A trail of posts through time: ecology, culture, and close looking.
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The Big Bang Within
by Nicolette L. Cagle, September 1, 2026 I am exploding, expanding outwards, becoming spacious after a dense contraction. There is space now to see the cold, dark rocks of adverse experiences and Weltschmerz. There is space, too, to see the fiery suns of passion and justice-seeking. There is space to see the myriad planets within,…
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Naming Deities
Nicolette L. Cagle, September 1, 2026Eno River, Durham, NC As I walk among the varied notes of a choral matins, sung by fish crows and blue jays and mockingbirds, I look up to the vaulted glory of my forest cathedral and give quiet thanks. I see streaks of carnation pink brushed across the azure firmament—a…
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Nature Calls Us Back
by Nicolette L. Cagle, August 28, 2026 Some days I walk through the woods with my head tucked down, my feet walking a familiar path by memory, and my thoughts aware submerged in thought. Often, I’m mentally choreographing my to-do-list or rehashing a conversation or weighing whether my behavior needs to change in response to…
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Measurements
by Nicolette L. Cagle, August 22, 2026, Durham, NC The rushing water clears away some useless thoughts, replacing “schedule” with “freshet” and “record digitization” with “apricity.” The power of the river and of the sun cannot be measured in flow rates or irradiance. No, that power can only be measured in units of life force:…
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Following the Green Wave: How Cuckoos Track Rain, Caterpillars, and Cicadas
by Nicolette L. Cagle, August 14, 2026 In the last post, we followed the cuckoo family through deep time, from the early Cenozoic fossil record to the remarkable diversity of modern cuckoos. We also noted that the modern Cuckoo family extends beyond the notorious brood parasite, the Common Cuckoo, and embraces roadrunners, coucals, anis, koels,…
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Ghost Ranch
by Nicolette L. Cagle August 7, 2026 | Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico They say that Ghost Ranch isn’t haunted, that cattle rustlers told tall tales of ghosts and ghouls to scare away the locals and protect illicit goods nestled between the striated hills, whose tones shift with the sun and seasons. But there are…
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Three Amanitas
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., August 5, 2026 Location: Durham, NC, along the Eno River The woods were warm, wet, and thick with humidity this morning. Dark and close, the trees released large, gentle drops of rain that sat patiently until a breeze brushed the canopy, releasing them to the forest floor of dense brown…
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From the Time of the Cuckoos
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., July 1, 2026 Before the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) embedded itself in the ancient rites of Hera in Greece or the cuckoo clock folk art of Germanic Europe, the cuckoo arose from the annals of deep time, straddling the devastation of the K-Pg boundary (66 Ma), when planet Earth lost 75%…
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Flourishing Fungi: Snow Fungus
By Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., July 26, 2026 Location: Duke Forest, Durham, NC near New Hope Creek and Hollow Rock The humid air and moist ground had turned the world into a wonderland of the bizarre, letting loose towering white mushrooms that reached my knee, pairs of greenhouse millipedes entwined on trees, and a determined…
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Milkcap Mushrooms
Recent rains means it’s Milkcap Mushroom (Lactarius sp.) season! Did you know that North Carolina has an unusually important history of milkcap research? UNC mycologist William Chambers Coker published The Lactarias of North Carolina in 1918. A later assessment of the UNC Herbarium reported 456 milkcap specimens representing 76 species, and 355 of those specimens…
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The Rhythm of the Land
by Nicolette L. Cagle, July 22, 2026, Sennett’s Hole, Durham, NC The air is thick with the reverberations of cricket frogs that clatter, katydids that creak, and birds that burr. Between the pulsing choruses and punctuated calls, the river chatters, babbling over boulders and burbling through descending levels of metamorphic rock. A gentle wind pushes…
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Justicia and Justice
