What’s all the ruckus?

    As the red wolves relaxed, two male yellow-bellied sapsuckers, one of them a young bird, began to scuffle over who the trees inside the wolf enclosure actually belong to. The woodpeckers chased each other around the trees, flying back and forth, shuffling around and around the tree trunks. The female wolf carefully watched the fracas.         At one point, the sapsuckers took off in aerial combat, fluttering to the ground. The wolf was up andRead more

Cold

  Lately, I’ve been grumbling about the cold. I think we can all agree that 32˚F is cold, cold enough to turn water to a solid (as I write this it’s actually 28˚F degrees on the other side of my office window). But, although it was in the single digits when I awoke from my sleep one week ago today, I must admit that we’re pretty lucky here in the Carolina Piedmont. Some numbers may help illustrate our fortunate situation.Read more

Nests in the trees

  The squirrel in the picture was busily running up and down the trunk of the pine tree that it was perched on, collecting material to add to its nest. The nest was placed on a horizontal branch of a pine directly over the boardwalk in front of the Black Bear Overlook.     Most squirrels build their nests in a crotch or fork of a tree adding support to the mass of leaves and twigs that make up theRead more

Iced Waterfall

  The recent cold nights and relatively cold days have caused the waterfall at the Black Bear Exhibit to freeze over. The sun doesn’t hit this part of the enclosure so there’s little chance for the waterfall to thaw until the nighttime temperatures are above freezing. According to my weather source, that’s not going to happen for another seven or eight days.       Grab your camera and come on out to Explore the Wild and get a fewRead more

Yellow-bellied

I was standing at the Secondary Black Bear Overlook. A whiny, scratchy, mew sound was coming from the shrubs just inside the chain-link fence and to the left. I knew from the sound that it was a yellow-bellied sapsucker, but I couldn’t see the bird. The woodpecker was making quite a bit of noise, but where was it. Finally, I could see the fresh wells drilled by the bird. The wells were on the main trunk of a viburnum whichRead more

Waterfowl Update

The mergansers that had been occupying our Wetlands disappeared for four or five days, only one or two being seen on any given day. They now seem to come and go; one day they’re here, the next they’re not. However, I’ve not see their numbers approach the 30 plus of a several weeks ago. I now see anywhere from 10 to 12 at a time.     Another duck species which has returned is the bufflehead. One arrived last NovemberRead more

Gynandromorph

I was browsing through the local bird listeserv, as I do at least once a day, to see if there were any newly arrived migrants or unusual birds in our area. The listserv is a good way to get a feel for what birds one might encounter on a local outing as well as in the rest of the Carolinas. I hadn’t seen some of the birds that I hoped that I would see so far this season, like pine siskin,Read more

A warm winter day

After several rainy days at the beginning of the week, the past few days have been warm and sunny, days conducive to rest and relaxation.       While over at the Red Wolf Exhibit…     There’s nothing like a warm winter day to stretch out and soak up some sun.      Read more