by don | Feb 2, 2011
Don’t put this book on your bookshelf, mounted there like some hunter’s head of a deer, to prove you can read. Don’t put this book on the coffee table, turned slightly askance –to be noticeable, so people will know you read poetry. Don’t even take this book to your...
by don | Jan 28, 2011
Pandemonium had engulfed Shoal Creek by the time authorities arrived. One fisherman sat, dazed, on a boulder, rocking back and forth, his head in his hands, mumbling, “It was big as a horse – and those pinchers, oh, those pinchers…” as rescue personnel and officers...
by don | Jan 20, 2011
Crawl out of your igloo and take a look around. We had kind of assumed a “snow” mentality here at the Hendershot household. A little sledding, a little snow play, then back into the house for hot chocolate, snacks and movies – wet snow clothes draped over a rack near...
by don | Jan 19, 2011
Tucked away in the fine print of the Fiscal Year 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act was section 323 of Public Law 108-7. This section granted authority to the USDA Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, “to enter into stewardship projects with private persons...
by don | Jan 12, 2011
If there was any lingering doubt that the apocalypse was, indeed, scheduled for 2012 it has been erased. The totally unprecedented death of thousands of birds, tens of thousand (or more) fish and tens of thousands of crabs has been universally accepted – at least by a...
by don | Jan 5, 2011
The twin banes of birding, wind and rain, combined to help set a new record low for the eighth annual Balsam Christmas Bird Count (CBC). The soggy but undaunted cadre of birders sloshed and slogged their way around Lake Logan, Lake Junaluska and the Waynesville...
by don | Dec 30, 2010
This year is winding up just like last year began – cold and snowy. An early Naturalist’s Corner from last January was “Birrrrrding the big chill.” “The annual Balsam Christmas Bird Count was scheduled for last Saturday (Jan. 2). However, scary weather conditions —...
by don | Dec 22, 2010
Don’t worry PUFIs won’t harm you. They won’t even take you up to the mothership to probe and prod you and send you home with nothing but a vague recollection of bluish lights and otherworldly mutterings. PUFI is simply bird-nerd speak for purple finch. This “sparrow...
by don | Dec 17, 2010
I have about 20 PUFIs at my feeders. Been here about a week now. Been feeding here since 1994 – always get a few each winter. But never this many. Lucky for me I’m not participating in any citizen science projects this week. I’m sure 20 PUFIs would...
by don | Dec 14, 2010
I received an email last week from Ida Phillips, communications director for Audubon North Carolina, announcing that Lea Island, a barrier island in Pender County was close to being permanently protected: “One of the last undeveloped barrier islands in North Carolina...