by Nicolette L. Cagle The Justicia is blooming again at Sennet’s Hole, in its predictable rhythm. I wonder when Justice last bloomed on this American continent? Humans sometimes seem unpredictable, but that isn’t clear-eyed seeing. We pretend we are unknowable so we don’t have to confront the facts of our true nature, the good and…
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From the Land of the Cuckoos
By Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D, June 30, 2026 My mother’s maiden name is Kukulski. In Polish, kukułka means “cuckoo,” and the name carries bird-sound inside it: kuku, kuku. Before the cuckoo became a symbol, before some members of its family evolved brood parasitism, before people made it a marker of seasons, it was a voice…
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The Comfort of Old Houses
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., July 10, 2026 I feel more comfortable in old houses than new ones. I am more at ease in a musty cellar where a brewer once sold his beer than in a modern basement filled with buzzing electronics and signs declaring that “what happens in…stays in…” I am more at…
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Looking into the Box: Individuality and Variation in Eastern Box Turtles
by Nicolette L. Cagle, June 1, 2026 In the last post, we opened the box by looking at the Eastern Box Turtle’s participation in the forest-floor food web. We considered the turtle not as an ecosystem service, but as a participant in the exchanges that make the forest floor come alive. Now we look more…
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Where I Come From
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., July 1, 2026 I come from a place where the river carried nuclear material in its mesmerizing current and the roar of cars from the nearby Tri-State lulled me to sleep. My dogs were once surprised while walking near a bend in that river, a place where the water sat…
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Opening the Box: The Eastern Box Turtle and the Forest-Floor Food Web
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., May 31, 2026 In the last post, we unwrapped one of the Eastern Box Turtle’s clearest gifts: the seeds and spores it carries through the landscape. We followed Mayapple seeds and fungal spores through the turtle’s body and back into the forest floor. But the story does not end there.…
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Unwrapping the Box: Seeds, Spores, and the Forest Inside the Turtle
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., May 26, 2026 In the last post, we began a new part of this Eastern Box Turtle series by considering the turtle’s gifts. In Western science, many of these gifts are described as ecosystem services, or the useful work a species does in a larger ecological system. That language can…
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Holding History: Irises of the Mongolian Steppe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, June 13, 2026 In Khentii Province, Mongolia, history is close to the ground. This is a landscape closely associated with Chinggis Khan, with the Onon and Kherlen river worlds of his birth, with sacred mountains, and with the stories that connect empire, pastoral life, and Mongolian identity. To walk in Khentii…
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Wrapped in a Box: The Gifts of the Eastern Box Turtle
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., May 25, 2026 In the previous posts in this Eastern Box Turtle series, we followed the turtle from deep evolutionary time into the present: through its ancient shell, its contested names, its once broad but now shrinking range, its remembered routes, its habitat mosaics, and the broken landscapes that threaten…
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Beyond the Box: Young Turtles, Interrupted Routes, and the Future of Eastern Box Turtle Landscapes
Eastern Box Turtles can persist for decades in changing landscapes, even as the conditions needed for their future quietly disappear. In this post, I explore what the scientific literature reveals about young turtles, population declines, skewed sex ratios, fragmented habitats, roads, mowing, and management. The story is sobering, but clear: conserving box turtles means protecting…
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Within the Box: Habitat Mosaics, Moisture, and the Seasonal Lives of Eastern Box Turtles
Eastern Box Turtles are often described as woodland turtles, but the scientific literature reveals a more complex story. In this post, I explore how Eastern, or Woodland, Box Turtles use habitat mosaics of forest, wetland, edge, leaf litter, logs, brambles, moisture, shade, and overwintering sites. Their home is not a single habitat type, but a…
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What Happens to a Nut on the Forest Floor?
