NC Naturalist's New Website/Blog

NC Naturalist has a new home, a website called Sense of Place.

Please visit Sense of Place to learn more about the natural world, and all the aspects of cultural and social history that make up our sense of  place.

Turtle Hole (Durham, NC) - West Point on the Eno

29 Jun 2020 Update: Turtle Hole (AKA Sennett's or Synott's hole) is lovely, but dangerous. Three people have drowned there in the last 18 months alone. Moreover, the neighborhood where many people park (Tanglewood) is being overrun by visitors and the site is being trashed (literally). People are also starting fires and drinking at Turtle Hole. It is highly recommended that you park at West Point on the Eno and walk to Turtle Hole to enjoy the site and swimming is not recommended. 

Overview: Until gaining popularity on the internet among non-locals, Turtle Hole was called Sennett's (or Synott's) Hole. The hole is located at the western end of West Point on the Eno (a Durham city park), and it is bordered by large granodiorite rocks and floodplain forest. Historically, the hole provided excellent opportunities to view water turtles and birds. The hole is also of historic significance: it was the site of a mill in the mid-1700s. Local lore suggests that the owner, Michael Synott drowned in Turtle Hole at a ripe old age, when high water swept away his mill (Heron, 1975). WARNING: Turtle Hole is reported to be quite deep (Bradley, 2007) and drownings occur each year.

Directions: Please visit West Point on the Eno Park, where there is a parking lot. Take the beautiful South River Trail to Warren Creek. See here.

Turtle Hole (AKA Sennett's Hole in 2008)

My observations and ponderings in July 2020: Turtle Hole has changed a lot since I wrote my first blog post about it in 2008 (originally published here), and even more since I first visited it many years before that.

A New Name. Since 2008, WRAL and other folks, perhaps new to the area, have published threadbare stories about "Turtle Hole" online and in doing so, they changed the name of Sennett's Hole to Turtle Hole. Presumably ignorant of its long history and the 18th century lore of Captain Synott, the hole is now named after turtles, which are abundant along the whole Eno River and are in no way a particularly distinguishing character of this stretch of the river, although you can find turtles.

Trashing Nature. In addition, since I first started taking nearly daily walks to Turtle/Sennett's hole nearly two decades ago, the character of the site has changed dramatically. The trash is incredible. This past Sunday morning my family and I found that the once nearly pristine hole was again full of litter. We carried as much as we could up to a trash bin: a full-sized punctured raft, beer bottles and lots of tops, soda cans, Snicker's bar wrappers, a piece of tin that was in a pile of charred wood where someone had built a hot and heavy fire.

Now too, the site is regularly graffitied and every few years trees are hacked by an ax-wielding visitor with a lot of pent-up aggression. We saw those hack marks on Sunday too. Compared to 10 years ago, the paths are now double their original width, and the soil is so compacted the the trails flood in the rain. New social trails now cut through what was intended to be protected forest land.

Danger and Drowning. When my family and I walked down to Turtle Hole on Sunday, we also found the paths torn up and trees knocked down by a big-wheeled, wide vehicle. At first we had thought someone had plowed through the woods on an ATV. Later, we found that the track marks led to a bit of "Do Not Cross" police tape flagging in the wind, tied to an ironwood tree. Another young person - 16 years old - had drowned at the hole.

I can't tell you how many times my family has made the pilgrimage down to Turtle Hole to honor the dead. Over the years, I've lost count of the number of people, typically young people,  that have lost their lives. The news doesn't report these stories anymore, and now we only learn about the drownings from neighbors that saw the emergency vehicles.

Birds and Beauty. Sennett's Hole is lost now, and with it the beauty of its narrow woodland trail and the respect that visitors used to show. Now, Sennett's hole is Turtle Hole - a place people go to party without cleaning up their trash, much less listening for the haunting call of the yellow-billed cuckoo. Still, sometimes, when the weather turns and the crowds thin out, I can make out a barred owl in the distance or the wide-eyed stare of a doe.

Final Thoughts. In the end, we need more Sennett's Holes. We need more protected lands. We need more places to recreate. As my friend and fellow ecologist, Ron Sutherland, recently mentioned, the Triangle is growing, and we all rely on and need green spaces for mental and physical health. Right now, there is just not enough space to go around unless we work to preserve more green space. If you're interested in green space protection locally, considering donating to the Triangle Land Conservancy or other organizations that conserve open space.

