Author: Mike Dunn
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Seeing the Wild in Wild Cherry
The most beautiful gift of Nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see. ~Albert Einstein There is a wild cherry (Prunus serotina) sapling just outside our screen porch that is a favorite spot for all sorts of natural events. Wild cherry is a great host plant… Read more…
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Kayaking in Columbia
I seemed to have reached a new world, so wild a place…far away from human society. ~Henry David Thoreau, on swamps Columbia, North Carolina, that is. We spent several days in this beautiful little town last week, part vacation, part getting out to see some of the region for the trails project I am working… Read more…
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A Beary Hot Summer Day
The month of August had turned into a griddle where days just lay there and sizzled. ~Sue Monk Kidd Last week, we spent 5 days in the wilds of eastern NC, a combination mini-vacation and working trip to further investigate the area around the Scuppernong River for the project I am working on with NCLOW.… Read more…
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The Difference a Week Makes
Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. ~Henry David Thoreau Last week I shared some images of the some of the little things that are so fascinating in a big landscape like Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife… Read more…
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The Little Things
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. ~Robert Brault I just returned from two hot days down at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. I am looking at some interpretive possibilities for the region as part of the NCLOW project to enhance ecotourism potential in… Read more…
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A Day in the Field
A rainy day in the field is better than a sunny day in the office. ~Anonymous Well, it didn’t rain, it was sunny, and I no longer have an office….but, it was a good day, in spite of the heat. I am working on a trails enhancement project with NCLOW on the Scuppernong region of… Read more…
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Stormy Night
It was a dark and stormy night, the rain fell in torrents… ~Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1830 And indeed it was…last night. We barely beat a fierce thunderstorm as we drove back from dinner with friends in Chapel Hill. The sky was flashing with rapid-fire lightning when we arrived at our gate. I must have done something… Read more…
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Summer Cats
Nature will not be admired by proxy. ~Winston Churchill Seems as though my schedule (and the heat) have kept me from some of my usual yard patrols, so I finally went out the other day for a walk-about to see what I could see. It started with my eye catching something out of place on… Read more…
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That Time of Year Again – Bees Beware
To every thing there is a season… ~Ecclesiastes On several of my wanderings these past few days, I have heard noticeable buzzing sounds that indicate an acceleration and flyby of a large winged insect. I recognize these sounds to be from a fascinating group, the robber flies, family Asilidae. I remembered posting about them last… Read more…
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Mini-frogs
The frog forgets that he was once a tadpole. ~Anonymous It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I must apologize as I have been a blog-slacker I’m afraid. Lots of chores, plus the hot and humid weather has kept me inside more than usual. It turns out, unlike me, there are some things that… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 