by Nicolette L. Cagle, June 1, 2026 What happens to a hickory nut or walnut after it falls to the forest floor? At first, it can seem like a simple thing, a stored future released from the canopy and left beneath the tree that made it. Imagine a hickory nut resting inside its husk, a…
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Around the Box: Home Range, Movement, and the Remembered Routes of Eastern Box Turtles
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., May 20, 2026 In the last post, I explored the early Western scientific descriptions of the Eastern, or Woodland, Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina): a turtle that early naturalists struggled to name, classify, and even describe, but repeatedly recognized for its most remarkable feature: the ability to close itself away…
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Drawing the Box: Early Descriptions and Studies of the Eastern Box Turtle
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., May 25, 2026 In the last post, we explored the overlapping ranges and contemporary taxonomic debates surrounding the Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina), focusing our attention on the most widely distributed and iconic form of the eastern United States: the Eastern or Woodland Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina). In this…
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Outside the Box: Range, Roads, and the Future of the Eastern Box Turtle
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D. In the first post of the Eastern Box Turtle series, we explored the evolutionary history of box turtles, from their origins as chunky, shellless, toothed, lizard-like creatures to the emergence of the domed, hinged, beaked turtles we recognize today. We followed that story from the earliest turtle-line reptiles of deep…
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Before the Box: The 260-Million-Year Story of the Eastern Box Turtle
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., May 15, 2026 The Eastern Box Turtle is one of the most familiar and beloved turtles of eastern North America, yet its story begins far beyond the forests, fields, and backyards where we encounter it today. To understand this small, domed, gold-mottled turtle, we have to travel through deep time to…
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Silver Birch: A Tree of Disturbance and Renewal
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 13, 2026In the last several posts, I’ve explored the dry woodlands and steppe-edge habitats of Central Europe, where trees grow in bright light and on poor soils impacted by disturbance. After turning to Scots Pine, I arrive at another characteristic species of these transitional places: Silver Birch (Betula pendula).…
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Scots Pine: The Workhorse of Dry European Soils
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 13, 2026 In the last post, I explored the dry woodlands and steppe-edge habitats of Central Europe, where thin soils, lots of light, and anthropogenic disturbance create a different world from the cool mountain forests, broadleaf lowlands, and floodplains that came before. Here, I turn to one of the…
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Rock, Loess, and Light: Dry Woodlands and Steppe-Edge Habitats of Central Europe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 13, 2026 In the last several posts, I’ve been moving through the major forested worlds of Central Europe, from mountain forests of Spruce, Fir, Beech, and Larch, to the Broadleaf Forests of the lowlands and foothills, and most recently to the shifting floodplain forests of the Danube, Morava, and…
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Pannonian Ash: A Tree of Hardwood Gallery Forests and Lowland Rivers
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 13, 2026 In the last several posts, I’ve been exploring the floodplain forests of Central Europe through some of their characteristic trees, including Black Alder and Black Poplar, both species closely tied to shifting sediments and mercurial river banks. Pannonian Ash belongs to the floodplain as well, but it…
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Black Poplar: The Fast-Growing Pioneer of Central Europe’s Floodplains
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 13, 2026 In recent posts, I have been exploring the dynamic floodplain forests found along the iconic Danube, Morava, and Tisza Rivers, including the resilient, rooted, and red-hued Black Alder. But Black Alder is not alone in its ability to live with instability. It is joined by Black Poplar,…
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Black Alder: The Rooted, Red Tree of Central Europe’s Floodplain Forests
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 12, 2026 In the last post, I introduced another forested ecosystem in the Central European tree series: the dynamic floodplain forests found along the iconic Danube, Morava, and Tisza Rivers. These systems are home to survivors, plants that stand firm in shifting sands and along muddy banks, including the…
