Photo Stories
Most of my posts focus on my photo safaris.
2025
2024-05-03 Kickapoo Caverns
In 2024, I travelled to Texas to experience the Total Solar Eclipse on April 4. Cloud-cover limited the drama for the eclipse. But all was not lost, because after the…
2024-04-14 Sunday at Laguna Atascosa
2024-04-12 Friday I wanted to stay at Andy Bowie County Park while on South Padre Island. Before leaving Midland, Texas, I worked on getting a space reserved for Sunday, Monday,…
2024-04-08 Texas Solar Eclipse
2024-04-06 Saturday The trip to Texas to see the eclipse began with a blown right rear tire. The spare was not in the best of condition, and after a long…
2024-04-28 “Big Sit” at the National Butterfly Center
Organized by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the “Big Sit” is a bird-watching event that takes place each year during the Great Texas Birding Classic, or GTBC. There are…
2024
2020-May at Bitter Lake NWR, New Mexico
After several memorable months in Texas, even enduring the craziness and uncertainty of the earliest days of the pandemic, I began my first Texas Exodus in 2020-May. I was in…
2024-05-12 Aravaipa AZ
My 2024 trip to see the Texas eclipse provided an opportunity to visit some of my favorite people and places in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. After an all-too-brief stay,…
2024-05-07 Davis Mountains
Following the past few enjoyable days at Kickapoo Caverns, I continued moving west toward my San Diego home. However, I had not quite finished with Texas, and Texas had not…
2024 Big Sit at the National Butterfly Center
The first shift’s vigil at the National Butterfly Center’s “Big Sit” event began on Sunday at 5:00am. The sunlight had not begun to show. In the darkness, we could hear…
2024-04-22 SPI Convention Centre
Near mid-day the sky began a light rain at Sheepshead Bird Sanctuary. So, having already captured so many birds my head was spinning, I collected my gear and headed back…
2024-04-22 Sheepshead Bird Sanctuary
Monday, the birding gods blessed us with a *significant* fallout. Most of us here have seen a *MAJOR* fallout, where birds carpeted the lawns and filled the trees. Monday’s event…
2024-04-20 South Padre Island
Friday, I extended my stay at Andy Bowie Park for another two days. If the storms come in this weekend, it may bring the high-flying migrating warblers down to our…
2024-04-19 SPI Convention Centre
Despite the slowness of birding on the island, there were still a few treasures to be mined. I had been splitting my time between the Birding and Nature Center and…
2024-04-17 South Padre Island
I took a little over 1000 pics on my Wednesday visit. The morning was underwhelming, but It turned out to be a pretty good afternoon. At the Convention Centre, I…
2024-04-15 South Padre Island
After a brief peek at the bird action at the SPI Convention Centre this morning, I enjoyed breakfast at my new ‘favorite’ cafe (Josephine’s) on South Padre Island this morning.…
2023
2023-07-14 Five-Stripe Fever in Box Canyon
The Five-Striped Sparrow is a bird I had longed to meet. For more than a decade I tried, but never managed to be at the right place at the right…
2023-07-13 Paton’s In Patagonia
My day at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds Thursday was lovely. I came early and stayed late. I spent some quality time with the site manager. He provided me with…
2023-07-12 Arizona’s Huachuca Canyon
After coming off the Chiricahua Mountains Monday and getting breakfast in Sunsites, I pushed my way over roads I’d not traveled in a very long time. It carried me through…
2023-07-11 Over The Chiricahua Mountains
When my time with the Cave Creek birds concluded, I ascended the Chiricahua Mountains. It seemed to me most of the up-slope birds were smart enough to hide from the…
2023-07-10 Cave Creek, Portal, AZ
Last year, I passed through Portal, but storms were drenching the upper slopes of the Chiricahuas, and I didn’t feel much like lingering. If it feels right this year, I…
2023-07-04~08 In The Davis Mountains
I stayed four nights at Davis Mountains State Park. For $20 a night with electricity, it was a bargain. I hoped it would give me a chance to make progress…
2023-07-04 Gage Gardens, Marathon TX
Tuesday morning I broke camp early at the rest area 20 miles east of Marathon Texas. I drove to town and had breakfast at the Oasis Cafe. Marathon has a…
2023-July Texas Rest Area Birds
For many reasons I enjoy touring Texas. There is much I enjoy about Texan culture. One is their thoughtfully placed mini-oasis along their two-lane highways. Criss-crossing their vast remote landscapes,…
2023-Early July At Kickapoo Caverns
As I write these notes, I have returned to my southern California homestead. The past three weeks have been so hectic, I have not had time to properly tell the…
