Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

There is a small pond on the Trinity Center property I walk past everyday and is exceptionally buggy. Even when you are covered head to toe with 25% DEET bug spray, it seems to have no effect. The other day, as I rounded a bend, something lifted off from the top of a gnarled cedar. A tall bird croaked with agitation, flying away on long wings and extending a snaking neck. The bird in question was a great blue heron ( Ardea herodias ), a charismatic and recognizable marsh bird that is familiar to most people. Despite their common presence around wetlands, ponds, and rivers, I have heard them mistaken for another tall marsh bird, and are sometimes called "blue cranes". Immature great blue seen near Bogue Sound in Pine Knoll Shores, NC. Photo by me. Bird misidentification isn't a new issue. Even as naturalists and budding ornithologists like John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson were traveling the country identifying the birds they could; even they used colloquial n...

I want you to think of an island and what that means to you. Go on. Imagine an island. What do you see? I reckon the first thing that popped into your head was the stereotypical deserted island. A small plot, not too big, maybe about the size of a football pitch complete with palm trees, rolling dunes, and blue waters on all sides, as far as the eye can see. Or perhaps you thought of the jagged rocky outcrops of Ireland that Luke Skywalker was hanging out on in the latest Star Wars film. Those are some good examples. The island I'm living on for the year is a little different though. Certainly it's in a warm climate with beautiful sparkling water surrounding it, but there is a lot more drama happening on the sand than one might suppose. The island I'll be living on for the year is called Bogue Banks and it is part of the barrier island chain known as the Outer Banks. This 200 mile chain of land runs from Currituck Banks in the north all the way south and east to Bogue Ban...