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Along the Danube, Morava, and Tisza: Floodplain Trees of Central Europe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 11, 2026 In the last several posts, I’ve been moving through the major forest types of Central Europe, from mountain forests shaped by Spruce, Fir, Beech, and Larch to the Broadleaf Forests of the lowlands and foothills, where Oaks, Hornbeam, and Linden help define the landscape. Here, I turn…
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Little-leaf Linden: A Tree of Pollinators and Poetry in Central Europe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 10, 2026 In the last several posts, I’ve been moving through the characteristic trees of Central Europe’s Broadleaf Forests, beginning with Pedunculate Oak, Sessile Oak, and European Hornbeam. Here, I turn to a tree that provides a different kind of presence in those forests: Little-leaf Linden (Tilia cordata). While…
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European Hornbeam: Knitting the Broadleaf Forest Across Moisture Regimes and Canopy Layers
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 4, 2026 In the last two posts, I introduced two species that anchor the mesic and upland Broadleaf Forests of Central Europe: Pedunculate Oak and Sessile Oak. Here, I turn to a species that helps knit those forest stands together across moisture regimes and canopy layers: European Hornbeam. If…
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Sessile Oak: Dry Slopes and the Working Woodlands of Central Europe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 3, 2026 In the last several posts, I’ve been moving through the major forest types of Central Europe and some of their characteristic trees. Most recently, I turned to Pedunculate Oak, one of the great broadleaf trees of moister lowlands, floodplains, and warmer broadleaf landscapes. Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea)…
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Oak, Hornbeam, and Linden: The Broadleaf Forests of Central Europe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., April 1, 2026 Recently, I’ve been exploring the mountain forests of Central Europe and some of their characteristic trees — among them Sycamore Maple, European Beech, Silver Fir, Norway Spruce, and European Larch. But much of everyday life in Central Europe takes place below those cooler, steeper uplands. Mihály Munkácsy’s…
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European Larch: The Deciduous Conifer of Central Europe’s Mountains
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 31, 2026 In the last several posts, I’ve been moving through the trees that help define the mountain forests of Central Europe. I began with the broader upland landscape, then turned to species such as Sycamore Maple, European Beech, Silver Fir, and Norway Spruce, each of which helps shape…
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Norway Spruce: The Dark Spire of Central Europe’s Mountain Forests
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 30, 2026 In the last few posts, I’ve been moving through the trees that help define the mountain forests of Central Europe. I began with the larger upland landscape, then turned to species such as Sycamore Maple, European Beech, and Silver Fir, each of which helps shape the structure…
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Silver Fir: A Tall, Shade-Bearing Conifer of Central Europe’s Mountain Forests
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 30, 2026In the last few posts, I’ve been moving deeper into the trees that shape the mountain forests of Central Europe. I began with the broader upland landscape, then turned to species such as Sycamore Maple and European Beech, both of which help define the structure and atmosphere of…
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European Beech: The Tree That Shapes the Atmosphere of Central Europe’s Uplands
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 29, 2026In the last few posts, I introduced this Central Europe tree series by reflecting on why trees are such a powerful way into sense of place, then by sketching the mountain forests of Central Europe, and most recently by looking more closely at Sycamore Maple, one of the…
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Sycamore Maple: A Broad-Leaved Companion of Central Europe’s Uplands
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 29, 2026 In the last two posts, I introduced this new Central Europe tree series by looking first at why trees are such a powerful way into sense of place, and then at the mountain forests of Central Europe, where geology, elevation, snow, and disturbance sort species across the…
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Mountain Forests of Central Europe
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 29, 2026Mountain forests in Central Europe feel layered. Across the Czech uplands and the Western Carpathians, one can move in relatively short distances from foothill broadleaf woods into beech forest, then into colder spruce– and fir-dominated uplands, and finally toward dwarf pine and meadow communities above the tree line.…