2023-06-25 High Island
It’s been nearly two weeks since I published my last episode about my 2023 North American Expedition. Since then, I have fallen way behind in my story-telling chores. Having crossed…
2023-06-23 Crossing Alabama & Mississippi
For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with my adventures, my earlier blogs have the details. Let me provide some background. My plans to visit Nova Scotia this spring were thwarted…
2023-06-19 Harrisonburg VA Region
I pulled into Harrisonburg VA from Strasburg on Sunday. Before I hit the road, I scouted the region for promising locations to find birds. There were three places that seemed…
2023-06-16 Fort Valley Road – VA
I left the Trucker’s Rest Area south of Strasburg Friday morning. I had plotted a course for breakfast a few miles away. Later, I had a campsite in my sights…
2023-06-13 Sky Meadows – VA
2023-06-13 Tuesday A rainstorm hindered my drive away from Harrisburg Monday morning. With a forecast of bad weather for the day, there was no reason to push hard for my…
2023-06-11 Middle Creek – PA
2023-06-11 Sunday After a week enjoying the hospitality of my long-time friends Jeff and Kathy in Wernersville PA, This morning I’m on the road again. I used some of my…
2023-06-07 Blue Marsh, PA
After breakfast Wednesday, and a few errands, I drove a few miles from Wernersville PA, to a reserve called Blue Marsh. I didn’t have much background information about the place,…
2023-06-07, A Week In Wernersville, PA
I left Canada five days ago without a clear plan for my drive south. After all, I had Nova Scotia in my sights when I left San Diego last March.…
2023-06-01 Presqu’ile Park, Ontario
It had been three weeks since I crossed into Canada near Detroit. In that time, I have squeezed in many memories. Point Pelee was my first stop, but it was…
2023-05-27 Ontario, West of Oakville
My friend Judy has lived in Oakville most of her adult life. During my visit, she tried to show me all of her favorite birding locations. And though she did…
2023-05-25 Return to McKinnon Road
After a lovely week in the Township of Tiny Ontario, I said goodbye to the region and the friends I made there. I made two stops on my drive back…
2023-05-24 Tiny Marsh, Ontario
I spent Wednesday at Tiny Marsh. It was my ‘last hurrah’ in the region, and Thursday morning I began my exodus. I met several enthusiastic birders during my tour. A…
2023-05-20 Two Days At Legendary Wye Marsh
Friday after breakfast, I drove twenty minutes east from Tiny Township to Midland Ontario. There, on the southern edge of town, lies a wetland called Wye Marsh. A 3000 acre…
2023-05-19 Cabin Life
After arriving Wednesday at Judy’s cabin, I placed seed and suet in the feeders next to the front porch. Unsure how, when, or ‘if’ the birds would find these offerings,…
2023-05-18 A Quick Tour Of McKinnon Road
Thursday, after spending a few minutes with my friend Judy’s backyard birds, I drove north, towards her cottage near the shore of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. I planned a…
2023-05-13 Ontario’s Bronte Harbour & Long Point
While visiting with my friend Judy in Ontario Canada, she offered to escort me to a few of her favorite birding destinations, and Saturday we spent the day on the…
2023-05-09 Point Pelee Canada
2023-05-10 Wednesday This morning I said goodbye to Point Pelee. The local folks I met during my visit said I was a week early for the warbler migration. Nearly everyone…
2023-05-07 Magee Marsh Ohio
After a lovely 3-day visit with my friends Bruce and Loretta in South Dayton, I hit the road again. I revised my trajectory into Canada from Niagara Falls to Detroit,…
2023-05-05 Dayton Ohio
While visiting with my friends in South Dayton, I found time to meet some of the local birds. Bruce and Loretta provide an array of bird feeders, so I sampled…
2023-04-27 Baker Wetlands, Lawrence Kansas
Thursday, I rode my bike through the center of the Baker Wetlands south of Lawrence Kansas, and spent the day hoping for, but not finding, an American Woodcock. Far from…
2023-04 April In Kansas
While my Canadian destinations are getting hammered with one storm after another, I am biding my time in Kansas. I needed to stay until my suspension airbag was replaced nevertheless,…
2023-04-13 Apache Creek NM
Last Tuesday (April-11) I left my friends in Thatcher, looking forward to spending some time with friends Debbie Merrill and her husband James. I met Debbie when I was working…
2023-04-12 Glenwood NM
Invited to my friends’ New Mexico digs in Apache Creek, I drove east from the Safford/Thatcher region of Arizona. My route carried me through the upper basin of the Gila…
2023-04-09 Early April On Cottonwood Wash
Saturday, my friend Linda and I drove to visit her good friend Kai, who lives on the Cottonwood Wash south of Pima. I had the pleasure of spending time with…
