Triple play
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...
Dead birds, dead fish, dead crabs, oh my!
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...
A soggy record
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...
2010 through the Naturalist’s Corner’s window
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 —...
Invasion of the PUFIs
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...
A heartfelt thanks to the Stanbacks
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...