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Why Central Europe Is Such a Good Place to Learn Trees
by Nicolette L. Cagle, Ph.D., March 26, 2026Trees are among the clearest expressions of place. They root geology in biotic form, translate climate and water into a visible pattern, and hold the marks of both ecological time and human history. To learn the trees of a region is to do more than learn names; it…
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Why Does the Junco Flash Its Tail and Other Notes
A winter storm approaches. Light flakes of snow dance in the air, and the birds forage and feast, fighting to fill their bellies before snow blankets their food source and enforces a period of fasting. The Ruby-crowned Kinglets are acrobats, flipping and bouncing through the trees. The Cardinals are confident, their size and boldness allowing…
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5 Hours in Oaxaca
The café is quaint and quiet. Powder blue walls are lined with dark shelves, displaying white teacups painted with pale pink and lavender flowers, filled with eclectic books—Dune in Danish, The Moon Guide to Pacific Mexico, and a copy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Émile,—or On Education in Spanish. There are only three small, wooden tables, pressed…
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Common Trees of the Sierra Norte, Estado de Oaxaca, Mexico
Overview of the Sierra Norte. The Sierra Norte of Oaxaca is located about 40 miles north of Oaxaca de Juárez, in the eponymous state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The region extends across nearly 3,300 square miles, and is bordered by the regions of Papaloapam and Cañada to the North, and Valles Centrales, Sierra Sur, and Istmo…
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Punta Gorda, Roatan, Honduras
Author’s Note: Please note that this post was reviewed and corrected by Nerissa Webster, referenced below, and published with her permission. We arrived at Punta Gorda — a village founded by the Garifuna people after being exiled from nearby St. Vincent Island and being deposited on Roatan, Honduras on April 12, 1797 — that sits…
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Fruiting Fungi & Woody Plants in the Piedmont
When we explore the Piedmont woods, our attention sometimes shifts away from the showy flowers, stately trees, and singing birds to the diminutive mushrooms around us. Many of these mushrooms have key and important associations with the woody plants that so often structure our definitions of ecosystems. Fungi & Oaks. In the Piedmont, there are…
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Deer Rubs
On Monday morning, I went for a walk through the riparian woods along the Eno River. On this familiar route, I noticed two trees rubbed raw, rufous-hued, wounded down to the cambium layer. These rubs are from deer, when a buck scrapes his antlers against tree trunks, creating signposts in time and space to mark…
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When Spring Comes Early: Shifting Bloom Times of Piedmont Ephemerals
Spring ephemerals are woodland plants that bloom early in Spring, capturing sunlight that hits the forest floor before the trees leaf out. Some of these ephemerals, like Trout Lilies (Erythronium sp.) have colonies that are over 100 years old! We see spring ephemerals, their delicate leaves and incandescent flowers, during their epigeous or above ground…
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Daily Noticing
I cannot afford to live without the daily routine of noticing nature. I need to see the sparkling frost that rims the sycamore leaves on the forest floor. I need to hear the rhythmic, thumping calls of the Red-bellied Woodpecker in the morning. I need to feel the cold air sting my face as I…
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Öskjuhlíð, Iceland
We woke up and took a taxi to Öskjuhlíð with a driver named Viktor. We walked the waters edge, stepped on a sandy beach, climbed rocks to photograph Campions. We explored the edge of a runway, catching sight of a Whimbrel and Meadow Pipits. We turned around, tracing our steps along with shore and walking…
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Vigur Island Heritage Farm & Nature Reserve, Iceland
People have been living on Vigur Island for over 1,000 years. It’s been the site of a working farm since 1650. It’s the home of Iceland’s only historic windmill, built circa 1840/1860 and operational until 1912. The island’s house, called Viktoria’s House, was built in the mid-1800s as an engagement present from goldsmith, Sumarliði Sumarliðason,…
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Mustn’t Forget
I mustn’t forget how nature heals. I mustn’t forget how the rushing river slows a heart that races and soothes the pain in my chest. I mustn’t forget how the smooth glide of the heron, and the clack of its ancient beak, stretches space and time, broadening my perspective when fear has made me myopic.…
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Roman Volubilis, Morocco
