Category: Natural History
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Zestful Zebras
Butterflies and zebras. And moonbeams and fairy tales. That’s all she ever thinks about. Riding with the wind. ~Lyrics from Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix Zebra swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) are surely one of North Carolina’s most beautiful butterflies. Their bold pattern of black and white stripes, long tails, and the bright red spots near the Read more…
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Spider Hunter
…most will be murderesses, but they have brought murder to a fine art, an act of exquisite precision. ~John Crompton, introduction to his book, The Hunting Wasp As we were starting to get into the car last weekend at my folks’ place, I saw some movement on the driveway. A closer look reveled a large Read more…
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Bugs Galore
Every kid has a bug period…I never grew out of mine. ~E.O. Wilson, naturalist and author The theme for summer camp last week at work was The Secret Lives of Bugs. We spent five days cruising around garden properties looking for bugs and other beasts. The kids had a great time and I managed a Read more…
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Inside a Rolled Leaf
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius It has been so busy lately that I tend to forget to “stop and smell the roses”, to take advantage of where I work and live, and to make the time to just look around, ponder, and be amazed. Luckily, I remembered to do just that Read more…
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Pungo Summer
Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~Russell Baker It’s been too long since I have visited my other favorite place, the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. So, with Melissa in Yellowstone leading a museum youth group, I decided to make a day-trip this past weekend Read more…
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Guilty, or Not
Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many… ~Phaedrus You may have noticed some long lapses in my blog posts. These past few weeks have been busier than usual, not so much for work, but for personal reasons – a wedding and honeymoon trip to Yellowstone (more on that soon). This Read more…
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Plants That Bite Back – Part 2
It commonly chances that I make my most interesting botanical discoveries when I am in a thrilled and expectant mood…some rare plant which for some reason has occupied a strangely prominent place in my thoughts for some time will present itself. My expectation ripens to discovery. I am prepared for strange things. ~Henry David Thoreau, Read more…
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Plants That Bite Back
The great wonder of the vegetable kingdom is a very curious unknown species of Sensitive. It is a dwarf plant. The leaves are like a narrow segment of a sphere, consisting of two parts, like the cap of a spring purse, the concave part outwards, each of which falls back with indented edges (like an Read more…
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Bears and Butterflies
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do… Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain I think that sentiment is one of Melissa’s primary views of how to live a life. But, even she was a bit reluctant to head out early Read more…
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Green Shelters
The distinctive roar of the longleaf was the sound the evening breeze made, and the odor of pine resin was the smell of the countryside…It was so much a part of their lives, so wound up with everything it meant to be southern, that it was as impossible to discern its influence as it was Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 