Author: Mike Dunn
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Back in Paradise
A quick post from my favorite place. Arrived yesterday in Yellowstone. Surprisingly hot for this time of year here… 87° in Bozeman. But, the park continues to amaze. Relatively little wildlife on my way in yesterday save for the usual bear jams near Roosevelt. But then late in the day… two wolves in Lamar… Read more…
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Lethal Beauty
The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, incredibly magnificent world in itself. – Henry Miller Something caught my eye yesterday as I walked toward the house along the stone steps. It was on the tip of a leaf of one of the wildflowers yet… Read more…
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A Fiery Combination
Nature feeds her children chiefly with color. ~Henry David Thoreau My wildflower garden is between seasons right now, so color is hard to come by. The whites, light blues, and pinkish-reds of spring’s onslaught of ephemerals and early bloomers has passed, and the bright yellows, oranges, and kaleidoscope of colors of summer flowers has not… Read more…
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The Struggles of Forest Birds
How completely the life of a bird revolves about its nest, its home! In the case of the wood thrush, its life and joy seem to mount higher and higher as the nest prospers. ~John Burroughs, essay on Wood Thrush, 1871 On a walk in the woods last week, I spotted a small bird that… Read more…
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Roaming the River of Life
A river is the most human and companionable of all inanimate things. It has a life, a character, a voice of its own, and is as full of good fellowship as a sugar maple is of sap. It can talk in various tones, loud or low, and of many subjects grave and gay…For real company… Read more…
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Bristly Night Crawler
Be not preoccupied with looking. Go not to the object; let it come to you. ~Henry David Thoreau The other night, the object of interest and I met on the walkway, me barely avoiding stepping on it as I carried in some stuff from my car after dark. Luckily, the light of the walkway lights… Read more…
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The Bobbing Rock
You only need to sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns. ~Henry David Thoreau In my last post I mentioned the incredible bird life at Elk Knob State Park seen in a recent backpacking trip. The gurgling stream next to… Read more…
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A New Favorite
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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Destination Damascus
The longer I live the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world… I have loved the feel of the grass under my feet, and the sound of the running streams by my side. The hum of the wind in the treetops has always been good music to me… ~John… Read more…
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Meals on Wings
They are a peculiarly honest and sociable little bird…they are considerable company for the wood chopper. ~Henry David Thoreau on chickadees Of course, Thoreau was speaking of Black-capped Chickadees, found throughout much of the northern half of the United States and down into the Carolinas in the higher elevation mountains. This week I have been… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 