Category: Natural History
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Night Watch
The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one… ~Francis William Bourdillon Night time, a special time to be outside. I remember giving night programs as a District Naturalist for NC State Parks and how it seemed my audience was always a bit more attentive at night than during similar day hikes. I… Read more…
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Mountain Mothing
It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning. ~ Vincent van Gogh If Van Gogh is correct, then I am ripe and have found deeper meaning, at least as far as mothing is concerned. On the final night of National Moth Week, 2015, I set… Read more…
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Summer Peep
What we see is mainly what we look for. ~Anonymous One morning when I walked out the front door I noticed a surprise visitor clinging to the edge of the tadpole-rearing container I have on the porch. It was an adult Spring Peeper, Pseudacris crucifer. As I reported on earlier this year, Spring Peepers were… Read more…
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Mothing
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ~Vincent Van Gogh This week is National Moth Week, an annual celebration of the incredibly diverse and beautiful world of moths. Wednesday was a busy day out in the yard, testing some different diffusion materials for my twin lites… Read more…
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Jaws with Wings
What on earth is this thing? It’s huge! It has gigantic wings! It has massive… ANTLERS coming off its face! Has someone had a nightmare that’s come to life or what? ~Joseph Jameson-Gould on dobsonflies from his blog, Real Monstrosities On my daily wander in the yard yesterday, I happened to look up at the… Read more…
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Pollinator Peril
In summer the empire of insects spreads. ~Adam Zagajewski Last week I noticed a medium-sized robber fly noisily flitting about the garden. It landed on a cedar twig on the garden fence and I leaned in for a closer look. It was distinctive in the bright white patch near the tail tip, something I noticed… Read more…
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Here’s Looking at You
An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language. ~Martin Buber I went out the other day to grab one of the hummingbird feeders for a refill and a slight movement caught my eye. It was a bizarre-looking jumping spider on the metal bracket that held the feeder. What struck me about this… Read more…
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Blue Grosbeak Nest
It is composed of fine dried grasses, which are more carefully arranged towards the interior, and is lined with a few delicate fibrous roots, dried moss, or horse-hair. There are seldom more than four eggs, but two broods are raised in the season. ~John Jame Audubon describing the nest of a Blue Grosbeak, 1844 The… Read more…
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Predators Lurking Everywhere
Every kid has a bug period… I never grew out of mine. ~E.O. Wilson After the climbing Copperhead incident over the weekend, I have been looking around more than usual every time I am outside. What I have discovered is that it is a jungle out there! Everywhere I look I see small critters feeding… Read more…
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Cicada Killer, But Not The Kind You Think
There is no better high than discovery. ~E.O. Wilson I walked out the front door before heading to bed last night just to see what I might see. The din from form the katydids was almost deafening, punctuated by the loud throaty “gunk” calls of the Green Frogs in the nearby water garden. When I… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 