I thought I’d go down to the Wetlands early (relatively early) to see if the night heron that showed up yesterday was still around. At first I thought that the bird had moved on, until I checked the secondary Wetlands Overlook (near the Lemurs). It had rained 3-5 inches the day before and there weren’t [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Spring Posts
Yellow-crowned Night Heron in Wetlands
May 27th, 2011A Yellow-crowned Night Heron was seen on the snag in the center of the Wetlands on Friday (5/27/11). To my knowledge this the first heron of this species seen at the Museum. It was probably on migration and was brought down by the severe thunderstorms of the day. A Black-crowned Night Heron in immature plumage [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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BEKIs Make Big Splash in Wetlands!
May 25th, 2011The picture on the right is of the splash made by an adult male Belted Kingfisher as it dove into the water. The kingfisher was demonstrating to its young fledglings how to catch fish. I saw at least three kingfishers in the Wetlands on Wednesday (5/18). The next day it was reported that there were [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Bald Eagles
May 18th, 2011On Saturday May 14 three Bald Eagles soared over the Museum headed north. The birds were seen by all three Rangers on duty that day (Kristin, Sara, and me). All three eagles were sub-adults from a previous year as there was molt in progress on at least two of them. Keep looking up! Sorry, no [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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You never know what you’ll catch…
May 17th, 2011The Sixspotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes Triton) in the photo caught itself a heavy meal from its perch atop a lotus pad. To give some idea of the size of the spider, the tadpole was about two inches in length. By the way, the “sixspotted” part of the common name refers to six black spots on [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Thirteen years ago…
May 14th, 2011…a tiny white, newly hatched insect crawled from its nest in a twig of an oak tree and dropped to the ground. The nymph burrowed underground and found a rootlet of the mighty oak that stood above it to feed upon. It stayed underground growing and feeding on the roots of the tree, molting four [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Spotted Sandpiper
May 12th, 2011A Spotted Sandpiper stopped in at the Museum on Saturday (4/7/11). We don’t often see shorebirds at the Museum, so whenever one does show up it’s worth mentioning. Spotted Sandpipers are one of four species I would expect to see here. The other three shorebirds likely to be seen are Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, and Least [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Fire!
May 12th, 2011For the past week there has been a fire burning in eastern North Carolina. What’s the connection between a fire in eastern NC and the Museum of Life + Science here in Durham, why write a post about that fire? Well, besides the smoke drifting in to the Triangle on today’s easterly winds, that fire [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Mystery Tree Identified!
May 12th, 2011Earlier this spring I noticed a small tree or shrub at the bottom of the boardwalk just as you make the turn towards the Black Bear Exhibit, where the boardwalk levels out. I didn’t know what the tree was and I don’t remember seeing it last summer. It was either a very fast growing tree [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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