Bromeliad-laden trees arched across the highway as my cab ferried me from Singapore’s international airport. A lusciously shade-dappled park with intermittent benches and exercise equipment ran along one side. Median plantings, neighboring walls, and even some of the buildings themselves were meticulously landscaped with botanical...
Old Faithful I see crowds gathering in front of Old Faithful Inn’s namesake geyser as I pull up to Yellowstone National Park’s famed historic lodge. I contemplate checking-in and catching the next eruption, but then I see it – a bison meandering across the basin. How...
Sooty terns and magnificent frigatebirds filled the air as I stepped off the ferry at Dry Tortugas National Park. I focused on a single tern as it swooped to the ground, landing out of view where I imagined it being greeted by a hungry chick....
Spotting scopes, binoculars, telephoto lenses and cell phones were all trained up into the pines. I traced their gazes into the trees. A cloud of orange quivered in the wind, hundreds if not thousands of delicate wings folded within protective pine needles....
Fall isn’t a season I know well, having spent most of my life in the tropics or sub-tropics. I remember being completely baffled by it when I moved from the Philippines to Indiana for college - how could it be a bright and sunny day,...
It was the new moon and it was dark, the type of blackness one never sees in the city. I squinted at the dirt road glowing in my headlights, hoping to spot a snake soaking in the last warmth of the day, or perhaps a...
For me, 2019 was packed with adventures as I explored Florida beyond my southern base in pursuit of animals to photograph for my new book project with the University Press of Florida, Wild Florida: The Animals of the Sunshine State. As I continue my quest...
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...
We’d barely dropped from the ridge into our first flower-studded meadow along Mt. Rainier’s Northern Loop Trail when my hiking buddy popped the question – “What’s the wildlife goal this time?”I had to laugh; this woman knew me well. She’d trudged through parks in Miami...
Born in Seattle, one of my earliest delights was the rare glimpse of Mt. Rainier in her full glory, shimmering through breaks in the clouds. Family weekends, holidays and even commutes across the Cascade Range were punctuated by visits to Paradise, Tipsoo Lake, the Grove...