Nature and Nostalgia
Farm animals, wild animals, exotic pets – if you see an animal where you've never seen it before, you may be in North Carolina. Once when driving home from work, I passed a horse running along with traffic in the median of a divided interstate. I was in the far-right lane and called 911. The... Continue Reading →
After the devastation of Hurricane Helene, North Carolinians need any positive news we can find this year, so I'm rounding up some 2024 highlights from the wildlife realm. 1. 399 Cold-Stunned Endangered Sea Turtles are Rehabilitated and Released North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island took in 576 cold-stunned sea turtles in December 2024 when the... Continue Reading →
Visiting Brevard, a peaceful mountain town in Western North Carolina, I was expecting to see a few of the over 250 waterfalls in the area and some gorgeous sights while hiking in the Pisgah National Forest. Pisgah National Forest, by Jeff Gunn from Atlanta, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons I didn’t expect... Continue Reading →
An oddly-shaped, magnificent bird has been haunting me since I first saw it 18 years ago in North Carolina – the great blue heron. I was doing a 2.8-mile walk on the trail around Lake Lynn in Raleigh when I saw a blue-gray bird standing on long, stick-thin legs in shallow water. September 2022 picture... Continue Reading →
Walking my dog at 6 a.m. years ago, I noticed a long, skinny, green twig in the grass. It had an upward bend that hovered over the sidewalk. When my dog stopped a few feet away to stare at it, I took a second look. Then I noticed the twig had eyes, so we backed up.... Continue Reading →
North Carolina news about animals can be bizarre, and a bit concerning. Perhaps having no state-wide law prohibiting private citizens from owning exotic animals is the reason. But not all the animals making headlines are exotic, some are just local wild animals in unexpected places or farm animals on the run. Did events in 2022... Continue Reading →
Back in the decade when children’s programming was limited to whatever the TV antennae could pick up, we still had quite a few animated canine companions to entertain us. Some were crime-fighting heroes, one was a villain, a few were pets with lovable personalities and others had lives independent of people. While most shows were... Continue Reading →
Since International Cat Day is today, I was thinking about my first introduction to cats when I was a small child. We didn’t have any real cats in our home, so all I knew came from television and movies. Let’s take a look at 5 animated cats with shows airing in the 1970s. 1.... Continue Reading →
Sometimes you get so excited about seeing wildlife, you can miss the tiny details that separate truth from fiction. When I saw these swans at my workplace property, I was careful to take a photo from the shadows of a building so I wouldn’t disturb them. A "swan" sighting captured by the author. While Tundra... Continue Reading →
A loud, pained howling sound woke me up. It came from downstairs. 3:00 a.m. I ran and expected to see my cat in a medical crisis. What I found was her head between the vertical blinds, looking out the sliding glass door. She made that horrible sound again. Why was my spayed cat caterwauling? I... Continue Reading →
Moving to the South 25 years ago meant an adjustment to the heat, humidity and creatures of my new home. In other words, little reptiles are everywhere.
When a friend gave me three canna lily bulbs, I had no idea what insect-avian-mammal conflicts lay ahead. I planted them next to my patio. They blossomed in a few months, stood 6 feet tall and had large, tubular, red flowers. Photo by Emi More on Pexels.com The bees came first and worked methodically, moving... Continue Reading →
One of the last gifts my dog gave me was a lesson in leisurely strolling. No longer energized with a youthful bounce in her steps, she walked in slow, rigid movements. Arthritis and assorted ailments had changed her pace, but not her excitement about life. When she was a puppy, she was a sort of... Continue Reading →
I had gotten used to seeing wildlife during long walks with my dog — rabbits, ducks, geese, turtles, lizards, frogs and snakes. But I had never come across a chicken. Not until one December morning in 2019. It was 6:30, before sunrise and the parking lot was still full of cars. The street lights were... Continue Reading →
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Have you ever gone to a café, ordered coffee and the sole employee tells you that the coffee at the café up the street is better? That’s what happened to me recently when a friend and I went to a café on the main street of a university town in... Continue Reading →
Karen M. Free 