2023-04 Early April on the Redington Road
I left Tucson Saturday with my heart set on traveling the Redington Road, so I drove to the end of Tanque Verde Road and climbed the steep, winding gravel to…
2023-03-31 Friday on Mount Lemmon
I spent Thursday night on Mount Lemmon. I’d hoped to camp on Incinerator Ridge, where I’ve enjoyed warbler meetings in the past. I knew it was early for many of…
2023-03-27 Agua Caliente Park – Tucson
Having enjoyed past visits to Agua Caliente Park in northeast Tucson, I was eager to return during my 2023 Expedition. It did not disappoint! For those folks unfamiliar with this…
2023-03-21 in Patagonia
Tuesday I visited the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia, a destination I have heard many folks rave about over the years. It was my first visit, but I sure…
2023-03-19 Gardner Canyon Road
Knowing I would be returning to Tucson after exploring some of southeastern Arizona’s birding Meccas, I left without the full tour of most of its local specialty locations for meeting…
2023-03-18 Sweetwater Wetlands-Tucson
I rely on an internet connection while I roam North America in my RV. My most reliable method has been through the use of cell phone service. As I explore…
2023 Continental Expedition Begins
Finally, I’m on the road. I launched at about 3pm last Monday, driving through Ramona and Santa Ysabel, then dropping into the Borrego Valley down Montezuma Pass. It is one…
2022
2022 Expedition in Review
On February 27, I left San Diego on what turned out to be a 16,000 mile tour of western North America that lasted 7½ months. I began with a slow…
2022-10-04 Davis Mountains
Davis Mountains State Park has its origins in the 1930s as a Civilian Conservation Corps project to help lift the broken economy out of the depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps…
2022-10-01 Kickapoo Caverns
I spent two nights at Fort Clark in Brackettville Texas. It was my base camp during my tour of Kickapoo Caverns State Park, about 30 miles away. In the spring…
2022 September at the National Butterfly Center
During the last week in September 2022, it was my pleasure to spend several days with friends and visiting wildlife at the National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas. I spent…
2022-09-25 Rollin’ on the River
My friend Luciano told me how much fun it was to explore the Rio Grande aboard our friends Matt and Marianna’s boat. So when I ran into them at the…
2022-09-22 Santa Ana NWR
I learned a new word recently: “Documentarian”. The Oxford Dictionary’s first definition is “a photographer specializing in producing a factual record.” I believe it perfectly describes the goals I set…
2022-09-20 Tuesday at Quinta Mazatlán
I spent most of Tuesday suffering for my art, under the heat and humidity that hung like a blanket over the 20 acre bird sanctuary in McAllen Texas, called Quinta…
2022-09-19 Edinburg Scenic Wetlands
Monday, when I finished getting the warranty work done on my RV in Weslaco, I drove to Edinburg and paid a visit to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands only 21 miles…
2022-09-18 SPI Farewell
I ended my visit to South Padre Island on Sunday. I spent the day touring the SPI Birding and Nature Center, and it yielded a few close encounters with the…
2022-09-17 SPI Beaches
Saturday, I fulfilled my ambition to ride my bike up the beach and look for plovers. I drove north a few miles from the Convention Centre and found a parking…
2022-09-16 SPI on a Friday
Friday, after my morning visits with the birds at Sheepshead and later at the SPI Convention Centre, I took a break from the worst of the midday heat, and retired…
2022-09-15 Thursday on the Island
As my time on South Padre draws near its end, I wish I could stay for months, instead of the weeks available in my time-budget. It is especially hard to…
2022-09-12 SPI on Monday
September days on South Padre Island can be hot as hell, with enough humidity to keep me dripping in sweat from dawn to dusk, and through the night. It can…
2022-09-11 Sunday on South Padre Island
After breakfast Sunday, I stopped at Sheepshead, where I met a Northern Parula and a more typical female Blackburnian Warbler than the bird I met on Saturday at the SPI…
2022-09-10 Saturday on SPI
I spent Saturday morning with the birds and birders visiting the SPI Convention Centre, and met Black-and-White Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Canada Warblers, and Nashville Warblers. Of the birds on this…
2022-09-08 on the Island
Thursday and Friday I split my time between the SPI Birding and Nature Center and the SPI Convention Centre. But it was my long day at the Convention Centre Thursday…
2022-09-06 SPI Convention Centre
What can I say about the South Padre Island Convention Centre I’ve not said already? For me, last Tuesday had an added enjoyable dimension to my visit, when my friend…
