Category: Trip report
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Song of the Swamp
If prisons, freight trains, swamps, and gators don’t get ya to write songs, y’ain’t got no business writin’ songs. ~Ronnie Van Zant As part of our “farewell tour”, we drove up to Merchants Millpond State Park last weekend. When I was working with state parks, I fell in love with that place and its amazing… Read more…
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Grand Finale
The song is ended, but the melody lingers on. ~Irving Berlin After leading my last group over a week ago, we decided to make one more trip to Pungo last Friday (it appears letting go truly is hard to do!). Our friend, Meghan, was with us and we decided to do a day trip for… Read more…
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A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
On many trips I’ve led, especially ones where we see large groups of wildlife, someone asks about the collective noun for whatever species we’re observing. Whether it’s a romp of otters or a symphony of swans, it’s always fun to look that up and/or make it up (because “symphony” is not the legit collective noun… Read more…
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My Last Group
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. ~Dr. Seuss Last weekend, I had the privilege of co-leading a group of folks to two of my favorite NC places, the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR. It was for a program sponsored by the NC Botanical Garden and New Hope Bird… Read more…
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A Monarch Pilgrimage
Each breaking wave, each rush of the sea on the slope of sand, reminds me why these places of pilgrimage matter. They matter to me because in the long view, I do not.~Terry Tempest Williams In mid-January, I had the privilege to take 12 exceptional North Carolina educators to Mexico. We had two primary goals:… Read more…
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Soundscapes
The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind. ~Carly Simon I was back in my favorite spot in North Carolina this past week – Pocosin Lakes NWR. A lot has changed on the refuge since my first visit back in the early 1980’s. Back then, you could walk almost anywhere this time of… Read more…
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Countdown
The last time you’re doing something – knowing you’re doing it for the last – makes it even more alive than the first. ~Gloria Naylor This week we headed down to the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR for our annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). As best as I can remember, I have been doing… Read more…
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Mountain High
Wherever we go in the mountains, we find more than we seek. ~John Muir My long-time friend, Scott, is working at Mount Mitchell State Park this summer so I decided to pay him a visit last week. It was good timing, since the predicted high temperature here at home was in the mid- to upper… Read more…
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In Our Happy Place Part 2
[The public lands represent] in a sense, the breathing space of the nation. ~Richard Nixon After Melissa joined her group of educators, I had a few days in Yellowstone on my own. You shouldn’t be surprised that I wanted to spend as much as time as possible out in it, watching wildlife, staying away from… Read more…
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In Our Happy Place
National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst. ~Wallace Stegner Melissa had another of the museum ‘s amazing educator workshops to Yellowstone last month. This year, we decided to go out a week early to enjoy the park, hang out… Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 