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 wall of rain made it nearly impossible to see the sign for the Palm Beach Bookstore just across the street as I pulled into a parking spot. I turned off the engine and picked up the copy of my new book, Wild Florida: An...
Liguus Snail (Liguus Fasciatus) Darkness envelops me as I step from the brightly lit marsh into a tree island, a pocket of hardwood hammock within the Everglades. I wait for my eyes to adjust, then begin scanning trees for arboreal snails. These terrestrial mollusks once glistened...
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...
Muted greens, shades of tan, gray-tinged water – the contrasting head of a Redhead seems to glow against the neutral tones. I track the duck as it swims along the edge of an island, a backdrop of brittle brown grass. I round the corner and...
“I’ve figured it out,” announced my AirBNB hostess just outside Ocala National Forest.“Figured what out?” I asked.“This wildlife photography thing you do,” she said.She and her partner had become embroiled in my quest to photograph bears for my upcoming Wild Florida coffee table book. They’d...
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....
Had I somehow gained some new bird-attracting ability? Two bird hitchhikers in two weeks felt like a sign. ...