Author: Mike Dunn
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Color Me Cryptic
Theories pass. The frog remains. ~Jean Rostand, French biologist and philosopher While walking down by the intermittent stream in the woods this week, I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned, but didn’t see anything at first. When I stepped in the direction of the flash, it happened… Read more…
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The Procession
Come with me into the woods where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible. ~Mary Oliver I have been busy these past couple of weeks, busier than I like, especially for this time of year. It is the time… Read more…
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Swan Song
The Earth has music for those who listen ~George Santayana Over the years, I have been privileged to lead thousands of people to some incredible natural areas in our state and beyond. We often take time to reflect on our experiences and I have seen and heard some wonderful stories about how a place or… Read more…
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Yellowstone in June!
I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful — an endless prospect of magic and wonder. ~Ansel Adams Join me, June 2-9, 2016, for an unforgettable experience in an incomprehensibly beautiful place – the world’s first national park, Yellowstone! This year marks 100 years since the creation of the National Park Service, and there is no… Read more…
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Meandering at Mattamuskeet
By thus coordinating the management of the refuge with the natural cycles of plant and animal life, the Fish and Wildlife Service has developed Mattamuskeet to the point where it now supports much larger flocks of waterfowl than came to this refuge in former years. ~Rachel Carson, on a discussion of managing the lake for… Read more…
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Following the Nuthatch
I recently had a discussion with someone about sitting quietly in nature and just observing your surroundings as a way to relax, increase your observation skills, and just get in tune with a natural place. It reminded me of a project I had heard about several years ago called The Sit Spot. There are various… Read more…
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Bitternsweet Memories
Life wants you to have gratitude for the gift of living. Treasure every second. ~ Bryant McGill The season is about over. It is hard to believe I just finished what is probably my last tour for this winter season at Mattamuskeet and Pocosin Lakes. But, if it is to be the last, at least… Read more…
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Arrows of the Sea
Over the unlucky school of fish is a bewildering maze of soaring, circling birds, pouring down out of the sky in rapid succession, plunging into the water like so many projectiles and sending columns of water and spray many feet into the air like the spouting of a school of whales. ~Arthur Cleveland Bent, 1922,… Read more…
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Pelagic Birding
You may know the true observer, not by the big things he sees, but by the little things; and then not by the things he sees with effort and premeditation, but by his effortless, unpremeditated seeing—the quick, spontaneous action of his mind in the presence of natural objects. John Burroughs, 1905 I had the good… Read more…
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Grass with Eyes
He prefers solitude, and leads the eccentric life of a recluse, “forgetting the world, and by the world forgot.” To see him at his ordinary occupation, one might fancy him shouldering some heavy responsibility, oppressed with a secret, or laboring in the solution of a problem of vital consequence. He stands motionless, with his head… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 