I was walking down the path that leads from Catch the Wind to Explore the Wild on the far side of that half mile exhibit loop. I glanced to my right and noticed a small tan-colored object dangling from a twig on a hornbeam, or ironwood, tree on the right side of the path, chrysalis. The tree is very close to a patch of partridge pea, which is host to cloudless sulphur butterflies in late summer and fall. I sawRead more
Have a Holly Jolly
Fox SparrowRead more
Bufflehead
On December 15, I noticed a small gray duck swimming in proximity to the slightly larger hooded mergansers in our Wetlands. I immediately thought bufflehead. The last time I saw a bufflehead in the Wetlands was November of 2014 when two showed up. At least one of them stayed until 26, December. Sure enough, there was another this year. With the current freezing temps, all waterfowl had departed by the end of this week. Diving ducks, of which both mergansers andRead more
Handful of Herons
I’m sometimes asked how many species of bird I’ve seen here at the Museum. Currently, the list is over 130 species. Of those, five species have been herons, great blue heron, great egret, green heron, and black-crowned and yellow-crowned night-herons. A great blue heron, or two, can be seen in our wetlands year-round. Although some great blue herons migrate, they can be found in our area in any season. Great egrets are widespread in North Carolina but are essentially aRead more
Red Wolf Update 11.28.16
Since the introduction of our new female red wolf (1858), she and the male (1784) seem to be getting along well. I’ve noticed only one minor, and very brief, altercation and a few bared-teeth displays when food is present. This is normal behavior. If you’ve ever had more than one domestic pooch in your house at a time, you’ve probably seen the same or worse. The two wolves forage and even rest close to one another, a good sign. Breeding seasonRead more
Sleeping Raccoon
T’was a fine mid-November morn as I walked through Catch the Wind. I’d stopped to look through the partridge pea patch across from the signage which introduces Catch the Wind to hikers, walkers and strollers making their way around our outdoor exhibits. In the fall, partridge pea produces many pods filled with copious amounts of seeds. As the pods dry, they twisted upon themselves forcing the seeds to propel themselves out away from the plant. I was hoping to collectRead more
Barred Owl, Pickerel Frog, and American Crows
Once again, the local barred owl has made an appearance. I was standing in Catch the Wind watching a raccoon snooze away the afternoon (another story for another time) when, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a large brown bird fly down out of the trees and land on the edge of the service road near the entrance to Explore the Wild, some fifty yard’s distance. I was sure the bird had come down on some sort of prey. JustRead more
Red Wolf Release
The female wolf paced back and forth within the kennel. The male, sensing something was about to happen, watched intensely. They’d both been waiting for two weeks for this moment to arrive, and here it was. The female was about to be released into the main enclosure after having acclimated, as best she could, to her new surroundings. She’d come from another facility one state to the west of us and was now going to become part of the exhibit, theRead more
Seed Dispersal
Butterfly weed, a type of milkweed, is setting forth its flat brown seeds. The seeds have been growing inside long thin pods since the summer and have now burst open to expose the seeds to the elements, one element in particular, the wind. The seeds are attached to fluffy white, silky filaments which help to carry the seeds, often, far away from the mother plant. The plant pictured happens to be in Catch the Wind here at the Museum, aproposRead more