Roads End Naturalist

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


Tag: alligator river national wildlife refuge

  • Soundscapes

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    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…

  • While She Was Away…

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    Take time to do what makes your soul happy. ~Unknown author I suppose I really don’t have to worry about this particular quote. I think I do a pretty good job of taking the time to do the things I enjoy. With Melissa leading a museum winter workshop in Yellowstone, I decided to get out Read more…

  • Mustelid Moments

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    We need the tonic of wildness, — to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground. ~Henry David Read more…

  • Summer is Bear Time

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    When you are where wild bears live you learn to pay attention to the rhythm of the land and yourself.  ~Linda Jo Hunter This summer seems to be racing by and it hit me last week that I have not made a pilgrimage to our coastal wildlife refuges for my fix of summer bears. So, Read more…

  • Refuge Ramble, Part 2 – Pea Island and Alligator River

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    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 This is the last in a series on my wanderings last week in eastern North Carolina and is about the middle of my trip when I visited the coast. After Read more…

  • Kayaking in Columbia

    I seemed to have reached a new world, so wild a place…far away from human society. ~Henry David Thoreau, on swamps Columbia, North Carolina, that is. We spent several days in this beautiful little town last week, part vacation, part getting out to see some of the region for the trails project I am working Read more…

  • A Beary Hot Summer Day

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    The month of August had turned into a griddle where days just lay there and sizzled. ~Sue Monk Kidd Last week, we spent 5 days in the wilds of eastern NC, a combination mini-vacation and working trip to further investigate the area around the Scuppernong River for the project I am working on with NCLOW. Read more…

  • Definitely Not a Baby Rattle

    Venomous snakes are among the most maligned and misunderstood animals on earth. ~In Snakes of the Southeast by Whit Gibbons and Mike Dorcas In a recent post, I mentioned my first ever encounter with a juvenile Canebrake Rattlesnake while at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to drive Read more…

  • 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…

  • Scrambled Eggs

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    The name “raccoon” is drawn from the Algonquian term “arakun” and roughly translates to “he who scratches with his hands”. ~Samuel I. Zevelof, in Raccoons: A Natural History Between the Bobcat and the Black Bear cubs the other day, I had another interesting wildlife encounter. Most of the dusty miles of gravel roads at Alligator Read more…