My observations and ponderings in September 2008 (originally published here): The day is beautiful and feels fully like fall. The air is cool, the breeze is moderate and rustles the treetops, and the sun seems lower in the sky, less orange than in summer, glowing a very pale yellow.

I sit at Sennett's Hole, a quiet refuge in autumn where the Eno River widens at the confluence of Warren's Creek and large igneous obstacles. A five foot tall pale pink and gray monolith, with crevices highlighted by black bryophytes and pale green lichen, stretches 60 feet across, blocking nearly half of the river.

Here, water rushes across smaller rocks and little puddles are filled with minnows. Yellow bellied turtles sit on decaying sycamore logs and straggly river birches make their stand on rocky island mounds. Sandy outcrops are littered with bleached fresh water clam shells and imprinted with the marks of raccoons, dogs, and man. The river babbles over boulders and crickets hum all around. The titmice no longer screech warnings, and the crows and red shouldered hawk have just ended their mid-day rounds. Carolina chickadees still call in the distance.

Yellow bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) at Sennett's Hole

Man has left his mark here, not only with footprints, but with dirty once-white socks left after a day's excursion. Non-native grasses and trees invade the floodplain. The rocks are said to be scarred by the renants of an 18th century mill, and an old rope hangs from a bending birch. In the distance, despite my best attempts to ignore it, I can hear civilization -- traffic and airplanes. Still, with the warm sun on my back and the chickadees chuckling nearby, I am transported into contemplative peace by nature at Sennett's Hole.

Granodiorite porphyry rocks stretching across the Eno River at Sennett Hole.

Granodiorite porphyry (upclose), a blend of plagioclase feldspar, biotite mica, horneblend and quartz.

Resources: If you're interested in the geology of Sennett's Hole and West Point on the Eno, please check out the following NCGS publication:

Bradley, P. J. 2007. A Geologic Adventure Along the Eno River, Information Circular 35. North Carolina Geologic Survey: Raleigh, North Carolina. 65 p

For more information on the history of West Point on the Eno, please see:

Heron, D. 1975. The Story of West Point on the Eno. Eno Journal 3 (1): 4-8. Online Publication. Accessed September 24, 2008.

And check The Border Life.

A secretive Fowler's toad (Bufo fowleri)

Piedmont Birds in November

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 wrens), and well-drilling yellow-bellied sapsuckers. You may also see more duck species, especially common golden-eyes and hooded mergansers. If you are very lucky, you might catch a glimpse of short-eared or northern saw-whet owls, which are sometimes spied in the Triangle during the winter months.

In mid-November, you might find pine-siskins flocking to feeders, mixed with year-round resident goldfinches and migratory purple finches. At the end of the month, look for golden-crowned kinglets (Regulus satrapa). Rusty blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) also return to the Piedmont in mid-November, spied amongst flocks of grackles and starlings. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, over the past forty years rusty blackbird populations have declined between 85% and 99% and scientists don’t yet know why. Some researchers from the International Rusty Blackbird Technical Working Group suspect that this decline is related to the species strict reliance on disappearing wooded wetland habitat.

If you aren’t able to find siskins and kinglets, you should be able to observe hawks flying high overhead or low through the forest. In the Piedmont, we have two fast-flying forest hawks, or Accipiters: the Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) and the sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus). From afar, these two species are difficult to tell apart. Adults of both species are bluish-gray above with banded tails with rusty-barred breasts. Cooper’s hawks are larger than sharp-shinned hawks, but size can be difficult to estimate in the field. Moreover, both species feed primarily on birds. While the sharp-shinned hawk preys almost entire upon birds, the Cooper’s hawk will also take a number of small mammals. 

References:

Cook, Dave. 2001. The Piedmont Almanac. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Mystic Crow Publishing.

Ehrlich, P., D. Dobkin, and D. Wheye (1988). The Birder's Handbook. New York: Simon & Schuster.

The Environmental Science Summer Program at Duke is now accepting applications for 2017! 

