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NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Coyote Influx Threatens Red Wolf Survival

Naturalist’s Notebook

Mosquitofish illustration.

Mar 1, 2012

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Molly by the Sea

Grandpa asks me how many pancakes I want. I ask for two. He has made my favorite thing for breakfast since this is my special day. The day Grandpa promised to take me out on his boat. Grandpa lives in a little house on Ocean Isle Beach. That's an island off the coast of North Carolina. I love to visit Grandpa's island house.

Dec 15, 2011

Naturalist’s Notebook: Sand: Hold a Mountain in Your Hand

Sand...we play in it, we stroll on it, we make castles out of it, we spread our beach towels on it. But what do we really know about it?
Seaside little bluestem planting at Rachel Carson Reserve.

Mar 1, 2011

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Plants May Lure Crystal Skipper

Coastwatch readers will remember the Crystal Coast's crystal skipper, known scientifically as atrytonopsis new species 1. This rare butterfly is found on a 30-mile stretch of barrier islands, from Bear Island in Hammocks Beach State Park in Onslow County to Fort Macon State Park at the eastern end of Bogue Banks in Carteret County — and it may soon find an additional home.
Crabber Ervin Sadler and Vann Henries sort Sadler's catch.

Mar 1, 2010

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: How to Nab a Crab

By KELLEY BRACKETT WORRIED ABOUT HOW THE KIDS WILL PASS THE TIME THIS SUMMER?  ENCOURAGE THEM TO BE A LITTLE CRABBY. Like fishing, recreational crabbing is a traditional pastime for many along North Carolina's coast. Blue crabs are the typical targets, and the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher's Canoeing the Salt Marsh outdoor exploration program shows participants the ins and outs of crabbing.
Crystal skippers sip nectar from native N.C. plants such as coastal plain dewberry.

Mar 1, 2007

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Bogue’s New Butterfly

The strategic location of Fort Macon on the eastern end of Bogue Banks may have protected Confederate troops from the Union during the civil war, but today its status as a state park protects what may be a new species of butterfly.
red wolf

Dec 1, 2000

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Coyote Influx Threatens Red Wolf Survival

Coyotes. In popular conscious­ness, they slink through sagebrush and sand under a desert sky, frighten ranchers' cattle and howl at the Arizona moon. In truth, coyotes are just as likely to prowl under a North Carolina sky — and biologists with the federal red wolf re­establishment program are the ones who are howling.