Notes from the Woods

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Showing Results for: wildlife habitat

Spring Means Vernal Pools Wake

Spring Means Vernal Pools Wake

The vernal equinox is upon us again and that means it is a great time to pay attention to the often-overlooked flooded areas in our forests and even small woodland areas. What some consider to be "just puddles" - many creatures call these places home and essential to...

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Return to Swan Island

Return to Swan Island

Photographs aren't going to be made while you're sleeping. A truism that continues to pop in my head just like the one of "being there." This past Memorial Day, I returned to a lake that has this little island with a willow tree on it. It's about an hour drive for me...

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Red-backed Salamander photo

Red-backed Salamander photo

Sometimes the smallest wildlife encounters can give the biggest joys, and this was the case this past weekend.   For the very first time, I stumbled upon my first salamander in the woods.   Red-backed salamanders (plethadon cinereus) as I understand are one of the...

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Roosevelt Elk on Gold Bluffs Beach

Roosevelt Elk on Gold Bluffs Beach

I have to say this was probably one of the stranger things I have ever seen.   There are a few areas of Redwoods National Park that are typical grassy meadow habitat, typical elk habitat.   The park has a resident herd of Roosevelt Elk that inhabit a few of these...

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Bear and salmon stream

Bear and salmon stream

Bear and river, Kinak Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska Hard to believe months have already gone by and I am still digging out favorites from my trip to Katmai National Park in Alaska.   Bears are such amazing animals, I still feel quite privileged to have had the...

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Katmai eruption of 1912

June 1912 wasn't a very pleasant time in Katmai.   Imagine not being able to see a lamp at arms length due to sulfurous volcanic ash filling the air.   Remnants of the events of that time remain nearly 100 years later and became the subjects of a few of my...

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