2022-09-05 SPI Convention Centre
Having skipped one day of birding on Sunday, I was eager to get out and hunt for birds. It was a dreary, drizzly morning on the island, with a lot…
2022-09-03 Saturday at the SPIBNC
I spent the day soloing at the SPI Birding and Nature Center (BNC), and had a lovely time with the birds and with the people there with me, enjoying the…
2022-09-02 SPI Day Two
My friend Mary caught up with me while I was exploring the Sheepshead Bird Sanctuary Friday morning. She told me she found both a Prairie and a Prothonotary Warbler there…
2022-09-01 SPI Day One
I met my friend Mary after breakfast at the SPI Convention Centre, after I first stopped by the Sheepshead Bird Sanctuary owned by the Valley Land Trust. As I was…
2022-08-30 at Laguna Atascosa NWR
Monday, I drove to Estero Llano Grande, one of the premiere birding destinations in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. I rode my bike over several miles of trails there, but…
2022-08-21 Mustang Island
Mustang Island is one of the long strips of dune islands, or barrier islands off the Gulf Coast of Texas that protect the mainland from the worst fury of the…
2022-08-21 Sunday Tour of Blackjack Peninsula
After leaving High Island, and exploring Anahuac NWR, I continued south and spent some time at Brazoria NWR and San Bernard NWR. My next targeted destination was the Blackjack Peninsula,…
2022-08-18 Thursday’s Gulf Coast Tour
I slept at the Walmart Astoria (i.e. parking lot) Wednesday night, but before I retired, calculated my route for Thursday. I set one of my destinations up for the Brazoria…
2022-08-17 Anahuac NWR
I broke camp at High Island early and drove to the nearby Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge to explore. I’d visited the refuge previously in March 2021. I began my tour…
2022-08-14 High Island
I left Kansas with Texas as my destination. The drive required three long days of driving. On the first two days, I covered about 300 miles each day. But the…
2022-08-10 A Taste of Kansas
My tour of Kansas came to an end, but I spent only a little time with my camera on the birds. The primary obstacles to my birding endeavors were the…
2022-07-21 Nebraska’s Sandhills
As I pen this story, I’m in northeast Kansas. By my calculation, I’ve been traveling for over 12,000 miles on this trip, with miles to go before I sleep. The…
2022-07-18 Devil’s Tower & The Black Hills
I crossed south of the 49th parallel on Saturday, July 16. It took me two days of driving south to cross the broad prairies of eastern Montana, and I found…
2022-07-16 Adieu Canada
This saga spans the last five nights and six days I spent in Canada on my 2022 expedition. It focuses on southern Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park, just a few short…
2022-07-09,10,11 A Long Drive To South Saskatchewan
Rain caught up with me on my drive away from Slave Lake, and I found an out-of-the-way place to park in Lac La Biche, further east in Alberta. There were…
2022-07-06 Revisiting Lesser Slave Lake
I spent Tuesday night at the Slave Lake Walmart, and I broke my fast at the Sawridge Travel Center, where I have enjoyed dining on my earlier visits. I explored…
2022-07-05 Kimiwan Lake
My long drive from Grande Prairie ended Monday at Lake Kimiwan near the Town of McLennan in the province of Alberta. There is a boardwalk over the marsh at the…
2022-07-03 Return to Grande Prairie
When I arrived in Grande Prairie, I drove straight to Crystal Lake and spent a few hours there (read about my earlier visit Here!). There weren’t many new actors on…
2022-07-02 Piper Pond
I spent time north of Dawson Creek at a location called Piper Pond. I had heard there were Rusty Blackbirds there, and I hoped to gather some images. When I…
2022-06-29 McQueen Slough
I explored three locations around Dawson Creek in my quest to find photographic birds. Two were very productive locations. I spent most of my time at a place called McQueen…
2022-06-28 Taylor Landing Once More
It’s only a 20 minute drive south from Fort Saint John to Taylor Landing, on the banks of the Peace River. I discovered this place white driving north on the…
2022-06-27 Return To Charlie Lake
Early Monday morning I drove north to Beatton Provincial Park on Charlie Lake from Fort Saint John for what would be my third visit. My first experience there was in…
2022-06-27 Birds in Fort Saint John
Sunday in Fort Saint John, I drove to the local college campus, where there was public parking for a “Community Forest”. Much like Fort Nelson’s Demonstration Forest, this woodland preserve…
2022-06-25 Road to Fort Saint John
I left Fort Nelson Saturday morning after having breakfast at the Fort Nelson Hotel. The town has a well maintained RV Dump station at the west end of town. After…
