Roads End Naturalist

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


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  • Coyote Capers

    Coyotes have the gift of seldom being seen; they keep to the edge of vision and beyond… ~N. Scott Momaday On our last round of trail camera videos, we caught members of the local coyote clan in several places, often alone, and on a few occasions, as a group —-A Coyote trots by a trail… Read more

  • Change is in the Air

    Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall. ~F. Scott Fitzgerald The change is happening…we have longed for it, and it is starting to tease us with the possibility of cooler nights and sunny, comfortable days. I see it in our woods as well in the plants and critters. New activity… Read more

  • Dog Days

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    Now came the dog days – day after day of hot, still summer, when for hours at a time light seemed the only thing that moved… ~Richard Adams The last week has provided a nice break from the typical heat and humidity of this time of year, the so-called dog days of August. Historically, the… Read more

  • Night Beauties

    There is something to be said for the night. The darkness holds a sense of promise, as if anything could happen. ~Meg Collett The frequent evening storms have kept me from setting up my moth lights, so with a break in the rain earlier this week, I jumped at the opportunity. I was feeling a… Read more

  • Mountain High

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    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

  • In Our Happy Place Part 2

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    [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

  • 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

  • What the Cameras See

    Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way. ~John Muir While we were away (more on that in a future post), the trail cameras caught some interesting events in our woods. They also caught several deer inside our deer fence… Read more

  • Woods Neighbors

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    My favorite thing is just walking in the woods. I can do it for days on end without tiring of it. ~Jim Harrison This may be why I can’t get to all the posts I need to write about prior adventures…interesting things keep happening here in our woods. We were gone for several days and… Read more

  • South Africa – Days 5-6

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    You cannot leave Africa, Africa said. It is always with you, there inside your head. ~Bridget Dore Well, I’m finally getting back to continue the story of our November trip to South Africa. In the first blog post, I covered our first few days after arriving in Johannesburg and traveling to Kruger National Park. This… Read more

Roads End Naturalist

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

Copyright Mike Dunn and Melissa Dowland