Tag: pocosin lakes national wildlife refuge
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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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Sunset Sky
The sky is the daily bread of the eyes. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson I had a group tour the first few days of 2015, so I went down to Pungo on New Year’s Day to scout things out. It was a cold and beautiful afternoon. The usual groups of Tundra Swans dotted the fields and there Read more…
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Counting Birds
We can never have enough of nature. ~Henry David Thoreau For me, I suppose that quote could be altered to, I can never have enough of winter wildlife in eastern North Carolina. Okay, not as poetic for sure, but true nonetheless. Why else would I (and 6 other bird nerds and friends) spend all day 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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That Makes Scents
…neither fish nor beast is the otter. ~Ted Hughes Driving down a dirt road last week on the Pungo Unit, I spotted something up ahead. It wasn’t a critter, but rather a distinctive sign made by an animal. As I got closer, I could see it was a very large area that had been marked Read more…
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A Rare Day
…a very secretive animal; you rarely see them. ~Paul Rezendes, in Tracking and the Art of Seeing Secretive indeed. I have been lucky over the years to have seen several (about twenty five or so), mainly at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. A few others at Alligator River and Mattamuskeet, one in Chapel Hill at Read more…
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The Wilds Close to Home
What makes a place special is the way it buries itself inside the heart, not whether it’s flat or rugged, rich or austere, wet or arid, gentle or harsh, warm or cold, wild or tame. Every place, like every person, is elevated by the love and respect shown toward it, and by the way in 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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Roads End Naturalist 