2022-06-24 Fort Nelson Once More
With every visit to Fort Nelson, including my time in 2005, I’ve explored the woods at the northeastern corner of town that the locals call the Demonstration Forest. I’ve never…
2022-06-23 Muncho Lake Through Toad River
Wednesday night I roadside camped a mile from the Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake. The rain followed me all the way from Teslin and continued all night. The abundant…
2022-06-22 Return To Watson Lake
I reached Watson Lake after spending the night 170 miles away at Teslin Lake. I immediately drove to Wye Lake Park, where I enjoyed my time with birds on my…
2022-06-20 Whitehorse Exodus
I left Whitehorse Sunday morning with a plan to return to the pond on the Tagish Road south of Jakes Corner. Two weeks ago, while on my way to Whitehorse,…
2022-06-18 Friday & Saturday’s Arctic Terns
After my Friday morning at McIntyre Marsh, I explored the riverside area that my new British Columbia friends suggested. I found the location and walked almost a mile into the…
2022-06-17 Friday At McIntyre Marsh
Paraphrasing Canada’s own Robbie Robertson, “I pulled into Whitehorse, was feeling ‘bout half-past dead, I just need to find a place, where I can lay my head.” It was a…
2022-06-16 Thursday At Lake Lebarge
Rather than chase the same birds as I did Wednesday, I wanted to try for birds in an area yet unexplored by me. Lake Labarge, the subject of Robert Service’s…
2022-06-15 Whitehorse After A Long Rain
After arriving in Whitehorse last Friday (June-10), I took several days off from the rigors of the road and capturing new images. I used the time to rest, recuperate, and…
2022-06-09 Getting to Whitehorse
My journey to Whitehorse was another long drive, and I took two days to cover the distance. I left Tuesday and didn’t pull into Whitehorse until Thursday. I slept Wednesday…
2022-06-07 Two Nights at Watson Lake
If I would have had any cell reception after leaving the Fort Nelson area, I’d have parked at a wide spot along my route to Watson Lake. Since the work…
2022-06-06 The Long Road To Watson Lake
It’s a long and arduous drive from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake, and I planned on several stops along the way. I found that there was highway construction going on…
2022-06-05 Sunday In Fort Nelson
Sunday, I spent time in Fort Nelson in northwestern British Columbia. There is a managed woods at the edge of town, called the Fort Nelson Demonstration Forest that I visited…
2022-06-03 Charlie Lake, BC
Just north of Saint John BC is Charlie Lake. It is both a body of water and community. I stayed there on my way to Alaska in 2005, and I…
2022-06-02 Taylor Landing At Peace River
At Dawson Creek, I stayed the night in the Walmart parking lot. The nights are short at these latitudes, and they do not get very dark. Even at midnight, the…
2022-05-31 Crystal Lake in Grande Prairie
After I camped at Lake Winagami Tuesday night, I drove for a little over two hours to reach Grande Prairie. Family restaurants that serve breakfast are not so easy to…
2022-05-30 Late May At Lesser Slave Lake
I took two days to drive from Jasper to Slave Lake, a town at the southeastern end of Lesser Slave Lake. I camped overnight in Whitecourt along the way. When…
2022-05-25&26 Long Drive Through Banff and Jasper
I didn’t do much birding after leaving Lewistown Montana on May 20. Any birds I met during this part of the expedition came at 60 mph, and in quick glances.…
2022-05-21 Saturday in Lewistown Montana
Friday’s foul weather convinced me to find somewhere in Lewistown to settle in for the day. I found a large, unused parking area north of town, between the fairgrounds and…
2022-05-18 Lovell WY to Bridger MT
In my last episode, I told of leaving Cody on Tuesday, the seventeenth, and driving a few miles north to Ralston Reservoir, where I found birds to enjoy and a…
2022-05-17 Two Days in Cody Wyoming
I spent my first night in Cody at the Walmart parking lot. I’d been having difficulty getting clear focus in my camera when taking long shots of large mammals. Modern…
2022-05-15 Yellowstone Get-a-Way
My stay in Yellowstone began Friday with a night’s camping at the Madison Campground ten miles from the west entrance to the park. When Saturday morning rolled in, I launched…
2022-05-13 Yellowstone Red Dogs
Bison calves are fondly referred to as “Red Dogs” because of their reddish coloration when they are born. When I reached my campsite in Yellowstone National Park Friday afternoon, I…
2022-05-12 Wrapping It Up At Grand Teton
My last two days in Jackson Hole, weren’t very productive for megafauna, so my friend and fellow photographer Joe Ford indulged my propensity for chasing birds. After striking out on…
2022-05-10 Birds and Megafauna In Jackson Hole
