Our group stood quietly in the forest trying to ignore the mosquitoes buzzing incessantly as our guides played a softly-repeating whoop-like call over their loud speakers. We all listened as they paused the audio, straining to hear the faint response of a Gray-fronted Quail-Dove. Our...
A lone male White-bellied Heron stands on its nest. Its breeding plumes flow elegantly in the wind as it gazes up and down Bhutan’s Puna Tsang Chhu (River). The bird stretches its neck high, puffs out its chest, turns from side to side, then diligently...
Satyr Tragopan Our tour bus erupts in commotion on a partially paved road high in the Himalayas. Binoculars swing to the left. Middle rows stand. Back-seaters move forward. Windows shove open and camera lenses burst forth. A flurry of flakes and frigid air seep into the...
Each shape is more-or-less see through and yet with a stained-glass pattern that hints at the promised rainbows. Red, blue, yellow and green flirt across the surface of the decals as I view them from different angles. ...
If forests, oceans, plants, animals and endangered species could communicate, would they describe humans in the same way we describe COVID-19 - a pandemic?...
In the early days of COVID-19 stay at home orders, I tended my garden with extra care and dipped into my stocks of frozen self-caught fish and seafood but I was far from self-sufficient...
I recently awoke to the sounds of screaming. Despite my quickened pulse, I suspected an animal. This was, after all, my Maryland hurricane season home, a wooded property left to the wildlife most of the year. The screams were piercing as I gently slid the...
It was still dark when we gathered in the small office. Dressed in long-pants and long-sleeves with steaming coffee mugs in hand and headlamps shining from our foreheads, we headed to the boat ramp. In an early morning daze, we talked in unnecessarily hushed tones...
It was the fourth day of my Mt Rainier National Park backpacking trip. As I sipped my coffee at the Yellowstone Cliffs campground, I studied the topo map to reacquaint myself with our hike for the day. We were to pass the Carbon Glacier, which...
Let’s face it, birders can be a serious bunch. There are both written and unspoken rules that garner more than just glares if broken - God forbid you point or wear white boots. I’m pretty sure laughter is generally frowned upon as well. Yet it...