Put ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until puffed and golden. Remove from oven, and let stand for 5 minutes. With a flexible spatula, remove strata to
Most people would recognize a Venus flytrap or a pitcher plant, coastal species that capture insects. But what about the crystal skipper, a dainty brown butterfly found only between Fort
Most people would recognize a Venus flytrap or a pitcher plant, coastal species that capture insects. But what about the crystal skipper, a dainty brown butterfly found only between Fort
Across its beaches and barrier islands, estuaries and eastern marshes, North Carolina’s Coastal Plain is rich with history and natural diversity. Two biology professors combine decades of research in a guide to our wonderful wetlands.
Most people would recognize a Venus flytrap or a pitcher plant, coastal species that capture insects. But what about the crystal skipper, a dainty brown butterfly found only between Fort Macon and Hammocks Beach? Or the elegant rush featherling, a late-blooming lily, known to some as “Snow in September,” in Brunswick and Pender counties?
Eric G. Bolen and James F. Parnell, biology and marine professors emeritus at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, have spent their careers studying the region that runs from the fall line around I-95 to the Atlantic. They share their knowledge in An Abundance of Curiosities: The Natural History of North Carolina’s Coastal Plain, and Parnell’s inviting photographs encourage curious readers to get outside and explore.
Belted kingfishers live in North Carolina year-round and are known for flying along rivers and shorelines, using a piercing squawk to announce their arrival. photograph by Neil Jernigan
Bolen and Parnell explore the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, which consist of six biodiverse river basins. Farther south is the miracle of North Carolina’s blackwater streams and rivers (including the Black and the Lumber), where unusual varieties of fish, invertebrates, and aquatic insects thrive, having eluded the hydroelectric impoundments that changed the course of our rivers in the west.
On the coast, we can still spot the glorious painted bunting, now in decline due to habitat loss. Meanwhile, with changing weather patterns and habitat destruction, we have gained increasingly large numbers of nesting wood storks — large, priestly birds that find fish in murky waters using the touch of their bills, not sight.
The authors make clear what treasures — soaring through the air, swimming in our waters, and roaming the land — we may lose if we are not able to protect and preserve our delicate wetlands.
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In a land that has remained mostly unchanged for thousands of years, Cherokee culture continues to evolve. With renewed energy, citizens of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are shaping their own narrative.
From family apple orchards to vast fields of corn and sorghum cane to wild persimmon trees scattered across our hillsides: In the North Carolina mountains, delicious gifts abound.