Basking Turtles, Mating Anoles, and Pupating Moths

Top Photo: It’s carapace to carapace as sliders enjoy the warm sunshine. After days of either brutally hot temps or pouring rain the wetland’s sliders were out with the sun on a rather cool (relatively speaking) dry day. it was double digit turtles on the floating platforms placed in the pond specifically for that purpose. Both platforms were utilized. Green anoles were taking advantage of the change in the weather to mate. This pair was on a wooden bench inRead more

Otters

Top Photo: River otter cruises by. Standing on the boardwalk that surrounds the shallow pond in Explore the Wild I could see one, no two, brown objects on the far side of the wetlands surfacing, shaking off then quickly diving back under the water’s surface. Could they be a couple of female or young male hooded mergansers that didn’t migrate to their breeding grounds, too young to breed and dropping in to the local ponds to see what’s available inRead more

A Snake, a Catbird, some Flowers, and a few Insects

Top Photo: Rat snake in a tree. The rat snake above and below was in the branches of a dawn redwood tree alongside the boardwalk leading to Explore the Wild. It’s not unusual to see a rat snake in a tree, they dine on bird eggs and nestlings among other creatures like rats, chipmunks, frogs, lizards and similar small wildlife. They are excellent climbers. The catbird in these photos was harassing the snake relentlessly with quick salvos with its billRead more

Nest Box Update 6.10.25

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. Nearing the end of the season (in the past we’ve gone as far as August with the final fledge of the season), we have one, maybe two, active nests, bluebirds all, I think (see below). ————————————— The nest boxes at Cow Pasture, ETW, and Sailboat Pond, are all empty. No nests of any kind. A strange occurrence at Into the Mist has me wondering. Inside the nest box at Into the Mist were three veryRead more

Otters and More

Top Photo: River otter latrine. Our roughly three acre wetland drains into a small creek which connects with Ellerbee Creek. Ellerbee eventually flows into the Eno River and from there Falls Lake, all part of the Neuse River watershed. These creeks, rivers and lake are the trails, roadways and highways in which river otters and other aquatic animals move across the countryside. I occasionally see one or two otters in our wetland, but their visits are usually marked only byRead more

Swallows and Flowers

Top Photo: Family of geese pass behind recently fledged family of northern rough-winged swallows The young swallows are watching their parents fly overhead, and begging for food. Each year a family of northern rough-winged swallows brings their newly fledged young into our wetlands for training. The adults want the young birds to hit the skies and catch their own insects on the wing. The fledglings seem more interested in begging for handouts than learning how to hawk insects. But eventuallyRead more

Nest Box Update 5.6.25

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. We have added seven new individuals to the local avifauna, four eastern bluebirds and three Carolina chickadees. All six of our nest boxes are without nestlings. Though, two have nest material from two different species and are slowly under construction. ——————————— At the Cow Pasture, a house wren has added to it’s meager nest in the past week. It doesn’t seem urgent. There were two twigs noted on last week’s inspection, a handful more thisRead more

Nest Box Update 4.30.25

Top Photo: Eastern bluebird eggs. There have been strange goings-on along our little bluebird trail here at the museum. Two nest boxes which had had healthy chickadee nestlings have been discovered to now have dead or missing nestlings or eggs from the nests. One nest box is still unchanged and has bluebird nest material within. One previously empty nest box has what appears to be a clue in the fatalities and disappearances of our chickadee nestlings, two twigs. —————————— TheRead more