The FREE 2017 Environmental Science Summer Program at Duke is now accepting applications. 

Please share this opportunity with rising Sophomores, Juniors, & Seniors in the Triangle Area.

Please feel free to share this link with students: sites.nicholas.duke.edu/essp

Also, feel free to print out, post, and share the photo.

All students are welcomed to apply. We are looking for a diversity of students interested in college advancement and environmental science, representing a range of races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses.

Nominate Your Conservation Heroes!

Nominate Your Conservation Heroes!

Wild South Seeks Nominations for 8th Annual Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Conservation in the South.

Wild South invites the public to submit nominations for the 8th Annual Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards. The awards recognize outstanding contributions to environmental conservation in the South during the past year. Awards will be given and top nominees recognized in each of the five categories:

•  Outstanding Small Business
•   Outstanding Journalist
•   Outstanding Educator
•   Outstanding Youth
•   Outstanding Conservationist.

On May 7, 2016, top nominees and award winners will be honored at the 8th Annual Wild South Green Gala at The Millroom in Asheville, North Carolina.

Nominations are accepted from across the South and can be submitted online by April 1, 2016 at www.wildsouth.org/nominations. Top nominees and winners will be selected by the Roosevelt-Ashe Selection Committee. Members of this committee are conservation leaders in the region and include:

• Katie Hicks, Associate Director of Clean Water for North Carolina (Asheville, NC)
• Jake Wheeler, Creative Director of RootsRated (Chattanooga, TN)
• Frank Peterman, Co-founder and Senior Business Manager for the Diverse Environmental Leaders National Speakers Bureau (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
• Audrey Peterman, Member of the Board of Trustees of National Parks Conservation Association (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
• Dusty Allison, Digital Publisher of Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine (Asheville, NC)
• Kathleen Williams, Founding Executive Director of Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation (Nashville, TN)
• Pete Conroy, Director of Environmental Policy & Information Center of Jacksonville State University (Jacksonville, AL)
• Camille Bowman, Architectural Conservator (Gadsden, AL)
• Mary Topa, Executive Director of Georgia Forest Watch (Dahlonega, GA)

​The nomination form can be accessed directly here. We look forward to reading your nomination and to recognizing your conservation heroes!​

About Wild South:

Wild South is the voice of our public lands, forests, and waters as people across the region band together to save the wild places and wild things that we all love. Wild South’s mission is to inspire people to enjoy, value and protect the wild character and natural legacy of the South. For the past 25 years, Wild South has been a leader in protecting our public lands in the South. Working in eight states, Wild South has offices in Asheville, North Carolina, and Moulton, Alabama, with additional staff in Tennessee and Mississippi. To learn more about Wild South, visit www.wildsouth.org.

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 United States, Mexico and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (from Audubon)

Sapsuckers are known for their distinct feeding behavior: Excavating rows of holes in trees to feed on sap, cambium, and the insects attracted to these wells. Twenty to 100% of a sapsucker’s diet might be the sap itself, depending on the season (Varner et al 2006), and analysis of stomach contents suggest that the cambium itself may make up around 17% the sapsuckers diet (McAtee 1911). Observational data also shows that sapsuckers also rely heavily on these wells for insects for both adults and their young. After their young fledge the nest, adult sapsuckers will spend about 1 to 2 weeks teaching their young the art of sapsucking (Ehrlich et al 1988, p348).

While the sapsuckers’ work serves to feed them and their offspring, a “suite of animals” usurps these wells to feed on the sap themselves (Eberhardt 2000), including small mammals and other bird species (Varner et al. 2006). Ehrlich et al. (1988) notes that sapsuckers often guard their wells from both mammalian and avian thieves, particularly the ruby-throated hummingbird.

Moreover, there is method to the placement of these sap wells. According to Varner et al. (2006), yellow-bellied sapsuckers in their winter range tend to create wells on the north aspect of tree trunks of larger diameter trees. In addition, some research suggests that sapsuckers choose older, diseased trees within which to excavate wells, perhaps because of the increased amino acid content in the sap of weakened trees (Eberhardt 2000).

