Author: Mike Dunn
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Let the Blooms Begin
The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size. ~Gertrude S. Wister Spring is a wonderful season for so many reasons, not the least of which is the explosion of wildflowers that spreads across our state beginning in February and lasting through May. One… Read more…
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A Mirror in the Woods
Spring comes earliest to the bottoms of stagnant pools – there no cool winds blow – no hoar frosts penetrate – but they grow protected as under a glass. There are fewer disturbing influences to rob them of the full advantage of the sun’s increased altitude. ~Henry David Thoreau Conservation groups, in partnership with Partners… Read more…
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On Silent Wings
All nature is a new impression every instant. ~Henry David Thoreau While out working in the yard yesterday I saw one of the early signs of a woodland spring, the first Falcate Orangetip butterfly. These dainty white butterflies flit through the woods for only a few weeks each year searching for mates and plants in… Read more…
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Window Treatment
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. ~Langston Hughes Several times this winter I have heard that familiar thud that means a winged beauty has collided with my window. A quick glance shows the track left behind by such a collision – a few feathers… Read more…
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Beware the Ice of March
Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. ~Robert Frost I went out before dawn this morning to get some firewood and skidded on a thin sheet of ice that had formed overnight on the deck. The dreaded freezing rain had bent over the shrubs near the deck as the thermometer… Read more…
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March Madness
The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke About two weeks ago, I blogged about what I thought would be my last snow of the season. The day I posted that topic, it snowed… Read more…
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Signs
A track is a window to the past of an animal. Look at the ground as if it were a manuscript of the animal’s life. ~Tom Brown I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday and walked down the power line to a beautiful tract of woods I like to visit. It is a fairly… Read more…
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The Last Snow?
What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. ~John Steinbeck Over the weekend I made a quick trip to my parents’ home in southwest Virginia . Like many regions in the East, their area has had a long cold winter. But, I am one of those strange… Read more…
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Reserved Parking
Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight how to get from shore to food and back again. ~Richard Bach Ring-billed Gulls are very adaptable creatures. They are a common inhabitant of our inland reservoirs in winter where they often fly out each day to forage in landfills or other… Read more…
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A Chip on My Shoulder
I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. Henry David Thoreau Sparrows….seems like people either love them or hate them.… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 