Prairie Ridge Ecostation

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Prairie Ridge Ecostation Please visit our 40 acres of Piedmont prairie, forest, ponds, a stream and sustainable building

Fall has begun at Prairie Ridge! The leaves are thinning and we can see sky in places where we only saw leaves just a fe...
10/12/2026

Fall has begun at Prairie Ridge! The leaves are thinning and we can see sky in places where we only saw leaves just a few weeks ago. Don’t forget to look up as you’re wandering in the next few weeks to see signs of fall in your area!

The prairie often turns yellow in the fall when goldenrods bloom, but it’s getting a jumpstart on color this year!Yellow...
10/09/2026

The prairie often turns yellow in the fall when goldenrods bloom, but it’s getting a jumpstart on color this year!

Yellow crownbeard has popped up everywhere along our trails. Its deep yellow flowers provide nectar for many late-season pollinators, adding gorgeous color while performing a vital service for our pollinators as they wrap up their year.

Our dragonflies typically disappear from the pond in mid-September, but we’ve seen a few holdouts over the past couple o...
10/06/2026

Our dragonflies typically disappear from the pond in mid-September, but we’ve seen a few holdouts over the past couple of weeks! The Common Green Darners and Wandering Gliders we’ve seen are migrant species, so we suspect we’re seeing the tail end of fall migration. These dragonflies will likely disappear over the next week or two, heading south to whatever as-yet-unknown places they visit for the winter.

We think of woodpeckers spending all their time in trees, but lately we’ve seen several woodpeckers hopping around on th...
10/02/2026

We think of woodpeckers spending all their time in trees, but lately we’ve seen several woodpeckers hopping around on the ground. They’re Northern Flickers, a species known for hunting worms and insects in soil in open areas. There must be good hunting near the Outdoor Classroom recently because we have seen a lot of them!

📷: Flicker on ground by Sam Ray

This is a great time of year to see mushrooms at Prairie Ridge. With the recent rains, we're eagerly on the lookout for ...
09/29/2026

This is a great time of year to see mushrooms at Prairie Ridge. With the recent rains, we're eagerly on the lookout for our fungal friends, from old favorites to new finds!

We see a lot of spiders making egg sacs at this time of year! A few of our favorites are the yellow garden spider and t...
09/26/2026

We see a lot of spiders making egg sacs at this time of year! A few of our favorites are the yellow garden spider and the green lynx spider. In both cases, the moms transform from healthy, round spiders to skinny spiders when they lay their eggs. Laying that many eggs really takes it out of them!

Want to learn more about spiders? We have a great program coming up October 2! Get more info and register for the Spider Hunt at https://www.naturalsciences.org/calendar/event/spider-hunt-2/

We’re just starting to see a few signs of fall, from dewy spiderwebs in the morning to goldenrod blooming in the prairie...
09/18/2026

We’re just starting to see a few signs of fall, from dewy spiderwebs in the morning to goldenrod blooming in the prairie to Canada geese flying overhead. What signs of fall are you looking out for? Share in the comments!

Have you ever watched American beautyberry berries grow? A small clump of pale flower becomes a stem of densely packed g...
09/12/2026

Have you ever watched American beautyberry berries grow? A small clump of pale flower becomes a stem of densely packed green berries. The berries then ripen from the back to the front. We’re starting to see a lot more ripe berries than unripe, which means the bushes will soon be full of mockingbirds taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat beautyberry buffet!

One of the reasons we love native plants is their hardiness, even when the weather is far from ideal. It’s been so dry t...
09/08/2026

One of the reasons we love native plants is their hardiness, even when the weather is far from ideal. It’s been so dry this year, but our native plant garden still looks lush. You can hardly even tell we’re in a drought!

09/05/2026

It’s been a slow year for butterflies at Prairie Ridge - until recently!

We’re seeing butterflies everywhere now, and we especially love visiting the pipevine in the garden to see pipevine swallowtails. The adults fluttering around are beautiful, but their caterpillars chew the thick pipevine leaves so loudly that you can hear them munching from several feet away. Turn up the sound to hear their big crunch!

Address

1671 Gold Star Drive
Raleigh, NC
27607

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 4pm
Wednesday 9am - 4pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday 9am - 4pm

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