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586 Search Results for "george ellison"
The hardest tree in North America
Published: 2013-01-30 14:49:42I wrote a tribute to the black locust tree some time back. It’s time to take another look. This time around we’ll incorporate the perspectives of a French arborist who visited America during the mid-nineteenth century. Locust is a winter tree. Outdoo...
Read MoreNorthern siskins ‘irrupting’ right now at my feeder
Published: 2013-01-23 14:54:57“The opportunistic nature of the species and its partial indifference to constraints of time and space make it an intriguing subject.” — E.W. Dawson, North American Birds Online Volcanoes “erupt,” birds “irrupt.” We haven’t experienced an...
Read MoreLooking out on a busy day in Bryson City
Published: 2013-01-15 21:55:08For some, graveyards are morbid places. When I was a boy, I never liked to pass by or walk through one … especially in the dark. These days I rather enjoy visiting them ... for awhile. They are generally quiet. And unlike most modern cemeteries, which ...
Read MoreAre the ‘possums adapting to headlight glare
Published: 2013-01-08 21:41:26Where have all the opossums gone? People worry about cerulean warblers and frogs and honeybees and ash trees and hemlocks and snail darters and so on … as they should. But is anybody out there besides me worried about ‘possums? I doubt it. . Maybe I ...
Read MoreWinter mushrooms a welcome find
Published: 2012-12-18 21:24:03Most people who hunt mushrooms do so in late summer and fall when an array of choice edibles are abundant or in spring when morels are in season. It’s easy to forget — or maybe never even know — that there are a couple of tasty “winter mushrooms...
Read MoreMemories of the lost village of Needmore
Published: 2012-12-12 15:13:14Is there another region in the United States that has had more flourishing towns and villages disappear than the one along the Little Tennessee and Tuckasegee rivers in Swain and Macon counties? Almond, Japan, Judson, Bushnell, etc., in Swain went under ...
Read MoreThe appropriately named 'blue darter'
Published: 2012-12-05 15:02:08When I was a boy my favorite sport was baseball. I was a pitcher. I didn’t have any idea where the ball was going … or care … but I could throw hard. I liked the game and I liked the language associated with the game: “high hard one” … “pow...
Read MoreBirds of a feather stay warm in bad weather
Published: 2012-11-28 14:16:51Because they seem so delicate and vulnerable, we go out of our way to feed birds that overwinter here in the southern mountains. This no doubt helps maintain bird populations at a higher level than would otherwise be the case, but our feathered friends l...
Read MoreByer’s book brings us a sense of place
Published: 2012-11-21 15:18:30Kathryn Stripling Byer lives in Cullowhee. Poet Laureate Emeritas of North Carolina for a number of years, she was this year inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. I’ve known her since 1973 … so I’m going to call her Kay. The lines...
Read MoreNew book celebrates diversity and Biological Station
Published: 2012-11-13 21:51:39In regard to floral diversity, the Southern Appalachian region is unsurpassed by any other temperate region in the world. Whenever I’m conducting a plant identification workshop for the North Carolina Arboretum, Smoky Mountain Field School or other ven...
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