Roads End Naturalist

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


Category: Uncategorized

  • Swarms

    What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bees. ~Marcus Aurelius Earlier this week I was walking down in our woods mid-day, switching out the memory cards in our trail cameras, when I came across a termite emergence near the opossum hole. What I noticed first was a group of large… Read more…

  • Almost Normal?

    …It is always my place to come back and feel normal again. ~Alana Blanchard That quote referred to a special place for its writer, one of the Hawaiian islands. For me, one of the special places I seek is Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern North Carolina. I had not been in many months,… Read more…

  • Opossum Hole Happenings

    The opossum hasn’t changed since the days when European explorers captured it and proudly sent it to their kings. We’ve just lost a bit of our wonder. ~T. Edward Nickens NOTE: I think this has now been corrected to show thumbnails (I hope) I admit to always having had a soft spot for these unusual… Read more…

  • Blending In

    I’ve always preferred moths to butterflies. They aren’t flashy or cocky; they mind their own business and just try to blend in with their surroundings and live their lives. ~Kayla Krantz Went for a walk in the woods yesterday and as I approached one of our woodland benches, my eye caught something on the large… Read more…

  • Woods Wandering

    Forests are places where we can get back in touch with our inner selves, where we can walk on soft ground, breathe in natural cents, taste berries, listen to the leaves crackling – all the senses are awakened in the subdued light… ~Pierre Lieutaghi I decided to wander away from the house one morning and… Read more…

  • Naming Nature Part 2

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    Here is the answer to yesterday’s quiz along with things to note as you make your observations. The snake is a Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata). It is a small snake with adults ranging up to about 12 inches in length. They are fairly common, but somewhat secretive, in wooded areas and edges of old fields.… Read more…

  • Alien Life Form Answer

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    There were a lot of interesting guesses and a couple of what I believe to be correct answers. I will preface this post with the disclaimer that I am certainly no expert on fungi (or anything else, for that matter) , but here is what I think our mystery photo is… I thought it was… Read more…

  • Cherry Tree Mystery

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    He who finds a thought that lets us penetrate even a little deeper into the eternal mystery of nature has been granted great peace. ~Albert Einstein Melissa and I have been talking about how we can help students and teachers during this time of online learning so I want to try to do some different… Read more…

  • Wherever I Go, I End Up At Pungo

    Every place is given its character by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there… ~Christopher Alexander On Day 3, my last day of this coastal adventure, I drove down Hwy 12 to Pea Island NWR. But, as I had feared, the predicted winds were also there, blasting 15-25 mph with sand piling up… Read more…

  • Cruising the Coastal Plain

    Never stop wandering into wonder. ~Suzy Kassem Day two of my wanderings started at sunrise at Marsh A in the Pungo Unit, watching the swans’ world awaken. There were two other cars enjoying the start of the day as hundreds of swans started to stir. When the orange backdrop faded to white light, I drove… Read more…