Sapsuckers have been documented to feed from at least 252 species of native trees and vines, and 31 species of non-native trees (Atwell 1911, p53). Mortality attributed to sapsucker damage has been documented among more than 10% of these species (Atwell 1911). In their breeding range, where sapsuckers feed on trees from April until October, tree mortality associated with sapsucker damage may only be 1 to 3% for some species (e.g., hemlock, red spruce), but can reach up to 40 to 67% for thin barked trees (e.g., red maple, paper birch, and gray birch) (Rushmore 1969). According to Atwell (1911), only tree species in the Mulberry family (Moraceae), such as mulberries and Osage orange, have no documented yellow-bellied sapsucker feeding activity.

The feeding behavior of sapsuckers can girdle and kill trees. The sapsuckers drill through the outer bark of the tree, past the bast (i.e., inner bark), into the cambium, sometimes penetrating the wood (McAtee 1911). This means, that a sapsucker – to access the sap of the tree – is actually puncturing the vascular tissues of the tree. The sapsucker is puncturing those straw-like vessels that move food and water, stopping some parts of the tree from receiving adequate water and nutrients.

Sapsucker damage can also provide entrée for pathogens and insects, making trees more susceptible to fungus in particular. For example, when the fungus Peridermium cerebrum infects a tree through sapsucker holes, it results in large knots protruding from the bark (McAtee 1911). In contrast, some trees will attempt to heal the wounds and grow thicker at the site of the sapsucker damage, resulting in “shelf-like” layers of woody growth (McAtee 1911, p19). This shelving is particularly pronounced in shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) (pers. obs., 10 Feb 2016).

Sometimes the damage done by sapsuckers can extend into the wood itself, leaving the wood “distorted and discolored in such a way as to destroy its commercial value” (McAtee 1911, p19). Anecdotal evidence has suggested that sapsuckers can affect commercial enterprises in other ways, including damage to apple and peach orchards, maples used for syrup production, and timber producing pines (McAtee 1911).

While the most noticeable sapsucker damage is on trees, woody vines may also sustain damage, including grape species (Vitus), Virginia creeper, and trumpet creeper. The news isn’t all bad: Poison Ivy is also affected.

References

Eberhardt, L. S. 2000. Use and selection of sap trees by yellow-bellied sapsuckers. The Auk 117(1): 41-51.

Ehrlich, P., D. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook. New York: Simon & Schuster.

McAtee, W. L. 1911. Woodpeckers in relation to trees and wood products. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Biological Survey no. 39: September 26, 1911.

Rushmore, F. 1969. Sapsucker: Damage Varies with Tree Species and Seasons. USDA Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, Upper Darby, PA. USDA Forest Service Research Paper NE-136.

Varner, J. M., J. S. Kush, and R. S. Meldahl. 2006. Characteristics of sap trees used by overwintering Sphyrapicus varius (Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers) in an old-growth pine forest. Southeastern Naturalist 5(1): 127-134.

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 in North Carolina was primarily confined to some counties on the western boundary of the Piedmont. Yet today, coyotes occur in all 100 counties of the state. Their populations remain highest in the Western counties, but in the last ten to twenty years sizeable populations have grown in the Coastal Plain.

It isn’t difficult to account for recent increase in coyotes in North Carolina. The species is extremely mobile, with individuals dispersing up to 50 miles. Plus, coyotes can adapt to a wide-range of culinary delights. As a carnivore, most of a coyote’s diet is made up of small mammals, but they will also consume snakes, birds and large insects. If live food is scarce, coyotes will eat carrion. If carrion is scare, as it is in autumn and winter, they will eat berries and herbs. Fox hunters, houndsmen, and wildlife officials have unwittingly contributed to the rise of the coyote by releasing adults for training and accidentally introducing very cute coyote pups to gamelands instead of similar looking red fox pups. Moreover, the coyote’s natural predators in North Carolina have either been hunted to extinction (the gray wolf) or nearly so (the red wolf and mountain lion).

Coyotes from http://www.orangecountync.gov/departments/animalservices/coyote_page.php

Besides being adaptable, coyotes are also prolific. They reach sexual maturity around the age of one year, and by age two they select a mate for life. Coyotes will begin courtship rituals between January and March, and after a gestation of only 63 days a female will give birth to between one and twelve young (average litter: 6 pups). The pups wean from their mother six to eight weeks after being born, but continue to get food from their father and hunting lessons from their mother until the young disperse after one year.

