Author: Mike Dunn
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This Refuge “Merritts” a Visit
High on my list of places to visit on my trip to Florida was Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center. The refuge is huge, over 140,000 acres, consisting of a variety of habitats – coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks. Winter brings Read more…
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In the Blink of an Eye
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds. ~Aesop The eyes of birds are magical, so intense, so bright, so focused. One of the great things about my trip to Florida was being able to be close to a variety of birds, close enough to appreciate and capture their beauty, and close enough Read more…
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HUNTINGton Lives Up to Its Name
My first stop on my trip south was to one of my favorite photography destinations, Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. There always seems to be something to photograph there, especially along the causeway that separates the salt marsh from the freshwater pond. Two great habitats adjacent to one another provide plenty of opportunities Read more…
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In a Fog
In nature, everything has a job. The job of the fog is to beautify further the existing beauties! ~Mehmet Murat ildan I just got back from a whirlwind trip south to the so-called Space Coast area of Florida. I have always wanted to visit Florida in winter to see the bird life and now finally Read more…
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Trip Report Part 2: Mattamuskeet and Pocosin Lakes
I just returned from the second recent guided trip to these incredible wildlife refuges. My client was particularly interested in bird photography, so that was high on the agenda. But he made a point of saying he was open to anything, since he was fully aware of the vagaries of wildlife photography – sometimes wildlife Read more…
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Trip Report, Part 1: Pocosin Lakes-Mattamuskeet
I am in the middle of leading two trips to my favorite places in NC – Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges. This is a brief visual report on the first. Last week, I had four great folks from the Raleigh area join me for a wildlife viewing trip. We started at Pocosin Lakes Read more…
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The Black and White of Pungo
To see in color is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul. ~Andri Cauldwell Last Wednesday, I headed to the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge to scout the area for an outing later that week. I’ll report on the outing in Read more…
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More than Just Blue
When Nature made the bluebird she wished to propitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color of the one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast…He is the peace-harbinger; in him the celestial and terrestrial strike hands and are fast friends. ~John Burroughs, The Bluebird, Read more…
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Light Geese
The Snow Goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself. ~Lao Tzu On one of my first Christmas Bird Counts over 25 years ago, at what was then Pungo National Wildlife Refuge (now the expanded Pocosin Lakes NWR), I ran into a well-known birder who was scoping Read more…
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White Sands
The silence of nature is very real. It surrounds you, you can feel it. -Ted Trueblood A couple of hours east of Bosque is another naturalist and photographer destination – White Sands National Monument. The original plan was to drive down one afternoon, hike the dunes at sunset, spend the night in the nearby town Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 