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The natural order of things
Published: 2013-07-25 18:41:37While observing your backyard bird feeder this winter, you may be startled by a blue flash that suddenly rockets into the scene and snatches one of your resident cardinals, nuthatches, chickadees, or titmice. The “blue flash” will have been either a ...
Read MoreThe art of well-watching
Published: 2013-07-24 20:17:14Now is the time to start looking for yellow-bellied sapsuckers here in the Smokies region. Of the various woodpecker species that occur here, the sapsucker is by far the most migratory. Some can be located in the higher elevations of our mountains from s...
Read MoreThe grand and showy hibiscus
Published: 2013-07-10 14:14:38I had my first introduction to the showy and curious hibiscus flowers when I was a boy. Rose-of-Sharon was a common where I grew up, just as it is here in Western North Carolina. . My cousins and I would in mid-summer amuse ourselves by trapping large bu...
Read MoreGeorgia’s Black Rock State Park worth the visit
Published: 2013-06-25 21:00:16Perhaps you’re looking for a new site to visit this summer? If so, consider making a visit to Black Rock State Mountain Park, which is situated in Rabun County, Ga., just off U.S. 441 several miles south of where Macon County adjoins Georgia. It’s ab...
Read MoreBlemishes uncovered
Published: 2013-06-21 19:13:44Winter is unsparing. It exposes the lines and blemishes on human faces. It reveals worn hillsides and rutted backcountry lanes. It clarifies the ongoing, relentless processes of nature of which we are but a part. . In winter, the bare trunks of trees bec...
Read MoreElderberry gets me thinking with my stomach
Published: 2013-06-19 14:02:33A plant that always gets me to thinking with my stomach is common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), which is just now coming into bloom along roadsides in the lower elevations throughout Western North Carolina. . You probably know it already; if not, loo...
Read MoreSpreading seeds — a special feat
Published: 2013-06-14 20:19:05While conducting plant identification workshops, I always try to remember to discuss two aspects that are essential if one is really going to enjoy plants. I think of these as plant “strategies.” They have to do with pollination and seed dispersal. ....
Read MoreJournal to remember
Published: 2013-06-14 19:54:21Maintaining a nature journal has been one of my ongoing, albeit intermittent, preoccupations. Keeping such a journal assists me in maintaining a record of my outdoor experiences — and indoor ruminations — many of which would otherwise be lost. . This...
Read MoreMedicinal plants of the Southern Appalachians
Published: 2013-06-12 16:43:51Back in November at the Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair in Sylva I met Patricia Kyritsi Howell and purchased a copy of her Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians (BotanoLogos Books, 2006). . I am not always impressed by medicinal publications beca...
Read MoreRecounting natural history
Published: 2013-06-12 16:29:11For me, no pursuit is truly worthwhile unless it has an associated body of literature one can consult from time to time for insights, inspiration, or just to pass the time. . Can you imagine a trout fisherman without his finely bound gilt-edged volumes o...
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