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...
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...
Leatherback sea turtles were on my mind as I pulled into Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge’s beach-side parking lot. My quest for nesting sea turtles to photograph for my Wild Florida book had begun several weeks prior, before summer settled in. I knew where to find Florida’s...
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...
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...
I couldn’t get over how dense and sprawling Paris was as I stared down from the Eiffel Tower at the maze of buildings packed onto Medieval-sized streets below. It was Baron Haussmann under Napoleon III who widened some of the streets to create today’s grand...
I regretted leaving my camera at the hotel my first day in England. As I wandered Cambridge’s lovely meadows and gardens, songbirds new to me flitted in the bushes. A flock of fuzzy gallinule chicks paddled behind their parents, fresh from their nest in a...