Read more…
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Memories Of The Snow that Wasn’t, But Still Is
Snow has made everything earthly clear and quiet. My mind is simple and patient. – Tuomas Anhava, Finnish writer The predicted big storm fizzled once again. We certainly live in a region in which weather forecasters are challenged to get it right when it comes to predicting snowfall. Of the predicted 5 to 6 inches,… Read more…
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Refuge Renewal
In such surroundings – occasional as our visits may be – we can achieve that kind of physical and spiritual renewal that comes alone from the wonder of the natural world. ~Laurence Rockefeller It is the season of renewal for me, the season of experiencing some of the wild spectacles of this place I call… Read more…
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Standing with Swans
Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way. ~John Muir I’ll just say it…I love being around the swans at Pungo. There is something magical about these birds and every winter I find myself drawn to them and wanting to… Read more…
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Now, More Than Ever
A poem for the new year, accompanied by a short video clip of a sunrise with tundra swans at the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last week. May we all find peace in the coming year. The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me… Read more…
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Christmas Bird Count
It’s never been easier to be a citizen scientist and it’s never been more important to be one. ~David Yarnold, President and CEO, National Audubon Society Earlier this week, we participated in one of my favorite holiday traditions, the annual Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count at Pettigrew State Park. I helped start this particular count… Read more…
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Christmas Week Birds
To be standing together in a frosty field, looking up into the sky, marveling at birds and reveling in the natural world around us, was a simple miracle. And I wondered why we were so rarely able to appreciate it. ~Lynn Thomson While visiting Melissa’s family in Richmond, I often take walks around a section… Read more…
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Follow the Nuthatch
Another of Melissa’s poems about birds (and one of the few rhyming ones she has written)… Follow the Nuthatch by Melissa Dowland When searching for a bird of prey On a fall or winter’s day Never trust the noisy titmice Only the nuthatch will suffice. The titmouse is a busy soul Forever making a dreadful… Read more…
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Red-shoulders
The sparrow flying behind the hawk thinks the hawk is fleeing. ~Japanese proverb Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to work with my friend, Mary, to provide an introductory bird photography class at the NC Botanical Garden (NCBG) in Chapel Hill. It was next to the last in a series of programs that were part… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 