Carolina Nature Tours

02/08/2025

We are excited to be a part of this great event next week!

Join us February 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for a day celebrating all things birds at the Arboretum! 🕊️ Guests can enjoy demonstrations with wild birds within our gardens and trails, indoor live raptor presentations, guided bird walks, and a bird art market with local artists. February is a great time for birding because the lack of vegetation makes it easier to spot our year-round resident birds!

Learn more at https://www.ncarboretum.org/event/bird-day/

02/06/2025

Each of our newsletters features a bird of the month: February is the Eastern Phoebe- our only year-round resident flycatcher!
https://mailchi.mp/79e7a3177b8d/september-with-carolina-nature-tours-6746577

02/03/2025

Wood frogs! Turn on the sound and listen to that amphibian love! Check out that nice egg mass. Spring is on the way!

01/28/2025

These are obviously not local birds, but I thought I’d share a few photos from Kevin’s recent trip to Arizona: Mountain Plover, Western Screech Owl and Elegant Trogon!

01/27/2025

Who has ever found an Appalachian Water Wizard??

Hellbenders have some of the best nicknames around: snott otter, mud devil, water dog, lasagna lizard, devil dog, grampus, Allegheny alligator, mud dog, Appalachian water wizard?

Ok we made up that last one, but did you know that hellbenders just might hold the secrets to 10x your next fishing trip? It's true. These amazing amphibians can only thrive in healthy streams with clean water and plenty of native crayfish and aquatic insects to eat. So when you find a healthy hellbender populations, you will probably also find a good environment for native fish who have been coexisting with grampus for millennia.

Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS; Illustration by Holly Richards/USFWS

01/14/2025

12/06/2024

This cold weather has brought lots of ducks to our area, like these Green-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers and Gadwall. Join Kevin on Sunday for some waterfowl entertainment. It's supposed to be warmer!

11/14/2024

It's a great time for sparrows! Join Kevin Arthur Burke on the Oklawaha Greenway this Sunday, November 17th for a fun and easy 2-hour bird walk. Pictured here is a Field Sparrow, one of several species we should find. My favorite thing about these cute little birds is their song - it sounds like a ping-pong ball!

11/13/2024

There are some fun things going on this weekend, including Bird Trivia at Turgua!

Come join Blue Ridge Audubon for an afternoon of birding trivia at in Fairview on Sunday Nov 17 from 4-6pm. Board member will be asking birding related questions to test your knowledge of everything avian. This event is free and open to everyone. The trivia will range from easy to moderately challenging!

11/07/2024

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Robins and Cedar Waxwings at Mouth of Mud Creek today! We're looking forward to our first day trip at this special site in Mills River this weekend!

11/04/2024

We did an awesome family hike to Rainbow Falls in Gorges State Park yesterday! I forgot just how massive this waterfall is!

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween from Carolina Nature Tours!

We met this friendly Raven up on John Rock in Pisgah National Forest last weekend. Like crows and jays, ravens are so incredibly intelligent! This guy has obviously been fed by lots of hikers. They make a whole host of cool vocalizations and we heard it make a few different sounds while we were up there. (I took a video, but there is lots of kid yelling in the background!)

It's been a while since we've shared anything on social media. Hurricane Helene brought everything to a complete standstill here in Western North Carolina. We have been in a state of shock for the past couple of weeks. We are ok, although our house has some water damage in the basement. However, this feels so minor compared to what many of our friends are going through. Many things are getting back to normal and trails and parks are opening back up again, but for others it will take a lot longer and some will never go back to normal. The destruction and loss is truly devastating. We have loved seeing how the community has come together to help. Not just our local community, but many volunteer groups from away, military and FEMA workers. There is a lot of support out there! We hope you and your families are safe and have a happy Halloween!

09/22/2024

We had a great time at Flock to the Rock yesterday! We enjoyed meeting lots of families and coloring hawks and playing raptor trivia as well as leading bird walks and counting migrating raptors. Lots of broad-winged hawks and some great looks at peregrine falcons!

09/18/2024

Support Conserving Carolina and come birding with us!

Calling all birdwatchers!

Bid now on an unforgettable birding tour for 4 in Western NC, led by an expert guide + delicious lunch!

Find this, and other great experiences up for auction on our website:

https://www.conservationcelebration.org/auction

09/17/2024

Coming up on Sunday we'll be exploring some great spots in Lake Lure and Mill Spring. We'll visit Morse Park, Dittmer-Watts Nature Trail Park and Laughter Pond. We should find plenty of fall migrants in these relatively under-birded spots!

09/13/2024

We are so looking forward to this annual event!

09/10/2024

Insects love goldenrod!

The Locust Borer looks just like a wasp, doesn't it? It's actually a native longhorn beetle. The larvae feed on the wood of black locust trees and the adults feed on goldenrod pollen and nectar.

Blue-winged Wasps are easily identified by two yellow spots on the abdomen. They are rarely aggressive and considered beneficial because they help control June beetle grubs.

09/07/2024

We had a great wetlands walk at Jackson Park the other day! It was a little too cool and cloudy to see many dragonflies, but the warblers were out in full force and we saw plenty of excellent wetland blooms!