Category: Trip report
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Creating a Sense of Wonder at Pocosin Arts
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later… Read more…
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Yellowstone in Feathers
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all— ~Emily Dickinson It has been a busy week, but I finally had a chance to wrap up some images and thoughts about my recent Yellowstone trip. Like every trip out there, this one… Read more…
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We Need Places Like Yellowstone
Contemplating the flow of life and change through living things, we make new discoveries about ourselves. ~Ansel Adams I just returned from another wonderful trip to Yellowstone National Park. It is still beautiful, still magical, still a place you must reckon with and not take lightly. It is as it should be, wild. At times,… Read more…
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Mountain Birding
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple… Read more…
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Walking with Warblers
From those tall hemlocks proceeds a very fine insect-like warble, and occasionally I see a spray tremble, or catch the flit of a wing. I watch and watch till my head grows dizzy and my neck is in danger of permanent displacement, and still do not get a good view. ~John Burroughs, on trying to… Read more…
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Frog Wars
The voice of the bullfrog, who calls, according to the boys, “jug-o’-rum, jug-o’-rum, pull the plug, pull the plug”… John Burroughs, 1905 On our birding trip to Ohio last week, I confirmed that I can still hear many of the warbler songs, but only if they are really close. But there is a “song” that… Read more…
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Red River Gorge
The most beautiful gift of Nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see. ~Albert Einstein We just returned from a whirlwind trip that included stops to see my parents, two areas in Kentucky, and some birding in Ohio. We camped one night in Cumberland Gap National… Read more…
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Persistent Pileated
He seldom gave more than three or four pecks at a time, and would then swing his head round to one side or the other, sometimes raising his scarlet crest. ~O. M. Bryens, on watching a pileated woodpecker feeding Spent a few days at my folk’s place in Damascus this week, enjoying the beautiful mountain… Read more…
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Bald is Beautiful
With the exception of a body of rocks looking like the ruins of an old castle, near the southwestern extremity, the top of Roan may be described as a vast meadow, without a tree to obstruct the prospect; where a person may gallop his horse for a mile or two, with Carolina at his feet… Read more…
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Sunset Birds
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty, if only we have the eyes to see them. ~John Ruskin While we saw a variety of wildlife on our Florida adventure, I was a bit surprised we had not seen as many birds as I had hoped. As I mentioned in an… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 