Category: Natural History
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Hiking the Haw
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. ~Henry Van Dyke Fall color is starting to peak here in the Piedmont of North Carolina so I… Read more…
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Leaves Aren’t The Only Fall Colors
Now is the time of the illuminated woods…when every leaf glows like a tiny lamp. ~John Burroughs Autumn creeps into these woods slowly. I notice it more at sunset, when the light streaming across the ridge now has a distinct yellow tint that it lacks in the heat of summer. On still afternoons, a close… Read more…
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The Lost Coast
The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place. All through the long history of Earth it has been an area of unrest where waves have broken heavily against the land, where the tides have pressed forward over the continents, receded, and then returned… The shore has a dual nature, changing with the… Read more…
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Land of the Giants
Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. ~John Muir The original plan for the recent California trip was destination Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks, in part to see the Giant Sequoia trees. With the fires, partial closures, and air quality issues,… Read more…
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Last Larva?
…one’s first impression might be that this creature has somehow lost its way out of an Amazonian jungle. ~David L. Wagner, describing the Crowned Slug caterpillar in Caterpillars of Eastern North America When I returned from our California trip, I looked around the yard and saw what lies ahead – lots of yard work. Seems… Read more…
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Munchies
A caterpillar is basically a flexible tube…it is designed purely for eating and growing. ~Michael Chinery, in Butterflies and Day-flying Moths of Britain and Europe Eat, poop, eat, poop…such is the life of a caterpillar. After BugFest, I kept a few of the specimens for a couple of days before releasing them back into the… Read more…
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Disguised Beauty
…the repulsive larva, tissue by tissue, is transformed into the superlative beauty of the adult moth. Beauty will come from beauty in disguise. ~Edwin Way Teale, on caterpillar transformation This was a good year for some unusual caterpillars. For some reason, while looking for larvae a couple of weeks ago, we managed to find several… Read more…
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KatyDid, But Wishes She Hadn’t
It provides strength to the armor plate of the beetle, keenness to the lancet of the mosquito, endurance to the rasping fiddle and bow of the cricket and the katydid. ~Edwin Way Teale, on the properties of chitin Late summer and early fall are a time of abundance of many types of invertebrates in our… Read more…
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You’re Such an Asp
The grace and elegance of every adult butterfly and moth, as it flits about on wings radiant with color, are counterbalanced by the grossness and ugliness of the immature insect. ~Edwin Way Teale As you probably know, if you are a reader of this blog, I don’t agree with this somewhat surprising view held by… Read more…
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Spider Zombies
An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment. ~David Attenborough A quick update on a post I did two years ago on a Tale of Two Spiders. A friend had spotted an odd-looking spider that had spun a web on her… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 