A Look Back at 2024

I thought it would be fun to share some statistics from my nature walks this year: I hope you enjoyed coming along on this journey with me! I’m looking forward to many new adventures in 2025. Happy New Year!

A Second Bloom in Autumn

Some spring flowers have a second bloom in autumn. This week, I found Carolina jessamine and green and gold blooming at Church Street Park. What a nice surprise!

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A Smile for Your Monday

I spotted my first ditch-daisy (midwestern tickseed-sunflower) of the season today. They always make me smile. Happy Monday!

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A Trip to the Coast

Everywhere we go, we can’t help but be curious about the nature that surrounds us. We recently spent a few days at the beach here in North Carolina. While the star of the show was the Atlantic Ocean, we did take note of the plants and animals that crossed our path. Sea oats are a… Continue reading A Trip to the Coast

Adorable Ducklings

I love watching the babies this time of year! There is a mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) family with 10 ducklings at Morrisville Community Park this spring.

American Beech Trees Provide Winter Beauty

Did you know that American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) trees hang on to their golden brown leaves in the winter? It is thought that the leaves protect the new bud growth from hungry deer.

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American Persimmon

Have you noticed piles of small white flowers on the ground? These are American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) flowers. Persimmon trees are dioecious, which means they have separate male and female trees. If you want to have persimmon fruit, you need to have both kinds of trees. You can tell the difference between the trees in… Continue reading American Persimmon

Ants

Have you ever noticed the large ant mounds that always seem to appear after the rain? The ants are busy rebuilding and relocating their nests. We saw at least 8 large ant hills on our walk today, all of them swarming with activity. This ant hill didn’t appear to have much going on. But look… Continue reading Ants

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