The clever and cunning antics of coyotes often increase their success. They watch the sky for ravens, letting the birds guide them to carrion. They hunt as a pair, with one partner jumping wildly at a rabbit forcing it right into the mouth of its mate. Coyotes also adjust their behavior to gain from humans: begging in parking lots in Death Valley or attacking pets in the suburbs.

Although coyotes terrorize local neighborhoods, sometimes eat small dogs and chickens, and may carry rabies, they do confer one benefit: coyotes eat feral cats, and thus they could improve depleted song bird populations. Unfortunately, this benefit only further demonstrates the trouble we humans have respecting Mother Nature’s balance…and it doesn’t work out so well for those poor cats either.

Did you know?

·         Coyotes range from three to four feet long, and weight between 20 and 50 pounds.

·         Coyotes can communicate with over ten different sounds.

·         50% to 70% of coyotes die before attaining adulthood

·         Coyotes live between 10 and 14 years in the wild

References:

Hampton, J. 1 Aug 2010. “Studies try to get handle on coyotes in N.C.” The Virginian-Pilot. Available at: http://hamptonroads.com/2010/07/studies-try-get-handle-coyotes-nc.

Hill, E. P., P. Sumner, and J. B. Wooding. 1987. Human influences on range expansion of coyotes in the southeast. Wildlife Society Bulletin 15:521-524.

Ware, J. 12 Nov 2007. “Coyotes make selves at home in our backyards.” StarNews Online. Available at: http://www.starnewsonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/NEWS/711120333&template=printpicart [accessed 02 Feb 2011]

Wilsdon, C. 1997. “Gaining Ground." National Geographic World. Feb 1997.

Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)

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 salamanders cooperate with each other during the spring nesting season, preferring to lay eggs together on moss-covered logs and roots draped over still water. This communal nest allows one female to leave for a short period, while the other stays behind to tend to the eggs. While it may look like the females are guarding the eggs from predators, researchers have suggested that the females actually protect the eggs from being destroyed by fungus. Reid Harris and Douglas Gill have suggested that female four-toed salamanders may actually eat eggs on which fungus is detected. 

Four-toed salamander by J. D. Willson (http://srelherp.uga.edu/salamanders/pics/hemscu210.jpg)

After one and half to two months of protection, in the warmth of early summer, the larvae finally emerge from the eggs and drop into the still water where they transform into small adults in about 6 weeks. It will take at least one and half more years for the young four-toed salamanders to reach sexual maturity. 

As adults, the four-toed salamander ranged from two to 3.5 inches. The back tends to be a mottled reddish brown with small black spots, with the tail getting progressively redder. The tail, when grabbed, can be disconnected and will continue to writher and wiggle to lure predators away from the fleeing salamander. The belly of the four-toed salamander is white with black spots, and as its name suggest, the four-toed salamander only has four toes on each hind foot. Adults can typically be found under rocks and leaf litter. 

Nominate a Naturalist!

Nominate a Naturalist!*

"Thomas Say Awards Program 2016
OPEN NOW!

Being an American naturalist during the eighteenth and nineteenth century required skill, intelligence, determination, support, and some luck. Self-taught naturalist Thomas Say (1787-1834), who identified more than 1,500 species of insects and animals unique to North America (including the coyote), was one of these brave naturalists who helped blaze a trail for future naturalists. This award program is named in his honor, as are numerous species such as Say's phoebe, Sayornis saya. He represents innovation, commitment, and a passion to contribute to science.

In the fourth year of this awards program, we strive to honor naturalists who have demonstrated the highest accomplishments of our profession and have inspired greater understanding, awareness, and stewardship of our natural resources. Nominees have to be NAI Interpretive Naturalist Section members. It does take a little time to prepare a good nomination and put it together with accurate information and clear details. However, the results last a lifetime. 

These awards of excellence not only provide much deserved recognition for our fellow section members, but they also bring to the attention of administrators that they have outstanding employees, whose abilities and talents are recognized by other outside professional individuals and organizations. And, at times, it helps sway agencies and their budgets to be able to send these award recipients to the conference to receive the award in front of their peers.

