Roads End Naturalist

Exploring the natural world as we wander at the end of the road


Category: Nature Photography

  • A New Day in New Hampshire

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    After a day of driving through torrential rains I reached a beautiful Forest Service campground in White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. A few of the campsites had standing water but mine was mainly dry. I could hear the roaring waters of a creek downslope from me as the rain subsided. And then, as Read more…

  • Mainely Beautiful

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    I am winding down my camping trip to the north woods and the Maine coast. It has been a glorious week of hiking, camping in almost perfect campsites, and taking in the sights of a stunningly beautiful part of our country. Unlike many of my other outings, this one turned out to be less about Read more…

  • Tiny Hummers and Bumblebirds

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    During my career at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences I once was forwarded a call from someone that was curious about something they had seen in their yard. She wanted to know what species of tiny hummingbirds were visiting her flowers. After a brief discussion, we came to the conclusion she was seeing one Read more…

  • A Plant that Hops

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    During a brief respite from one of the downpours this past week I went out to the garden to see what was out and about. I noticed some movement on a flower stem and a close look revealed this well-camouflaged insect, a planthopper. Planthoppers appear to be less common than the generally smaller leafhoppers in Read more…

  • This Magical Place

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    To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from. Terry Tempest Williams I could blog for another week or two on the beauty and majesty of my recent trip to Yellowstone. But, I will be back, with Read more…

  • Finally…Wolves

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    NOTE: My group has arrived and we will be going through the park starting this morning. Posts will be limited for the next week due to internet access and time. I’ve been in the park three days and no wolves. I know several “Yellowstone wolves” were legally killed in lands outside the park by hunters Read more…

  • Great Gray Addendum

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    I had heard about a Great Gray Owl nest in the park, so the morning after seeing the one up near the Beartooths (by the way, we did not find a nest at that one – yet) I decided to try to locate it. I knew roughly where it was as several photographers had mentioned Read more…

  • Gray Ghosts of the North Woods

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    After seeing the Marten at Dan and Cindy’s I didn’t think that the day could get much better, but I was wrong. Later that afternoon Dan invited me to tag along with he and his daughter, Cassie, to look for a Great Gray Owl he had seen the day before up towards the Beartooth’s. The Read more…

  • A day outside the park

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    Made an early morning trip into the park to look for some wildlife highlights for my group in a few days but headed back through the northeast entrance by mid-morning. I stopped in Silver Gate at the home and gallery of my friends, Dan and Cindy Hartman, wildlife photographers and naturalists extraordinaire. Dan was up Read more…

  • Babies everywhere

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    It is spring in Yellowstone and there are babies everywhere, especially bison calves. Cute and frisky are the best words to describe these orange-furred bundles of energy – not the usual naturalist terms, but appropriate for these guys. And it has been a very good year for bison births – every herd has dozens of Read more…