Tag: mattamuskeet national wildlife refuge
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Another Winter Season, Sort Of
What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. ~John Steinbeck It is time for another season of winter wildlife watching. Now, if only the weather would catch up and cooperate. I will have to admit, my group seemed to enjoy the warm conditions as we explored Mattamuskeet Read more…
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Sky Watching
There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them. ~Jo Walton I had a trip to Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges with a great group this past weekend. The birds have arrived (well, maybe not all the birds as yet) and it was Read more…
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A Hot Day at the Refuges
All that is beautiful is difficult. ~Plato That sort of sums up my last trip to Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges. It was beautiful, but difficult. Made so by the intense heat and humidity on the day of my tour last week. The heat was stifling, but, my clients and I managed to Read more…
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Changing Weather
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ~John Ruskin My group last weekend certainly experienced most of these types of weather, something not that uncommon on an eastern North Carolina winter outing. I always Read more…
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The Tree Fox
The Fox of Carolina is gray…When hunted, they make a sorry Chace, because they run up Trees, when pursued. ~John Lawson, 1709 On almost every visit to Mattamuskeet NWR these past few months, I have seen one or more Gray Foxes. I am guessing they had a den somewhere along Wildlife Drive and the adults, Read more…
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Refuge Magic
I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to. ~Marjorie Kinnan Rawling For me, that place of enchantment in my home state is Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge…more specifically, the Pungo Unit of that refuge. I had a trip this past week with a couple of friends Read more…
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Otter Outing
It swims and dives with great readiness and with peculiar ease and elegance of movement… Thomas Bell on otters, 1874 I recently spent a couple of days with a great group of guys in my favorite winter haunts – Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges. The first day started out beautifully with a rich Read more…
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Learning by Experience
The feeling of respect for all species will help us recognize the noblest nature in ourselves. ~Thich Nhat Hanh Last Saturday I had the pleasure of sharing two of my favorite places with an enthusiastic group of NC State students in the Leopold Wildlife Club. I was asked if I would accompany them on a Read more…
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Dutch Treat
One Touch of Nature Makes the Whole World Kin. ~William Shakespeare I spent a couple of days late last week with some clients from the Netherlands and a Dutch friend of theirs that now lives in North Carolina. They had been with me for a couple of days last Fall, but arrived a day before Read more…
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Trip Report – a Frozen Mattamuskeet and Pungo
To me, the beautiful and ever-changing patterns formed in lake ice – and in snowflakes, the ice of the sky – are winter’s “bloom,” corresponding to the flowering plants of summer. ~Stephen Hatch I had another trip to North Carolina’s winter wonderland this past weekend. And a wonderland it was…Lake Mattamuskeet was largely frozen, a Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 