It is now YOUR turn to make the effort and nominate someone (or something). The awards for will be given during the section meeting at the NAI national conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, November 8-12, 2016. 

The award nomination information can be found at http://naiinsection.wordpress.com. You don't have to wait until the deadline, which is July 1, 2016, send to Awards Chair Lori Spencer, bflyspencer8@gmail.com.  You can nominate someone or something today!"

*from the NAI Interpretive Naturalist Section publication The Naturalist

Need more information? Please visit https://naiinsection.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/in-section-awards_2016_individual.pdf

Beech Drops (Epifagus virginiana)

Beech Drops (photo by Stan Malcolm, available at
http://www.performance-vision.com/airline2011/airline-fall-11c.htm) 

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 nutrients and carbohydrates from the roots of Beech trees (Fagus grandifolia).

Beech Drops may not look impressive at first, but if you look closely you’ll find tiny pink flowers. The flowers near the base of the stem seem closed up tight. These flowers are known as cleistogamous and they are self-fertilizing. The flowers near the top of the plan are open. These flowers are chasmogamous and are fertilized by nearby plants. A recent study suggests that those chasmogamous flowers may actually be pollinated by ants!

While Beech Drops are fascinating in their own right, they also have been used medicinally for thousands of years. American Indians would steep the whole plant in hot water to great a tea to treat diarrhea, dysentery, mouth sores and a variety of other complaints. Some people have even used the plant as a poultice to treat wounds and arrest the on-set of gangrene.

Beech Drops are found across the eastern United States and Canada. They are also found in all three provinces of North Carolina, from the mountains to the coast. 

Nominate an Environmental Educator!

"Greetings members and friends of EENC,

We are now accepting nominations for the 2014 EENC Awards. These awards will be presented at the 2014 Annual Conference/Regional SEEA Conference this September at Caraway Camp and Conference Center.

Use this link to reach the nomination form: https://iyha.wufoo.com/forms/eenc-2014-award-nomination/

The awards are separated into two categories, those available to the general public, and those available to EENC Members only. The descriptions of the awards are listed below, as well as on the nominations form.

The following awards are open to all organizations and the general public.

Environmental Educator of the Year recognizes an educator who stands out among environmental educators as a professional who exemplifies excellence in environmental education and lends credibility to the field. Through valuable contributions and professionalism, the environmental educator is regarded as an ideal example that other EE practitioners should strive to emulate.

Exceptional Environmental Education Program recognizes a program, education center, organization, partnership or educational system that exemplifies excellence in environmental education. The program reaches far beyond the usual magnitude and degree of scope and scale to create: a sustainable commitment to environmental education, a more environmentally literate public, a stronger profession for environmental educators, and otherwise supporting EENC’s mission and objectives.

Outstanding Partner recognizes a business, non-profit, or governmental agency that have partnered with EENC to support the mission and growth of EENC.  This organization has made significant contributions to EENC by providing in-kind contributions; donations of employees’ time, talent, and materials; monetary support to the EENC Board or Board Training; or by providing significant funding or services to EENC’s annual conference. This partnership enables EENC to experience a growth in professionalism and/or membership, which may not have been possible without this contribution.

            Membership in EENC is required for the following awards.

Outstanding Newcomer recognizes an Environmental Educators of North Carolina member of five years or less who has made significant contributions to EENC during his or her short time with EENC.

Outstanding Practitioner recognizes a member of the Environmental Educators of North Carolina who works regularly as an environmental educator, lending their skills to the growing body of environmental education as a profession. The individual will have made significant contributions to the Environmental Educators of North Carolina through statewide participation, leadership in their region, and being an advocate for high quality education through how they teach, live, and do.

Outstanding Service recognizes an active member who has served in several key leadership roles making a significant contribution to further the mission of EENC. This individual has given many hours of dedicated service to help shape EENC into a viable statewide professional organization.

Melva Fager Okun Life Achievement recognizes member who has served EENC in key leadership roles for over three years on the Board of Directors. This individual has made very significant contributions in furthering EENC’s mission to serve as a leader in building a statewide network of EE practitioners, providing excellent professional development, strengthening EE throughout North Carolina, and serving as an active state affiliate to the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Please reply to this email if you have any questions.

