The Overstory, a recent best-selling book by Richard Powers, profiled militant forest activists in the Pacific Northwest. In contrast, just northeast of Seattle in Bothell, Washington, a kinder, gentler approach was employed by the Friends of North Creek Forest for a more than a decade. It worked! This month, […]
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Birds are a big draw for visitors to the magnificent Billy Frank Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, but frogs also put on a show there that is not-to-be missed. And I am not just referring to the loudest, largest, most boisterous (and invasive) American Bullfrogs. I am referring to the tiny, […]
Recently while hiking across a pedestrian/bicycling bridge over a wooded ravine in Seattle, we heard a hissing call. Leaning against the bridge guard rail, we came face-to-face with a juvenile Barred Owl 15 yards away. Perched in the crotch of a Big-leaf Maple, it was staring intently up an evergreen […]
Tucked away in a thinly populated part of Southeastern Arizona lies a national treasure. Chiricahua National Monument comprises over 11,000 acres of mountainous terrain filled with rock hoodoos, standing/balancing rocks and lovely pine/oak/sycamore canyons interspersed with cacti and mesquite from the surrounding desert. An attractive natural rock visitor center […]
Naturalist Journey to Patagonia and Antarctica Punta Arenas, Chile on the southern tip of South America along the Straits of Magellan, is known as the city at the end of the world. It was our point of departure for two fantastic journeys: One to nearby Torres del Paine and another […]
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 […]
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 […]