Category: Natural History
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What Grizzlies Eat
…almost everything is food except granite… ~John Muir on what grizzlies eat Muir was probably not far off in that observation. Grizzlies (and Black Bears as well) have a tremendously varied diet according to the season and food availability. Grizzlies are omnivores, feeding on a wide range of both plants and animals. Grizzlies tend to Read more…
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Year of the Grizzly
Bears keep me humble. They help me to keep the world in perspective and to understand where I fit on the spectrum of life. We need to preserve the wilderness and its monarchs for ourselves, and for the dreams of children. We should fight for these things as if our lives depended on it, because Read more…
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Not Just a Garden for Elk
Each May for the past several years, I have made a pilgrimage to my parent’s home in Damascus, Virginia. It is my Dad’s birthday and, of course, Mother’s Day, so a perfect time to visit. It is also a perfect time to visit for the spectacle of spring in the mountains. We almost always manage Read more…
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Garden Birds – Blue Grosbeak
Its pleasing song and engaging appearance have made the [blue} grosbeak a favorite cage-bird among the southern [people], who know it as the “blue pop”. ~ In Biological Survey Bulletin, 1907 Though many wild birds were often kept as cage-birds decades ago (and still are in some areas of the world), I am glad the Read more…
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Garden Birds – Summer Tanager
The summer red bird arrives sometimes in the latter part of April, and all through the summer his scarlet form enlivens and presents a beautiful contrast to the green foliage. ~J.W.P. Smithwick, The Birds of Bertie County, NC, In The Wisconsin Naturalist (a monthly magazine), 1890 The tanagers are back! I wonder if Northern Cardinals Read more…
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Garden Birds – Brown Thrasher
Perhaps, if we had more neglected brush heaps and tangles of unkempt shrubbery and vines about our grounds, we might tempt the thrasher to be more sociable and nest near our homes. ~Dr. W.G. Erwin in Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds I see Brown Thrashers all year in North Carolina, but, in winter, Read more…
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Garden Birds – Common Yellowthroat
When invading its haunts one is impressed with the vigorous personality of the male. He nervously raises his alarm with a variety of scolding, interrogative chirps and chattering notes and his dark inquisitive eyes sparkle with excitement through the black masks. He darts with nervous animation from place to place, then disappears in the dense Read more…
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Garden Birds – Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
I once knew a [beginner} bird-watcher who, not aware that altricial species attain full body size before leaving the nest, spoke seriously of the gnatcatcher as a tiny mockingbird. ~Francis Marion Weston Indeed, I often describe these active birds as looking and behaving like a tiny mockingbird. They are always fun to watch as they Read more…
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Garden Birds – Indigo Bunting
If, as Thoreau says, the bluebird carries the sky on its back, the Indigo Bunting may sometimes be carrying storm clouds. These common open space birds are now arriving back in NC from their tropical winter homes and the males have dressed for the occasion. During the winter, both males and females are primarily brown, Read more…
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Garden Birds – Rose-breasted Grosbeak
One attraction in coming to the woods to live was that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in. ~Henry David Thoreau Perhaps he meant to say… one attraction in retiring was that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in. I have lived in the woods Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 