Thank you so much for your support of EENC!"

(from Michelle Pearce)

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 walnut stands tall again, the master of its domain.

In its front-yard fiefdom, the walnut must wage war. At first the walnut unwittingly welcomes its enemy. When the walnut caterpillar moth lays its eggs, they appear small and harmless. In ten days, the eggs explode with hundreds of larvae that live to devour. Soon the writhing mass of young caterpillars disperses, attacking the food stores of the tree. The walnut struggles to survive until its powerful ally – the weather -- arrives. With one hard freeze, the long war ends.

The walnut also craves conquest. It aggressively ferrets out new territory, dispatching long roots to pilfer resources from its neighbors. The walnut fights without mercy, using chemical warfare to vanquish its enemies. Lively columbines and gentle lilacs succumb quickly to the poisonous exudate; the spice bush fights back, but in the end, the walnut stands victorious.

The walnut courts and conquers, but it also gives generously to its neighbors. Each year, the walnut doles out rich nuts to squirrels and raccoons. It offers shelter to nervous Carolina wrens and boastful bluebirds. Without recompense, the walnut encourages every passerby to revel in its shade. Without shame, the walnut tempts voyeurs to contemplate its trials and tribulations, its annual cycle of dieback and growth.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), photo by Alicia Lamborn available at http://baker.ifas.ufl.edu/Arboretum/BlackWalnut.html

Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) & Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

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Each Spring, I make my way to Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC) to explore the rich vernal wildlife around North Carolina’s 2^nd 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, wind or comets.

Highlights of this year’s visit, included the installation of new boardwalk, plus large singing choruses of Southern Toads, blossoming Pawpaws, and Zebra Swallowtails.

Birds seen:

• pileated woodpecker
• red-bellied woodpecker
• blue jay
• Carolina wren
• northern cardinal
• white-throated sparrow
• mourning dove
• common grackle
• boat-tailed grackle
• Carolina chickadee
• American crows
• laughing gulls

• American robin
• blue-grey gnatcatcher
• eastern meadowlark
• yellow-rumped warbler
• white-eyed vireo
• turkey vulture
• eastern bluebird
• brown thrasher
• purple martin
• northern mockingbird
• American goldfinch
• brown-headed cowbird
• European startling
• eastern towhee

Birds heard only:

Silver-spotted skipper at Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC)

• yellow-throated warbler
• northern parula
• eastern screech owl
• grey catbird
• tufted titmouse
• red-shouldered hawk
• red-eyed vireo

Other wildlife encounters:

• zebra swallowtail
• tiger swallowtail
• falcate orange-tip
• silver-spotted skipper
• southern toads
• Fowler’s toads



Zebra swallowtail at Pettigrew State Park (Creswell, NC)

• southern leopard frogs (heard only)

• bullfrog (heard only)
• yellow-bellied slider
• eastern box turtle
• eastern musk turtle
• redbelly turtle
• eastern grey squirrel
• cotton rat
• opossum
• eastern cottontail
• raccoon (tracks only)
• clearwing moth spp.
• phantom craneflies (mating)

Jack-in-the-pulpit at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Pawpaw (Asimina spp.) at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Sensitve fern at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

American sycamore at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Southern toad at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Eastern box turtle at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Eastern musk turtle at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

Redbelly turtle at Pettigrew SP (Creswell, NC)

This year, we also visited the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, NC. The short boardwalk, which starts at the visitor center, allowed for close encounters with Red-bellied Watersnakes, Eastern Musk Turtles, and Spotted Turtles.

Spotted turtles at Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

Birds seen:

• American robin
• European starling
• boat-tailed grackle
• purple martin
• red-bellied woodpecker
• yellow-rumped warbler

Birds heard:

• yellow-throated warbler
• laughing gull

Other wildlife encounters:

Red-bellied watersnake at Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

• eastern painted turtle
• eastern musk turtle
• redbelly turtle
• spotted turtles
• yellow-bellied slider
• red bellied water snakes
• northern watersnake
• cabbage white
• falcate orange-tip

Watersnakes (possibly Northern) at Pocosin Lakes NWR (Columbia, NC)

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 walked around one cattail fringed pond, stopping every so often to carefully eye the reeds. We knew that the American Bittern was a camouflage expert: its brown and tan vertical stripes help it fade into the winter-bleached cattails just as much as its awkward stance, with its long beak pointed into the air. The first pond yield no bittern. We walked on to the next. Eventually, fingers chilled and faces frozens, we walked back across the stark field to our car, heads hung with the weight of failure.

