by don | Feb 23, 2012
This year was the 15th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a citizen-science project created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. The count took place between Feb. 17 and Feb. 20. For the past seven or eight years I have used the Great Backyard...
by don | Feb 20, 2012
The Naturalist’s Corner dispatched its chief investigative reporter, Kuteeng Satire, to the land of Dudley Doright to bring you the truth regarding Canada’s plan to shoot, shoot from airplanes, poison, trap and otherwise kill thousands of wolves because the stupid...
by don | Feb 11, 2012
This edition of Smoky Mountain Living is all about home. That makes it the perfect place to talk about the homes of some of the creatures that share this marvelous landscape with us. Some animals that we know well don’t construct any kind of home. White-tailed deer...
by don | Feb 9, 2012
I think the shrewd rodent hedges his bet a bit. I mean if you think about it, the difference between Feb. 2 and March 20, first day of spring, is about six weeks. So to say there will be six more weeks of winter is a pretty safe bet. But what will those six weeks...
by don | Feb 2, 2012
Dateline 1999: David Kullivan a forestry/wildlife student at Louisiana State University tells faculty that while turkey hunting in the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area, a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers foraged in trees as close as 10-yards from him. Soon after,...
by don | Jan 26, 2012
No, I’m not talking about those of us who stay in the warm confines at Cataloochee, nursing Ninja porters, while the kids hit the slopes. These cold-weather wimps are ruby-throated hummingbirds. As most of you hummer-watchers know, our ruby-throats, basically the only...
by don | Jan 21, 2012
Thanks to a head’s up from Tim Carstens last Sunday morning (1/15) I saw a drake northern pintail, Anas acuta, at Lake Junaluska. This “nomad of the sky” is cosmopolitan in distribution, breeding in northern Europe, Asia and North America. Its range has been estimated...
by don | Jan 12, 2012
Cranes are fly. These big beautiful graceful birds jolt the souls of non-birders and birders alike. At five feet tall, the snow-white adult whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America. The whooper has a red patch on its face and the top of its head. The...
by don | Jan 7, 2012
This year’s ninth annual Balsam Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held Friday Dec. 30. As I was driving home from work at 7a.m. that Friday morning things were looking good. By the time I got a nap and met Paul Super, who had graciously agreed to help out, and his friend...
by don | Jan 1, 2012
The 22nd Annual Wilderness Wildlife Week is scheduled for Jan. 7-14 in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. This year’s Wildlife Week boasts 288 programs and activities. Likely due to the time of year (winter in the Smokies) the bulk of Wildlife Week’s program (240) are indoors. But...