Situated among the fertile agriculture fields outside Moulay Idriss, one stumbles upon the ruins largely from the Roman 2nd and 3rd centuries, a place where olive-oil based wealth funded high-status homes and decorations. Once the home of Juba II, husband of Cleopatra’s daughter Cleopatra Selene II, 10,000+ Romans, and 20,000+ Moroccans, the region then as…
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Differentiating Local Hawks: Red-shouldered Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, & Sharp-shinned Hawk
This morning, as I emerged from the Eno River woods onto a residential street, I saw a hawk flying towards a Mourning Dove in flight. In the Piedmont woods, we often see one of three hawk species perched on a branch at the ready to grab a meal, the Red-shouldered Hawk, the Cooper’s Hawk, and the Sharp-shinned Hawk;…
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Ontario Gallery of Art: Lawren Harris & the Group of Seven
The Ontario Gallery of Art is housed in a beautiful building with soaring wood beams, curving like the bow of a ship and filled with light from large-paned windows. The Gallery is home to the Thomson collection and many of the artists that comprise it would have appreciated the architecture. The Thomson collection includes 130…
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Eastern Cottonwood
The Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is an uncommon tree occupying well-drained, moist soils in the Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina, but stretching north to Canada, west to Montana, and south past Monterrey, Mexico. The Eastern Cottonwood is dioecious, with a single tree dangling catkins in green (female) or red (male), but not both, in…
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Sugarberry Review
Even in January, one might still find ripe red-brown drupes hanging off the sugarberry (Celtis laevigata). This uncommon tree species of the American Southeast can be found in bottomland forests or in areas with more basic soil. It’s best identified by its warty bark and leaves with a mostly smooth margin. The Lumbee people, an…
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Maple-leaf Viburnum
This week’s plant feature is the Maple-leaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium). The Maple-leaf Viburnum or Dockmackie, is found across eastern North America, ranging from Quebec to Texas. In the Piedmont, the Maple-leaf Viburnum is a small shade-tolerant shrub, found in bottomland and upland forests. This shrub typically grows in forests that have been growing for at…
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Weevil Pests of North Carolina Trees
Weevils are beetles (order Coleoptera) in a superfamily (Cuculionoidea) of beetles with long snouts that host chewing mouthparts. These species tend to be quite small – less than a quarter inch in length, and they notable as economically significant insect pests. In North Carolina, Conotrachelus nenuphar is most commonly seen in April and May, with…
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Tree of Heaven
The Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is a non-native, invasive tree species found throughout the United States and North Carolina. Originally introduced from Central China in the 1780s, this invasive species most often occupies woodland borders and edge communities near logged oak and loblolly pine stands locally. The Tree-of-Heaven can be identified by its large pinnately-compound leaves,…
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Fringetree
This week’s plant feature is the fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus), also known as old man’s beard because of the way its pretty, white petals droop when it blooms in April. According to Donald Culross Peattie, the fringetree “contributes to the higher things of life: it is a raving beauty when in mid-spring it is loaded from…
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Grapes
This week we investigate the Piedmont’s native grapes, some of which are fruiting now. While this profile focuses on those plants that we commonly call “grapes” in English or “ᏖᎸᎳᏗ” (pronounced te-lv-la-di) in Cherokee, it’s important to know that the common Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is closely related! The most well-known local grape species is…
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Origins of the Word “Haw”
Today, the term “haw” refers specifically to the red pome (i.e., the indehiscent fruit containing multiple seeds) of the hawthorn (Crataegus species). However, the common name “hawthorn” is derived from the Old English word “haga,” meaning hedge. The common names of possumhaw (Ilex decidua), blackhaw (Viburnum rafinesquianum), rusty blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum), and possumhaw viburnum (Viburnum…
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Glass Flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History
In 1886, a father and son team of Czech glass artisans were asked to make botanical models for Harvard University. Over nearly half a century, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka worked to create one of the most “scientifically and breathtakingly beautiful collections ever created”. Popularly, the collection created by the Blaschka’s and Harvard are called the…