Over a month later, I saw another posting about the American Bittern at Prairie Ridge Ecostation. Again, I dragged my family back out. This trip ended in failure too. I was devasted because I knew the bittern wouldn't stick around much longer. American Bitterns will spend the winter in much of North Carolina, feeding on crayfish and frogs without having to bore through a thick layer of ice. But in spring, the American Bitterns leave North Carolina, and head to their breeding grounds in the northern United States and Canada. Lamenting another lost opportunity, we ate away our sorrows at the local Ben and Jerry's.

Yesterday, I saw another posting about the American Bittern. A lady, much like me, had visited the site three times before finally seeing it. I decided to drag my family out to Prairie Ridge Ecostation one last time. As we walked around the first pond, my heart began to sink. Nothing. We headed to the smaller, cattail-filled pond. We walked halfway around this little pond when I saw a strange bit of dark brown mixed into the pale cattails, my eyes finally focused in on the elusive American Bittern.

At first it seemed frozen in its strange beak-up pose. Then it was comfortable preening in front of us, and the bittern even ate a little something it grabbed out of the shallow pond. The bittern moved with great speed and precision, each movement efficient and graceful.

I had finally found the American Bittern at Prairie Ridge. And I even got to take it home with me. When we discovered the bittern, my son magically transformed himself from a little boy uninterested in birds into a keen mimic of the American Bittern. Later he told me that "the bird" was the most beautiful thing that he had seen today.

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.

Eastern Garter Snakes mating in the Duke Forest, February 20, 2014; Photo courtesy of Sara Childs.

Other garter snake species are better known for their mating balls, including the Red-Sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). In Manitoba, as many as 25 male Red-Sided Garter Snakes will compete for the chance to fertlize one female, with hundreds of snakes congregating in spring outside their hibernacula or winter dens. The females release a pheromone that drives male Garter Snakes wild (video link here).

Both Eastern Garter Snakes and Red-Sided Garter Snakes have been documented to mate in the trees, a full yard off the ground. Researchers believe that Garter Snakes are driven to arboreal mating by their thermoregulatory needs -- it's easier to make sweet snake love while warm. Typically, Garter Snakes are only seen mating in trees after a rain. The rain cools the ground, but the trees and shrubs remain warmer at air temperature. On sunny days, the ground tends to be warmer than trees, and Garter Snakes are more likely to be seen mating there.

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 feet, to the shallow, wide-spreading roots. And the luxuriant growth of mosses on the north side of such a tree, together with the mottling of lichens, add to the look it ears of wisdom and serenity.” – Donald Culross Peattie, 1948, A NaturalHistory of Trees of Eastern and Central North America

Beech nut

The American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is never more beautiful than in winter, with its slender branches outlined in ice, their downward sweep extended by stubborn leaves that refuse to fall. It's beauty has been noted by both eminent naturalists and giddy couples seeking to etch their love permanently into its smooth gray bark.

Found across eastern North America, west to Minnesota and south to Texas, the American Beech populates hardwood forest and well-drained bottomlands. It can be recognized by its alternate, elliptical leaf with sharply incurved teeth, its lancelike pseudoterminal buds, and its small nut encased by a prickly husk. 

Two varieties of American Beech are known to occur in North Carolina. Fagus grandifolia var. caroliniana occurs in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, and it is recognized by the fuzzy hairs on the underside of its thin leaf. Fagus grandifolia var. grandifolia occurs in the mountains and is hairyless or hairy only on the midveins of the leaf. 

Scorias spongiosa on Beech in Durham NC

In many forests of the Piedmont, the beauty of the American Beech is marred only by the Beech Blight Aphid and the dense black fungus (Scorias spongiosa) that grows on the aphids' honeydew. Yet, with dense snow covering the ground and base of the trunk, even this cannot detract from the grace of the American Beech.