Category: Natural History
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Summer Details
The beauty of the natural world lies in the details. ~ Natalie Angier It has been a hectic few weeks at work with summer camp. One good thing is I am out in the Garden daily, and, anytime you are out in a place with that much diversity, there are plenty of things to see. Read more…
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Ambushed
We are not afraid of predators, we are transfixed by them, prone to weave stories and fables and chatter endlessly about them, because fascination creates preparedness, and preparedness, survival. In a deeply tribal way, we love our monsters… ~Ecologist, E.O. Wilson I took a stroll through the Garden after work one day this week, looking Read more…
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Baby Spiders
Once you begin watching spiders, you haven’t time for much else. ~E.B. White I have been raising some tulip-tree silk moth larvae at home and at work which has necessitated the periodic collecting of small branches of tulip poplar. Last week, when I cut one and brought it in I noticed one of my favorite Read more…
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Spittlebugs
In the spring, the eastern half of North America turns into one big spittoon… ~Amy Breau They have always fascinated me, these little blobs of “spit” on vegetation. Must be the leftover 4th grade boy that still resides in one corner of my brain. Once or twice a year, I can’t resist the urge to Read more…
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King of the Marsh
Wherever there are extensive marshes by the sides of sluggish streams, where the bellowings of the alligator are heard at intervals, and the pipings of myriads of frogs fill the air, there is found the Fresh-water Marsh-hen… ~John James Audubon, as described by his friend, John Bachman, 1840 This post should have been written a Read more…
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Tiny Dancers
Some people look at big things, and other people look at very small things, but in a sense, we’re all trying to understand the world around us. ~Roderick MacKinnon Yesterday we hiked over to Morgan Creek at work to prepare for some upcoming trips with summer campers where we will sample the stream for macro-invertebrates. Read more…
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Land Shark
But somewhere, beyond Space and Time, is wetter water, slimier slime! ~Rupert Brooke I remember the first time I found one, years ago, I wasn’t sure what it was…some sort of alien creature? What impressed me was how long it was, and how slimy. And that head, that strange, oddly-moving head! Turns out they are Read more…
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A Festival for Bears
May this intelligent animal always have a place. We need to better understand bears. ~Mike McIntosh Last weekend was the third annual Black Bear Festival in Plymouth, NC. I have missed the previous ones due to trips to Yellowstone, but I finally managed to visit this year. I was curious how the festival was organized Read more…
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Those Eyes
Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? ~Henry David Thoreau On any woodland walk in the warm months, you will run into a variety of spider silk across your path. And so it was recently on a walk in our woods. It was mostly Read more…
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Hatching
The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell. ~Zora Neale Hurston A quick update on the tulip-tree silk moth eggs from my last post – they hatched! The moth laid eggs inside the container on the night of May 19. They started hatching early in the morning Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 