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Puss Cat
Never touch anything that looks like Donald Trump’s hair. ~Gwen Pearson I just love that quote. It is the title of an article in WIRED last week on a particularly painful caterpillar known by various names – Puss Caterpillar, Asp, and Southern Flannel Moth Caterpillar, Megalopyge opercularis. I find one of these every couple of… Read more
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Stately Garden Visitor
This weekend, while I was picking beans in the garden, I felt I was being watched. I looked around, and, sure enough, had a visitor. It was a beautiful Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina. This one was particularly striking, with a bright, bold pattern on both its shell and head. I suspected it was a… Read more
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Baby Rattle
…a wonderful creature, when we consider his form, nature and disposition…he is never known to strike until he is first assaulted or fears himself in danger, and even then always gives the earliest warning by the rattles at the extremity of his tail. ~William Bartram, 1791 I made some time last week to do a… Read more
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Glory in the Morning, Quiet at Night
Morning Glory is the best name, it always refreshes me to see it. ~Henry David Thoreau Some parts of the garden are starting to wind down now, but the wilder side is still full of life and beauty. The cooler nights and recent rains have perked things up a bit, the scattered wildflowers are in… Read more
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To the Sea
Salmon abound in great quantities at certain seasons of the year, when the water in every direction seems to be filled with them… ~James Alden, U.S. Coast Survey, 1853, describing the waters around San Juan Island After camping and hiking in Olympic National Park, the next leg of the journey was by ferry, to San… Read more
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A Park Made for Hiking
Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. ~John Muir I just returned from a wonderful trip to the Pacific Northwest where I had two main goals – visit Olympic National Park, and try to see Orca Whales. The first part of the trip was to the… Read more
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Baby Cat
It’s always remarkable how much we each see when we slow down, cast our gaze narrowly but intently, and just watch. ~Zoe Weil I was out walking a country gravel road the other day, hoping to find some caterpillars. I did see some signs of Luna Moth larval feeding on the ubiquitous Sweet Gums, but… Read more
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A Wasp at My Window?
Some of these resemblances are perfectly staggering – to me they are a source of constant wonder and thrilling delight. Henry Walter Bates, in letter to Charles Darwin, 1861 In one of my nightly checks of the visitors at my screens, a small wasp-like creature caught my eye. But a closer look revealed some interesting… Read more
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Patterns on the Pages
In Nature’s infinite book of secrecy A little I can read. ~William Shakespeare I can read only a little, especially in the chapter on a new found interest, moths. They keep showing up (of course, I keep looking). I now have a routine of checking the screens before retiring for the night to see what… Read more
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Chatham County Lines
My apologies to the local bluegrass group of almost the same name…this is a bit of an unusual post in that it doesn’t highlight some interesting natural phenomenon I have stumbled across in my wanderings. Instead, I just wanted to share something I found amazing that has come calling to the edge of the land… Read more
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Roads End Naturalist 