Snow

Top Photo: Wetlands with ice and a sprinkling of snow. When it snows here in the Piedmont, it’s always a rush to get out to photograph the uniqueness of the event. It doesn’t snow often and when it does the snow is usually gone within a day or two. Sometimes it’s gone within hours. Snows here are short and sweet. Here’s some photos from this morning (Saturday 1/29/22) before it all disappeared. And finally, three dinosaurs. Enjoy it while itRead more

Harvester Chrysalis and other Insect and Flora News From the Wild

I’ve been keeping an eye out for a chrysalis on the hazel alder in Explore the Wild. Last week there were at least four harvester caterpillars on the plant. This past Saturday (8/30) I noticed one of the larva crawl off and away from the aphids it had been munching on. I suspected it was going off to pupate. Apparently though, it hadn’t enough to eat and turned back around towards the place from which it had come, it couldRead more

Bugs on Milk Weed, Worms in Webs, a Potter, a Jumping Spider, and a Robber

Large Milkweed Bugs have hatched out as there were many nymphs on the Butterfly Weed in Catch the Wind during the first week of August. This was only a few days after seeing both Large and Small Milkweed Bugs mating and inspecting this plant. Seven days later the nymphs began to take on some of the characteristics of the adults. Fall Webworms have been at work on the Museum’s trees for a month or more. These caterpillars construct their webRead more

Very Old Rocks

If, before entering, you happen to read the signage at the Fossil Dig Site on the Dinosaur Trail, you will discover that the material through which you are about to search for fossils is of the coastal plain and not of the Piedmont. The gray, coarse material in the Dig Site was shipped in from a phosphate mine near Aurora, NC and at one time was on the bottom of the ocean when that part of North Carolina was underRead more

Snow

A few days before “official” winter began, it snowed. The snow turned to sleet and rain during the night but there was still some snow on the ground the following day. It doesn’t snow very often in our area so it’s a thrill when it does. I  took a few photos (lots of photos) on the Dinosaur Trail before the snow disappeared. Here’s a dozen. I did say that I took most of the photos on the Dinosaur Trail, so it’sRead more

A Trip to the Mountains?

Thinking of going to the mountains to check out the fall leaves? Why waste precious fuel, money, and time (detouring around rock slides) when you can come to the Museum of Life + Science and see some of the most beautiful colors nature has to offer right here in your own backyard. Don’t believe me? Have a peek below. Convinced? Even if you miss the peak colors, there’s always something going on out-of-doors, up beyond the Main Plaza (where Grayson’sRead more