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A short bout with Victor the Bear
Published: 2012-11-07 13:52:13This is a bear story. Unlike many bear stories, this one is true. Tourism started in Western North Carolina during the post-Civil War era, but it wasn’t a huge factor in the region’s economy until the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded i...
Read MoreBeauty, form and function go hand in hand
Published: 2012-10-31 01:38:21All too often, we tend to think of flowering plants as something beautiful put on this earth to stimulate human sensibilities. Nothing, of course, could be less true. Plants produce flowers to attract pollinators or otherwise distribute pollen in order t...
Read MoreRose-breasted grosbeaks on the move through the Smokies
Published: 2012-10-17 14:25:19Migrating rose-breasted grosbeaks have been appearing at feeders throughout the Smokies region in recent weeks. Those birds that migrate hundreds of miles across the Gulf of Mexico from Central and South America to nest in the United States and Canada ar...
Read MoreFirst frost ushers in winter
Published: 2012-10-10 13:44:28It’s Oct. 7 as I write this. The first hard frost hasn’t as yet arrived. But it won’t be long coming. By the time you read this it may well have occurred throughout Western North Carolina. The first hard frost serves as a given year’s most distin...
Read MoreThunder in the valley
Published: 2012-10-05 18:52:19Last week a late evening thunderstorm with high winds and occasional flashes of lightning rolled out of the high Smokies and down into the little valley where we live several miles west of Bryson City. I had sensed its arrival for 10 or so minutes. First...
Read MoreIf you suffer from hay fever, blame the ragweed
Published: 2012-10-03 20:18:47Allergies are a type of immune reaction. Normally, the immune system responds to foreign microorganisms, or particles, like pollen or dust, by producing specific proteins, called antibodies, that are capable of binding to identifying molecules, or antige...
Read MoreLet the fall wildflower fruit displays begin
Published: 2012-09-26 14:24:02Most wildflower enthusiasts quite naturally hone in on the showy flowering phase of a plant’s life cycle for observation, identification and enjoyment. Only slowly do we learn to appreciate the post-flowering phase.. Late summer into fall is certainly ...
Read MoreA man’s got to work and fish
Published: 2012-09-17 13:23:56This past Sunday afternoon I decided to go for a walk along the Tuckasegee River west of Bryson City. If I had an objective, it was to see how far the waters of Fontana Lake have receded due to the recent dry spell. But my main purpose was, in reality, j...
Read MoreThe thrill of new discoveries
Published: 2012-09-14 14:25:28I’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time recently up on the Blue Ridge Parkway conducting natural history workshops for the North Carolina Arboretum. Mid-July is the peak period for high-elevation wildflowers. I can report that the flowering sea...
Read MoreSicklefin redhorse and the Cherokee
Published: 2012-09-12 19:09:16An article by Jon Ostendorff headed “Rare fish released into Oconaluftee River” appeared in this past Monday’s edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times. It caught my eye because of an ongoing general interest in the fish found in Western North Caroli...
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