I had a great week exploring Grand Teton National Park with my friend Joe Ford. Joe has a special fondness for what I call “megafauna”, and I fell into his…
2022-05-08&09 Teton Bear Hunting
Saturday, my friend Joe Ford and I scouted the region north of camp around Moran, Moose, and Coulter Bay. These locations are part of Grand Teton National Park. Always on…
2022-05-04&05 First Days In Jackson Hole
I drove away from Payette Idaho yesterday late in the morning after tending to the RV’s holding tanks and having breakfast with my good friend, Art. Contrary to my usual…
2022-04-26 Burns Again
Having spent Monday night at the Narrows RV Park near Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, I was ready to begin closing the gap to see my good friends in Payette Idaho.…
2022-04-25 In Malheur
The clear blue skies I enjoyed in Burns Oregon on Saturday and Sunday degraded to a gloomy gray on Monday. Still, the gloom was not so deep as to dampen…
2022-04-24 In Burns Oregon
My decision to visit the Malheur area required a long drive from Joseph to Burns that took me six hours of drive-time. I think there were five passes to cross…
2022-04-22 Friday At Lake Wallowa
It was a long drive Thursday to reach the north face of the Wallowa Mountains from Richland Washington. It rained much of the night in Joseph Oregon, where I slept…
2022-04-21 Thursday In East Washington
With my route planned through eastern Washington to Oregon, I hit the road about mid-morning on Wednesday. The weather was cool, but not freezing, and the passes were open with…
2022-04-13,14,15 Puget Sound Island Hopping
My friend Teresa volunteered to take me island hopping in the Puget Sound, and I happily accepted the offer. According to my research, there are 20 sizable islands in the…
2022-04-10 The Road To Mount Olympus
On April 9th, my Saturday drive began at my US-101 roadside camp by the Palix River in Washington, 12 miles south of South Bend. By day’s end, I found myself…
2022-04-05 Pacific City to South Washington
Monday night I plotted a course north that included breakfast in Pacific City, perhaps the smallest of towns I’ve stopped at on this trip. The cafe, called the Village Coffee…
2022-04-03 Yaquina South Jetty
I arrived Saturday in Newport Oregon, and spent most of the day catching up with my blogging tasks, but after spending the night north of town, I wanted to see…
2022-04-02 Reedsport to Waldport
Friday night, after driving from Reedsport, I parked south of Waldport at a roadside pullout. I visited several places along the way, including the jetties at the Umpqua River Mouth.…
2022-04-01 Friday Drive to Reedsport
I spent Thursday night at the roadside on US-101, just south of the Umpqua River Lighthouse. I wasn’t out of fresh water, but I was getting low. My blackwater holding…
2022-03-31 Thursday In Coos Bay
The “Check Engine” light on the RV came on yesterday, so I needed to look into it. There is a Dodge dealer in Coos Bay, but I stopped at a…
2022-03-29 Tuesday on Cape Arago
I left Bandon Tuesday morning after another breakfast at “The Station” cafe, and headed north towards Charleston and Coos Bay. When I reached the turnoff for Charleston I was met…
2022-03-28 Two Days In Bandon
After leaving Port Orford Sunday morning (2022-03-27), I drove North and turned onto Cape Blanco Road, and I found fields full of chaparral looking plants loaded with bright yellow flowers.…
2022-03-26 Pistol River to Port Orford
After two nights, I broke camp this morning at the Pistol River Mouth and spent a few minutes at Cape Sebastian. With all my travel-yarns woven and posted, it was…
2022-03-24 Crescent City to Pistol River
My morning in Crescent City started off slow but well enough. I got a few more pictures of the horned grebe like I wanted. Then I drove up the coast…
2022-03-24 Crescent City Again
I spent ten days in Medford (Oregon), addressing minor upgrades to the RV, spinning the most recent yarns about my trip. During this time I enjoyed the company of my…
2022-03-13 Crescent City to the Collier Tunnel
Citizens Dock and the boat basin in Crescent City’s harbor have provided me with many productive bird meetings in my past travels through this region. During my past visits to…
2022-03-11 Eureka to the Klamath River Mouth
Departing from Eureka, I headed north on US-101. On my way, I stopped to investigate a location I found on my maps just eight miles north, called the Arcada Bird…
2022-03-09&10 Into Redwood Country
Since my last entry in this month’s journal, I have had two amazing stops in Point Reyes and in Bodega Bay. As I pen these words, this morning I am…
2022-03-06 A Few Hours At Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay is only 34 miles from my Point Reyes Camp near Point Reyes. Years ago I stopped at The Tides Restaurant and enjoyed their good food and a ring-side…
