Birds and other animals, as well as humans, have for centuries found useful these complex communities of organisms that are found everywhere on Earth, yet we are still learning about them.
nature
Sandy Run Park: Town trail an overlooked Outer Banks gem
Tabb’s Trails: In our new photo-essay series, coastal reporter, photographer and hiking enthusiast Kip Tabb takes you along, starting with this easy half-mile loop around a pond and marsh in Kitty Hawk.
It’s time to relearn ancient knowledge our grandparents lived
Lives of convenience have taken us father away from understanding nature’s rhythms and cycles, but many are now coming back around to respecting and revering the land that feeds them.
Moss is magical, useful and all over Earth, but what is it?
With more than 12,000 species, each uniquely adapted to its living conditions, and because it grows pretty much everywhere, humans have found numerous uses for moss, but it may not be what you think.
Wildlife shelter posts reward to end maiming of pelicans
A wild bird rescue organization in Brunswick County is offering a $10,000 reward to stop the common winter occurrence of dead and severely injured brown pelicans washing ashore.
A shared resolution: Embrace nature-based solutions
Guest commentary: As we welcome 2025, let’s make this the year we reimagine our relationship with North Carolina’s coast by leveraging natural processes and resources to enhance biodiversity, protect habitats and promote resilient communities.
Sleepy Creek trail segment planners intend to ‘keep it wild’
The idea behind a planned new portion of Mountains-to-Sea Trail through the Holly Shelter Game Land’s lush pocosin in Pender County is to lure hikers safely away from Highway 17 and most other signs of civilization.
Flying colors over Radio Island
A rainbow reaches skyward from the Newport River as viewed from the marsh at Radio Island following Sunday showers. The island was formed by the placement of dredge spoils from an early channel-deepening project at the Morehead City port in the 1930s and takes its name from Carteret Broadcasting Co.’s WMBL, which began broadcasting in 1947 at 740 kHz. Photo: Mark Hibbs
Inundation-prone Sledge Forest site set for development
A sprawling, “rare, old-growth forest” on the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River in New Hanover County that’s a key part of the river floodplain is targeted for a massive 4,000-home golf course/equestrian development with few options for opponents to stop it.
Belted kingfisher surveys its kingdom
A belted kingfisher surveys its surroundings from a perch, Nov. 14 at North River Preserve in Carteret County. Photo: Nick Green
Beacon backdrop for the birds
The 1859 Cape Lookout Lighthouse reaches 163 feet skyward beyond shorebirds hunkered down recently on a jetty across the bay at the Cape Lookout National Seashore visitor center at Shell Point on Harkers Island. Photo: Dylan Ray
Sunrise skiff
A fishing skiff anchored at the North River Bridge in Otway, in Carteret County, is nearly silhouetted at dawn recently. Photo: Doug Waters
Sunset striations
Striations of clouds blanket the sky at sunset over North River in Carteret County recently. Photo: Dylan Ray
Fishing is for the birds, and they can show you how, where
It’s true that feathered creatures can be an indicator of what’s going on beneath the surface, it’s important to understand what each bird is, how it fishes, and what it means to us as anglers.
Watch your step!
Fall colors, the reds, yellows, browns and copperheads. An eastern copperhead crosses a path recently at the New Bern Civil War Battlefield in Craven County. Watch your step! Photo: Doug Waters
Autumn’s spectacular colors signal our natural connections
Our modern lives often make us feel disconnected from nature, but even if we don’t think we notice, evolution has ensured that our bodies remember the changing seasons.
