Author: Mike Dunn
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Night Songs
Frogs are the birds of the night. ~Henry David Thoreau I think I may have used this quote before, but it is just perfect for my experience last night. It just so happens, I do like college basketball, but when I discovered I would not be able to watch the UNC game on TV (my Read more…
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Uncovered
I wake expectant, hoping to see a new thing. ~ Annie Dillard One of the pleasures of retirement is having the time to do things, to see things, and to take advantage of the situation when the unexpected occurs. The other day I was working on a project in the yard and was using a Read more…
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The Sound of Spring
…on the first warm night I stepped out to the back porch and heard in the distance a wonderfully high, thin sound, as clear as the first stars over the bare black trees. ~Kathleen Kilgore They have been calling off and on for awhile now. That distinctive, high-pitched, clear call that means the end of Read more…
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Opening Acts – Flowers
Every spring is the only spring – a perpetual astonishment. ~Ellis Peters The astonishment starts slowly, almost imperceptibly. The temperatures in this part of the world tease, and then take away the warmth, only to bring it back in a day or two. But the woods are more predictable than the thermometer. One of the Read more…
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Opening Acts – Leaves
If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow This past weekend, a few of us took a stroll on Read more…
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Caught in the Act
If they aren’t the cutest critters and the perfect poster-child for vernal pool protection, I just don’t know what is! ~David Markowitz describing Spotted Salamanders A friend and fellow naturalist came by this weekend and we went out Saturday night to have a look at the small pool out in the front yard. It is Read more…
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Happy Birthday
Wherever you meet this sign [National Wildlife Refuge sign], respect it. It means that the land behind the sign has been dedicated by the American people to preserving, for themselves and their children, as much of our native wildlife as can be retained along with our modern civilization. Wild creatures, like men, must have a Read more…
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Red Sky in Morning
A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves. ~ Marcel Proust It lasted only a few minutes…starting as a flame of orange in the East, then spreading and growing in intensity to become a contrasting backdrop to the black lines of the trees. Within 15 minutes, it started to fade. Read more…
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Spring Forward
The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size. ~Gertrude S. Wister The change in our clocks this past weekend is one of the ways most of us know that spring is on the way in spite of the cold the past few weeks. Read more…
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Nature in the ‘Hood
There is something that can be found in one place. It is a great treasure which may be called the fulfillment of existence. The place where this treasure can be found is the place where one stands. ~Martin Buber Indeed, there are beauties all around us, so it really doesn’t matter where you stand, or Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 