2022-03-04 Point Reyes
After driving all day up the coast and through San Francisco, Friday afternoon I pulled into Olema and booked into the RV Park there. Having driven all day from Carmel…
2022-03-04 Friday at Piedras Blancas
I left San Simeon early Friday morning and spent several hours at Piedras Blancas watching Northern Elephant Seals and the turbulent waters of the Pacific Ocean. In years past, I’ve…
2022-03-02 Wednesday At Morro Bay
From the beginning to the end, yesterday went swimmingly. I began my fun by driving from San Luis Obispo on Los Osos Valley Road, a route I’d not traveled before.…
2022-02-28 Monday At Avila Beach and the Port San Luis Pier
Eager to get on the road after months of preparation, and not wanting to face Los Angeles traffic on a weekday, I left my Poway home early Sunday evening and…
2021
2021 Texas Exodus
The trip home: 2021-05-09 Day 1, Port Isabel to National Butterfly Center 2021-05-10 Day 2, NBC to Rio Grande City 2021-05-11 Day 3, Rio Grande City to Uvalde 2021-05-12 Day…
2021-05-10 National Butterfly Center
I couldn’t think of leaving Texas without seeing my friends at the National Butterfly Center (NBC) one more time. My planned route carried me through Mission anyway, so it was…
2021-05-08 SPI’s Friday Beaches
I spent much of my last day on South Padre Island on the sandy flat beach north of the Convention Centre. Until this day, I’d neglected this habitat for gulls,…
2021-05-04,5,6 SPI: The Big Fallout That Wasn’t
This is a three day post. With my 2021 visit in South Texas drawing to a close, I’ve been pushing my limits to maximize my opportunities to meet migrating birds.…
2021-05-02 SPI On A Sunday
I spent Sunday at South Padre Island (Texas) and couldn’t resist shooting flycatchers. For most of us interested in learning to identify birds, small flycatchers are among the most difficult…
2021-04-29 Mini-Fallout at SPI
Thursday morning started off slow and stayed that way most of the day, but ended with a flurry of activity when a new batch of warblers fell from the sky.…
2021-04-27 SPI and Tuesday’s Babies
Earlier in April, I visited the South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center and saw Green Herons sitting on eggs. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to return and see…
2021-04-25 “Big Sit” At The National Butterfly Center
Sunday’s Big Sit event at the National Butterfly Center was such fun. As part of the Great Texas Birding Classic put on each year by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department,…
2021-04-22 SPI On A Slow Thursday
My stay at the Convention Centre was relatively brief this Thursday. There was a lull in the migration, but even on a slow day, good things can occur here. In…
2021-04-20 SPI Tuesday’s Bright Sun
Addendum: I learned recently, with the help of more experienced birders, that the bird I identified as a Philadelphia Vireo was, in fact, a Warbling Vireo, and the guide I…
2021-04-18 SPI Sunday Bird Fallout, Round Two
Gone were the dense clouds and drizzling rain that plagued me early Saturday. The wind and the birds remained. There seemed to be even more birds on the island than…
2021-04-17 SPI, Great Birds, Lousy Weather
Well friends, I said I would limit my photo shooting time in the field to half days. The strategy would allow me to process my images and tell my stories…
2021-04-15 SPI And Three Bags Full
I had an exceptional day at the SPI Convention Centre. I met three new bird species: Veery, Dickcissel, and Black-Billed Cuckoo. Not that the rest of the birds I met…
2021-04-13 South Padre Fog
I left Brownsville in the darkness of pre-dawn, with plans to meet birds on South Padre Island as they began their morning rounds. It seemed a good idea to be…
2021-04-11 SPI: New Actors and Familiar Faces On Stage
I should have learned my lesson by now. This day reminded me when I’m trying to track a subject bouncing through the canopy, the effort is all-consuming. There’s not always…
2021-04-08 SPI Birding & Nature Center
I’ve made it no secret. My mission is to experience as much of the vernal migration through South Texas as I can. South Padre Island is the best place I…
2021-04-06 SPI Reruns
If the show is good enough, it bears watching repeatedly. A second look may teach us something new. We might see something worthwhile that we missed on the first go-round.…
2021-04-04 Continuing the SPI Saga
The early spring migration season on South Padre Island has been exciting for me. I’m finding one or more new bird species with each visit. The privilege of witnessing so…
2021-04-02 Back to South Padre Island
If you are passionate about birds, I believe there is no better place to hang out than South Padre Island during spring migration. As a kid growing up near the…
2021-03-30 SPI Convention Centre
