Author: Mike Dunn
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We Need Places Like Yellowstone
Contemplating the flow of life and change through living things, we make new discoveries about ourselves. ~Ansel Adams I just returned from another wonderful trip to Yellowstone National Park. It is still beautiful, still magical, still a place you must reckon with and not take lightly. It is as it should be, wild. At times,… Read more…
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Mountain Birding
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple… Read more…
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Yellow Fellows
In his plumes dwells the gold of the sun, in his voice its brightness and good cheer. We have not to seek him in the depths of the forest, the haunt of nearly all his congeners, he comes to us and makes his home near ours. ~Frank M. Chapman, 1907 The most common warbler we… Read more…
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Walking with Warblers
From those tall hemlocks proceeds a very fine insect-like warble, and occasionally I see a spray tremble, or catch the flit of a wing. I watch and watch till my head grows dizzy and my neck is in danger of permanent displacement, and still do not get a good view. ~John Burroughs, on trying to… Read more…
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Frog Wars
The voice of the bullfrog, who calls, according to the boys, “jug-o’-rum, jug-o’-rum, pull the plug, pull the plug”… John Burroughs, 1905 On our birding trip to Ohio last week, I confirmed that I can still hear many of the warbler songs, but only if they are really close. But there is a “song” that… Read more…
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Red River Gorge
The most beautiful gift of Nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see. ~Albert Einstein We just returned from a whirlwind trip that included stops to see my parents, two areas in Kentucky, and some birding in Ohio. We camped one night in Cumberland Gap National… Read more…
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Persistent Pileated
He seldom gave more than three or four pecks at a time, and would then swing his head round to one side or the other, sometimes raising his scarlet crest. ~O. M. Bryens, on watching a pileated woodpecker feeding Spent a few days at my folk’s place in Damascus this week, enjoying the beautiful mountain… Read more…
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Suet Sightings
I think the most important quality in a birdwatcher is a willingness to stand quietly and see what comes. ~Lynn Thomson This past week must have been the peak of spring migration in our woods. Every time I looked out, I saw something of interest, either just passing through among the branches, or stopping by… Read more…
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Observing and Journaling in the Wilds of Eastern NC
One who reviews pleasant experiences and puts them on record increases the value of them to himself; he gathers up his own feelings and reflections, and is thereby better able to understand and to measure the fullness of what he has enjoyed. ~Sir Edward Grey I often get comments like this when I post a… Read more…
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Pungo Spring
That is one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs. ― L.M. Montgomery As luck would have it, I spent a few afternoons at the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge the last week or so of April. I wish I lived closer, so I could make more… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 