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Notes on Colchagua Valley Wines
Originally published 2021, with updates in 2026. Overview. Chile has been producing wine since the middle of the sixteenth century and is one of the few major wine-producing countries unaffected by phylloxera. Most of its vines therefore grow on their own roots rather than being grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock (The Wine Diplomats, n.d.; Puckette, 2016).…
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Notes on the Wines of Rioja
Overview. Located in north-central Spain, the DOCa Rioja wine region extends across the autonomous communities of La Rioja, the Basque province of Álava, and Navarre, with one registered winery in an enclave of Castilla y León. Wine has been produced in the area since at least Roman times, although the region’s wine culture is older…
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Notes on Burgundian Wine
This was originally written in December 2019. Some edits were made in 2026. Burgundy’s wines are shaped by a long winemaking history and a complex geology of limestone, marl, and clay. Although Pinot Noir and Chardonnay dominate, the region also produces wines from Aligoté, Gamay, and several less common varieties. Burgundian Wine History. Much of…
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Wines of Israel and Palestine
This post was originally written in September 2019. Some updates were added in 2026 to reflect modern geopolitics.The wines in this tasting come from a geographically small but remarkably varied part of the southern Levant. Vineyards extend from the high, volcanic landscapes of the Golan Heights to the limestone hills around Jerusalem and Bethlehem and…
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Greek Wine Notes
Greek wine reaches back through thousands of years of cultivation, cultural exchange, disruption, and revival. This tasting explores several of Greece’s distinctive native grapes and the landscapes that shape them—from the elevated vineyards of Macedonia to the limestone soils of Kefalonia and the high plateaus of the Peloponnese. Greek Wine History. Wine has been produced…
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Selected Notes on the Wines of Washington State
by Nicolette L. Cagle, October 25, 2018In the United States, Washington State is a top producer of powerfully structured, berry-driven Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (MacNeil 2001). Its wine tradition began in the late 1800s with the arrival of German and Italian immigrants. By the 1960s, Washington vineyards were commercially producing northern white grapes, especially Riesling,…
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Piedmont Birds in November
By November, the song of the wood thrush has disappeared, replaced by the melodic tune of the hermit thrush. Juncos and a number of sparrows, including tree, fox, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows have returned. Brown creepers will start showing up on tree trunks, along with winter wrens (smaller and more shy than our year-round Carolina…
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Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers & Tree Damage
The yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), also referred to as the red-throated, squealing, and whining sapsucker (McAtee 1911), is a species of woodpecker found across eastern North America. This migratory species breeds in the hardwood and coniferous forests of Canada, the upper Midwest, and the northeastern United States. In winter, yellow-bellied sapsuckers reside in the southeastern…
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Four-Toed Salamander
The four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) is listed as a species of special concern in North Carolina. Although some populations have been found in the Coastal Plain and Mountains, the four-toed salamander predominantly occurs in the Piedmont where it prefers marshes, swamps and ephemeral ponds surrounded by forest. After mating in the fall, some female four-toed…
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Coyotes in North Carolina
Reports of coyotes (Canus latrans) in North Carolina first emerged in the 1930s, often associated with imported specimens intended to help hunters practice for better game, i.e., red fox. Not until 1947, on Cherokee land in Swain County, did a forest ranger make the first recorded wild sighting of a coyote. In the mid-1980s the range of coyotes…
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Beech Drops
Plant Profile.− This month’s plant profile in a parasitic plant called Beech Drops (Epifagus virginiana). Beech Drops clump around beech trees, grow about six inches high, and look dead. They look dead because they lack leaves and chlorophyll, but luckily for Beech Drops, they do not need to make their own food because they can get…
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Paean to a Walnut Tree
