Yearly Archives: 2016

April is the peak of wildflower bloom where I live. The earliest spring ephemerals have already come and gone, braving late snows and bitter winds. They have been replaced with a steady succession now at its riotous peak, with dozens of species forming a colorful display as varied and beautiful […]

  I had joined Instagram for quite a while but only made my first post almost exactly a year ago, in support of a friend with ALS. I met Gary shortly after moving to Tennessee, and shared his enthusiasm for hiking and the outdoors. He amazed me with stories about […]

  After returning from Texas I took a short trip to South Carolina, finding spring had arrived there before me. I was thrilled to find this tree in full bloom, its sweet fragrance filling the air. It took me back to my childhood, and a magnificent saucer magnolia planted in […]

Many years ago driving across the country I caught a glimpse of a whooping crane on migration. Ever since then, I have wanted to get a better look at this endangered bird. I decided this was the year, and am just back from the 20th annual Port Aransas whooping crane […]

  When I studied monkeys and tropical rainforests, I missed the four seasons. True, for a naturalist, there is little to compare with the riot of jungle life. But having grown up with the rhythm of change, it was strange adjusting to places that had only two seasons – dry […]

February is winter’s battleground, a month reluctantly moving toward spring. As the days grow longer, the sun gets stronger, but at night temperatures plunge and the forest returns to winter. For weeks now, snow falls, and melts, and falls again. Just last week on an unusually warm day I heard […]

I hadn’t been to the ocean in many years. So on a short trip to Los Angeles I determined to visit the coast. After a day in downtown, I escaped to the beach in Santa Monica, arriving just as the sun started to set. As I walked toward the beach, […]

  Snow was always magical to me when I was a kid. When it snowed at night, my sister, brother and I would go downstairs in our house, close the curtain behind us, and turn on a dim outdoor patio light. The glint from the bulb illuminated the snowflakes falling […]

Now is the heart of winter. Here in North Carolina, January is the coldest month. The land and especially water, which covers nearly three quarters of the earth’s surface, are slow to heat and cool. The seasonal lag means the coldest weather at least in the northern hemisphere is often […]