Sense of Place

Tag: nature

  •  Öskjuhlíð, Iceland

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    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…

  • Vigur Island Heritage Farm & Nature Reserve, Iceland

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    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,…

  • Mustn’t Forget

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    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.…

  • Differentiating Local Hawks: Red-shouldered Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, & Sharp-shinned Hawk

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    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;…

  • Ontario Gallery of Art: Lawren Harris & the Group of Seven

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    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…

  • Whitebark Pine Ecology

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    The Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a keystone species in the sub-alpine forests from western Wyoming north to central British Columbia and Alberta. It can also be found at the timberline in the Cascades (think: BC down to the Sierra Nevada) and some mountains between the Cascades and the Rockies. The Whitebark Pine has been…

  • Eastern Cottonwood

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    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…

  • Sugarberry Review

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    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…

  • Maple-leaf Viburnum

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    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…

  • Weevil Pests of North Carolina Trees

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    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…