Small world connections add magic to our lives. Such was the case last week when out of the blue I received an e-mail from Sam, a person I have never met. He kindly authorized me to share his story and photos: “My name is Sam and I live in Manhattan […]
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As a birding and natural history guide, I spend a lot of time in beautiful natural settings throughout the Americas. While this is a great privilege, it also provides a ringside seat to how these areas and the species they support are faring. It is painfully obvious that the climate […]
We headed north toward New York’s famous High Line trail after climbing up two flights of stairs onto the former elevated railroad. Almost immediately, we encountered a “barefoot zone” where a misted, wet walking area helps hot urbanites cool off. Jensen, who hiked the entire mile barefoot, partook in this […]
After 15 years of being members, taking the Bird Biology home study course, submitting 2,319 E-Bird entries and paying countless visits to their website www/allaboutbirds.org, my wife and I finally made a pilgrimage to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. It exceeded expectations. Immediately, we were impressed by […]
Going once to the island of Trinidad in the Lesser Antilles Islands of the southern Caribbean was a pleasure and a privilege. Going a second time was even better – especially with my wife, Lori. My first trip was a Naturalist Journeys/Caligo Ventures tour of Trinidad and Tobago where I […]
Remember the Jetsons cartoon show? You might recall their sleek modern world of shiny towers and advanced technology. The Jetsons seldom walked; they rode on moving walkways. They travelled in air-borne hover cars, called people on interactive video phones, used electric toothbrushes, robots and push-button devices. Nobody on the Jetsons […]
Shockingly, adults spend up to ten hours a day consuming electronic media. Nearly a fourth of teenagers are “almost constantly” online. What do these trends tell us about people today? That we are nearly oblivious to the environment we live in and our fellow humans. Adam Popescu’s recent NY Times story Keep Your […]
In my book Look Up! Birds and Other National Wonders, I wrote about Doug and Kris Tompkins, a visionary couple who invested their time, expertise and money to create a new national park in Argentina to protect Ibera – the second-largest wetland on earth.This project was only one of many […]
What natural wonders could possibly await on a cold, foggy winter morning? Who in their right mind would want to go outside in these conditions? If you do brave the elements at this time of year, it may seem at first as if no birds are present. Instead of birds you might hear sounds ranging […]
Tucked away in the northwest corner of Washington state lies beautiful, glacially-carved Lake Whatcom. The name derives from the Lummi Indian word for loud water – perhaps a reference to Whatcom Falls near the southwest outlet of the lake. It is a pretty lake, but its beauty is definitely not […]