Category Archives: Winter

Buds and Birds

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: March 6, 2010

Some pre-spring happenings at the Museum… Get outdoors and have a look around for yourself, and let me know what you see! Read more...

Also posted in Birds, Flora, Mammals, Spring | Tagged Carolina Chickadee, Cooper's Hawk, elm buds, Red Maple, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Spring | Leave a comment

Flora
Winter

The Big White Tree with the Peeling Bark

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: March 3, 2010

I was recently asked whether or not I knew why the bark on American Sycamore drops off the tree in large thin flakes. Coincidentally, while walking around the Outdoor Exhibits this winter with camera in hand, I’ve been taking photos of various trees to use on this blog in a series of informal, mini-field guides. [...] Read more...

Also posted in Flora | Tagged American Sycamore, peeeling bark, tree identification | 3 Comments

Birds
Winter

Red tails, Red breasts, and a Nervous NOMO

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: February 26, 2010

As a follow-up to the Spring? posting of February 25th regarding the questions on the Red-tailed Hawks: A few hours after posting the above, I was out in Catch the Wind and observed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks performing their aerial courtship flight. I didn’t get the whole sequence of events on film (digital), and [...] Read more...

Also posted in Birds | Tagged American Robin, courtship display, nomo, Northern Mockingbird, Red-tailed Hawk | Leave a comment

Spring?

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: February 25, 2010

Spring is wound up and ready to pop! Sure, it was colder than usual the first two months of this year. And, it seems as though it has snowed more this year than within memory. It’s predicted to snow today! But, there’s much evidence pointing to a new season springing forth. The days are getting [...] Read more...

Also posted in Birds, Flora, Mammals, Reptiles and Amphibians | Tagged Birds, blackbird, Cedar Waxwing, nest material, nuthatch, Painted Turtle, Pine Warbler, Purple Martin, Spring, yellow-bellied slider | 4 Comments

The Day of the Fox

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: February 23, 2010

Gray Fox are seen here at the Museum throughout the year. I sometimes see their tracks in the mud on service roads and there is a den in the woods near the Dinosaur Trail. The frequency of sightings usually picks up in mid-winter. Over the past few weeks there have been numerous sightings by myself, [...] Read more...

Also posted in Mammals | Tagged fox track, gray fox, mating season | Leave a comment

Birds
Winter

Aloft at the Museum

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: February 4, 2010

If you look skyward while walking the trails through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind you’re likely to see one of five hawks or vultures which are regular visitors to the Museum. Turkey Vultures are a daily sight as they soar, dip and bank across the Museum’s airspace. The slightly smaller Black Vulture, while [...] Read more...

Also posted in Birds | Tagged Black Vulture, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Cooper's Hawk, nest hole, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vulture | Leave a comment

Another Snow Day in the Wild

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: February 2, 2010

I’ve been working on a couple of new entries to the blog and had hoped to have them posted by now. The recent snow which came to town on January 30 closed the Museum for a few days and I haven’t had the time to complete my work. I did, however, manage to get a [...] Read more...

Also posted in Mammals | Tagged ellerbe creek, otter, Raccoon, River Otter, snow, tracks, wetlands | 4 Comments

Birds
Winter

Find the Bird

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: January 21, 2010

Just a quick quiz posting. See if you can find the bird, then identify it. Don’t scroll down to the bottom of the page until you’ve had a look at the first image. Good job. Now, what kind of bird? Great, a woodpecker. Now, what kind of woodpecker? If you still don’t have it, here’s [...] Read more...

Also posted in Birds | Tagged quiz, sapsucker, Winter, woopecker | Leave a comment

Winter Break

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: January 14, 2010

Although the temperatures for the day were still below normal for this time of year, January 13 did bring with it a slight break in the cold we’ve been experiencing lately. I was able to shed one layer of clothes for the day. Further proof of a definite warm-up was evidenced by a Groundhog seen [...] Read more...

Also posted in Birds, Flora, Mammals | Tagged groundhog, Maple, sapsucker, winter warm-up | 4 Comments

Winter

Cold?

By Greg Dodge, Ranger | Published: January 6, 2010

If you have any doubt as to whether or not it’s been cold outside in the past week or so, I’ve taken a few digital images that may help to convince you that it is. OK, OK, we’re not in Watertown, NY where, as I write this, it’s 13° F, or Duluth, MN where it’s [...] Read more...

Posted in Winter | Tagged black bear, cold, gus, ice, mimi, ursula, virginia, Winter | 7 Comments

Greg Dodge is a professional naturalist as well as a writer, videographer and producer of natural history DVDs. His images have been used in various TV productions, museum displays, and corporate videos. Above all, he has a fascination and passion for all things natural.
Stop by and say hello Tuesday thru Saturday in Explore the Wild, Catch the Wind, or on the Dino Trail.

Tags: black bear, cold, gus, ice, mimi, ursula, virginia, Winter