In a North Carolina neighborhood, constituting one small portion of a corpulent suburban empire, a young walnut tree bows to the wind. The rain pelts its leaves, but those leaves hardly quiver. The rain is not the walnut’s king. The walnut kneels like a courtier only for the wind, and when the wind decamps, the…
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Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) & Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)
Each Spring, I make my way to Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) to explore the rich vernal wildlife around North Carolina’s 2nd largest natural lake, Lake Phelps. Lake Phelps is one of the Carolina bay lakes – elliptical lakes aligned on a northwest-southeast axis of uncertain origin, hypothesized to have been carved out by ocean currents,…
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Braving the Bitter Cold for the American Bittern
On my birthday, in mid-December, I dragged my entire family — parents, husband, and 4-year-old son — to find an American Bittern. We drove to Prairie Ridge Ecostation in Raleigh, NC, following a trail of eBird and list-serv sightings of this bulky brown and tan bird in the Heron family (Ardeidae). On a crisp, clear winter’s day, we slowly…
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Eastern Garter Snakes: Mating Balls & Sex in the Trees
Last week, Duke Forest staff photographed Eastern Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) intertwined on the forest floor. They had a discovered a “mating ball” of small males vying for the chance to fertilize a mature female. Other garter snake species are better known for their mating balls, including the Red-Sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). In…
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American Beech
“[The] Beech is identifiable by the gleam of its wondrously smooth bark, not furrowed even by extreme old age. Here it will be free of branches for full half its height, the sturdy boughs then gracefully down-sweeping. The gray bole has a further beauty in the way it flutes out at the base into strong…
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What is the coldest environment birds can tolerate?
A Triangle Naturalist reader recently asked: “Is there a temperature limit past which birds can no longer withstand the elements?” While many bird species migrate to avoid to the chill of winter in temperate climates, some species, like the Emperor Penguin live year-round in frigid Antarctica, where temperatures can dip below -76°F and winds roar…
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Where do birds go when it snows?
On days like this, when the snow drifts down steadily in large, dense clumps, where do all the birds go? Many birds species spend the winter in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Some species, like Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, spend their time in mixed foraging flocks, searching for food sources as a group. Other…
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Return to Flat River Impoundment (Durham County, North Carolina)
Every September, many local lepidopteraphiles (butterfly lovers) make a pilgrimage to the Flat River Waterfowl Impoundment in northern Durham County, North Carolina. Located just north of Historic Stagville along Old Oxford Highway, the impoundment offers a gravel loop trail through wetland habitat. The area abounds with alternate wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), bitterweed (Helenium…
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New Hope Bottomlands Trail (Durham, NC)
The New Hope Creek Bottomlands Trail is a 2.2-mile loop located off SW Durham Drive in south Durham. At the moment, the access point at Sherwood Githens Middle School is closed. The best way to reach the trail is to park near the dumpster in the North Carolina Orthopaedic Center parking lot (3609 SW Durham…
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Temple Flat Rock (Wendell, Wake County, North Carolina)
Just outside Wendell, North Carolina (an eastern satellite town of Raleigh), Temple Flat Rock protects a striking expanse of exposed granite—about 5,270 square meters—that supports a specialized community of lichens, bryophytes, and flowering plants. In 1984, the Temple family donated this unusual Registered Natural Heritage Site to The Nature Conservancy. In the mid-1990s, stewardship transferred…
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Return to Mason Farm (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
One evening this April, I visited Mason Farm with my dear friend gumby. As we started hiking down the grassy path, I commented on how Mason Farm was always a lucky place to find snakes, especially brown snakes, rough green snakes, and rat snakes. We were lucky to add another species to that list: redbelly…
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Brown Snakes at Mason Farm Biological Reserve (Chapel Hill, NC)
One of the most delightful surprises of warm autumn days is finding snakes warming themselves on the walking paths that cut through forest and field. Today, temperatures reached at least 72°F in the Triangle, and snakes were out basking in the sun. At Mason Farm Biological Reserve, we found three DeKay’s brown snakes (Storeria dekayi)…