Author: Mike Dunn
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The Mountain
Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among Read more…
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Busy Bluebirds
The bluebird is one of the most familiar tenants of the farm and dooryard. For rent the bird pays amply by destroying insects, and takes no toll from the farms crop. ~USDA Farmers Bulletin #513, 1913 I mentioned in an earlier post that I am trying to provide some video clips of what birds are Read more…
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Moth Royalty
In the jungle, during one night in each month, the moths did not come to the lanterns; through the black reaches of the outer night, so it was said, they flew toward the full moon. ~ Peter Matthiessen Lucky for me, that wasn’t the case this past weekend, even though an almost full moon shone Read more…
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Night Watch
The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one… ~Francis William Bourdillon Night time, a special time to be outside. I remember giving night programs as a District Naturalist for NC State Parks and how it seemed my audience was always a bit more attentive at night than during similar day hikes. I Read more…
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Mountain Mothing
It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning. ~ Vincent van Gogh If Van Gogh is correct, then I am ripe and have found deeper meaning, at least as far as mothing is concerned. On the final night of National Moth Week, 2015, I set Read more…
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Summer Peep
What we see is mainly what we look for. ~Anonymous One morning when I walked out the front door I noticed a surprise visitor clinging to the edge of the tadpole-rearing container I have on the porch. It was an adult Spring Peeper, Pseudacris crucifer. As I reported on earlier this year, Spring Peepers were Read more…
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Mothing
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ~Vincent Van Gogh This week is National Moth Week, an annual celebration of the incredibly diverse and beautiful world of moths. Wednesday was a busy day out in the yard, testing some different diffusion materials for my twin lites Read more…
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Jaws with Wings
What on earth is this thing? It’s huge! It has gigantic wings! It has massive… ANTLERS coming off its face! Has someone had a nightmare that’s come to life or what? ~Joseph Jameson-Gould on dobsonflies from his blog, Real Monstrosities On my daily wander in the yard yesterday, I happened to look up at the Read more…
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Pollinator Peril
In summer the empire of insects spreads. ~Adam Zagajewski Last week I noticed a medium-sized robber fly noisily flitting about the garden. It landed on a cedar twig on the garden fence and I leaned in for a closer look. It was distinctive in the bright white patch near the tail tip, something I noticed Read more…
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Here’s Looking at You
An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language. ~Martin Buber I went out the other day to grab one of the hummingbird feeders for a refill and a slight movement caught my eye. It was a bizarre-looking jumping spider on the metal bracket that held the feeder. What struck me about this Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 