by don | Jul 23, 2014
Thanks to the generosity of dear friends, my family gets to vacation on Isle of Palms every summer. If you follow the “Naturalist’s Corner” regularly you’ve seen accounts of these expeditions – maybe about “pluff mud,”...
by don | Jun 26, 2014
Thanks to the generosity of a friend, my family and I spent a long weekend on Fontana Lake. The small “fishing” cabin near Prince’s Boat Dock is not the Ritz but it has all the comforts of home and a lot more character than the Ritz. Many of you who follow the...
by don | Jun 13, 2014
The cosmos looms large and wondrous again and much of the credit goes to one charming affable, but steadfastly rigorous, when it comes to scientific principles, host – Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson, an astrophysicist is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden...
by don | May 14, 2014
May 3rd and 4th were the dates for this year’s 30th annual edition of the Great Smoky Mountains Birding Expedition. This trip began in 1984 as the brainchild of George Ellison, Bryson City resident, author and naturalist, Rick Pyeritz M.D., who had a practice in...
by don | Apr 30, 2014
I was invited to help lead a bird walk, focusing on wood warblers at this year’s 64th annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was invited to help by Dr. Patricia Blackwell-Cox. Pat, as I knew her wwwaaaayyyy back when, when we...
by don | Apr 8, 2014
Actually we will be lucky if we get to see the blood moon in the wee hours of April 15. The extended forecasts I have looked at say that clouds will obscure 80 to 90 percent of the heavens at that time. And right there, lurking behind that cloud cover will be a total...