Scarlet tanagers, maroon trilliums and green toads
Threatening weather forecasts likely kept many who registered for last Saturday’s (April 21) 5th Annual Spring Hike in Waynesville’s Watershed at home. But we caught a break – cloudy and overcast but the rain held off till around 11:30 a.m. or so and then it wasn’t...
The “New” Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage
The 62nd Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage (SWP) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) will be April 25 – 28. I was curious if this unseasonably warm, early spring was going to have any impact on the Pilgrimage so I talked with an old friend about it....
A Conference of Birds A Conference of Birds
At Wild South’s recent “Green Tie Gala,” friend, writer, poet and publisher, Thomas Rain Crowe, with knowing wink, slipped a slim beautifully bound chapbook into my hands. I cracked it open immediately upon arriving home and read the first poem “Antidote to Narcissus”...
Rekindling the spirit
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Rachel Reid of Andon-Reid Bed and Breakfast asking if I was up to leading a birding trip on March 31. Now, I’m quite pleased to mention that Andon-Reid has a birding package for their guests that includes my services as a...
Convicted by a jury of my peers
Last year around this time I wrote about the honor of being nominated for Wild South’s Roosevelt-Ashe Society’s “Outstanding Journalist in Conservation” for 2010. I did not win but I did not expect to. I remember thinking and writing upon seeing my fellow nominees,...
Not-so strange bedfellows
I was encouraged by a recent press release from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. The release stated, “In a show of force and unity, over 100 North Carolina sporting groups are calling on the General Assembly to restore critical funding for conservation. The...