Would you know what to do if you find an injured wild animal? Do you know who to call for wildlife problems or concerns? The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission receives thousands of calls each year on these kinds of issues, so we thought we’d share a few frequently asked questions that come up in the spring and our best advice for each scenario. I found a fawn! Female deer hide their fawns while they feed, returning several times a day to care for them. People find these fawns and worry that they have been orphaned, but most of the time, they’re not. Unless the fawn is in distress (calling incessantly, visibly injured, or found next to a dead doe), we advise people to leave it in place and check back in 24 hours. If it’s still in the same spot the next day, call a licensed fawn rehabilitator for guidance. I found a bird that can’t fly! In the spring, people often call to report a bird fluttering... (click blog title to read more)

It is going to be a hopping, slithering, slinking kind of day this Saturday at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh when the 23^rd Annual Reptile and Amphibian Day kicks off at 9 a.m. and runs until 5 p.m. The free event, which draws thousands of people each year, highlights the biology, ecology and conservation needs of reptiles and amphibians around the world. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, along with the North Carolina chapter of Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (NCPARC), will have a booth on the third floor of the museum (just as you come off the escalator) with live reptiles and amphibians — collectively known as “herps.” READ MORE

 

What’s scarier than bats at Halloween? A world without bats, that’s what. While bats may get a bad rap, they are hugely important in the ecosystem, playing key roles in keeping us healthy and well fed. Consider this:  Bats eat tons of insects, like mosquitoes that can carry diseases that make us sick. A nursing female bat may consume almost her entire body weight in insects in one night.  Bats are important pollinators and seed spreaders, both of which aid in plant reproduction and forest regrowth. But bats are in trouble. BIG trouble because of a deadly disease known as white-nose syndrome. It has killed millions of bats in the eastern United States, including bats in western North Carolina. Some bat hibernacula — caves and mines — in western North Carolina have seen dramatic population declines although these declines associated with the deadly disease appear to be leveling off in some areas. White-nose syndrome, a...

Those fast-flying, tiny jewels of the sky are back. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are now showing up at feeders around the state, having spent the long, cold winter in Mexico and Central America. At one time, they could be found in North Carolina only in the spring through fall; however, with the rise of backyard feeders, many hummingbirds decide to stay throughout the winter, mainly along the coast. The ruby-throated hummingbird is the only hummingbird species that nests in the eastern part of North America. These hummingbirds prefer to breed and nest in deciduous forests, mixed woodlands and sometimes pine forests, and can often be found nesting in wooded residential areas. They typically build small nests of lichens and spider webs that are small in comparison to other birds’ nests — approximately 1 to 2 inches high and 1½ inches wide. They build their nests on tree limbs that can range from 1 to 60 feet off the ground. Anyone who has ever set up a...

Written by: Brad Howard Have you seen this picture in an email or on Facebook lately?  We have! This photo has been passed around to numerous folks over the last month with claims that it has been taken in various locations across North Carolina.  More recently, some attention was given to a few reports of “a black panther” in Stokes County. There were no photographs or other verifiable evidence to support those reports. While very rare, jaguars, leopards, the jaguarundi and even bobcats can have black coats but there has never been a documented occurrence of a melanistic phase (black) cougar in North America. So, any report of a “black panther” or a “large black cat” is most likely mistaken identity since only the above-mentioned cats have a black phase and only one of those cats is native, the bobcat. The black phase in bobcats is extraordinarily rare. Determining if it were a bobcat would not be that hard. While...