In the coming weeks, I intend to spend as much of my time on South Padre Island as I can. Spring migrant birds could begin trickling into Texas any time.…
2021-03-27 Palmito Hill & Boca Chica Beach
Just 10 miles inland from Boca Chica Beach is Palmito Hill, another of my favorite birding locations. On my way to the beach, I stopped to scout the birding opportunities.…
2021-03-26 Sabal Palms Again
It was only a week ago I visited Sabal Palm Sanctuary. Just 5 miles from my camp in Brownsville (Texas), I paid a brief, 3+ hour visit to this nature reserve…
2021-03-24 At Estero Llano, Even Slow Days Are Good
I first visited Estero Llano Grande State Park this year in January (2021-01-22). On that visit, I walked on my explorations, so I could only get to a few of…
2021-03-21 Resaca2mi de la Palma
I last visited Resaca de la Palma State Park just before leaving Texas on my first visit in spring of 2020. It was closed during most of my stay because…
2021-03-19 Friday Among Sabal Palms
Only five miles south from my camp in Brownsville (Texas), Sabal Palm Sanctuary is an attractive birding destination. Nestled into the southernmost arc of the Rio Grande, it has jungle…
2021-03-16 SPI Convention Centre
On this early Tuesday morning, cloudy gray skies greeted me at the South Padre Island Convention Centre (SPICC). I investigated the center’s bayside and its boardwalks, but the birds were…
2021-03-12 Friday at Aransas NWR
Camped only five miles away in Austwell (Texas), an excursion into Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was mandatory. With the recent stories of my journey here already told, it was time…
2021-03-10 Wednesday at San Bernard NWR
I spent the night Tuesday at a rest stop on the Interstate-10 freeway east of Houston. I endured a lot of drive time exiting Louisiana after I decided not to…
2021-03-09 Tuesday’s Quick Visit To Louisiana
I woke up this morning and had plans to visit the Rockefeller Wildlife Nature Reserve in Louisiana. I took a ferry ride across the waterway at Cameron and drove past…
2021-03-08 Anahuac NWR
I broke camp at High Island early Monday and set a course for nearby Anahuac National Wildlife Reserve. I planned a quick visit before heading east on my clock-wise journey…
2021-03-06 High Island Rookery
I left Galveston on Thursday (2021-03-04) and crossed the bay by ferry on a 2½ mile passage to the Bolivar Peninsula. Back on Terra Firma, I drove 28 miles to…
2021-03-04 Galveston Boat Ride
I continued my exploration of the Texas Gulf Coast last Wednesday (2021-03-03) when I drove from Aransas NWR to Galveston, 170 miles to the east. After spotting birds loafing on…
2021-03-02 Tuesday Morning At Aransas NWR
Sunday I left Port Aransas and drove to Rockport and boondock camped there. Monday I confirmed the availability of RV parking near Aransas NWR, in Austwell. I drove through the…
2021-02-28 Port Aransas Nature Center
The Port Aransas Nature Center had a popular boardwalk over the freshwater marshes on the property until 2017’s Hurricane Harvey dismantled it beyond use. Not ones to give up easily,…
2021-02-25 National Butterfly Center
I tried to visit the National Butterfly Center last week, but the big freeze and the power outage at the time mandated that they close, so I had to turn…
2021-02-23 First Time At Quinta Mazatlan
Quinta Mazatlan is a 20 acre nature reserve owned and operated by the City of McAllen (Texas). Theirs is a story about a tiny victory in the war on the…
2021-02-21 First Visit To Santa Ana NWR
Last spring I came to South Texas for the first time, hoping to visit the many legendary birding venues I’d heard about in the Rio Grande Valley. Unfortunately for me…
2021-02-19 Bentsen RGVSP Again
I wanted to wait for my bicycle to finish up in the shop before I attempted more explorations of Bentsen Rio Grande State Park. South Texas has been hard hit…
2021-02-16 Bentsen RGV State Park
Another cold morning it was in South Texas this past Tuesday, but I was determined to get out and explore the region. The camp where I’m staying is only 1.5…
2021-02-11 SPI Convention Centre and Bahia Grande
Deciding where to spend my last day in Brownsville wasn’t easy. I plan to stay two more weeks in the Rio Grande Valley, but I want to explore sites further…
2021-02-08 South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center
South Padre Island Birding & Nature Center is part of a network of birding meccas in south Texas, collectively called the “World Birding Center”. It sits next door to the…
2021-02-06 Edinburg Scenic Wetlands
It takes a little over an hour of freeway driving to reach Edinburg (Texas) from my camp in Brownsville. The reserve encompasses 40 acres, but most of the trails available…
2021-02-04 Laguna Vista and Laguna Atascosa
My time in Brownsville is winding down, so I wanted to visit a location that I enjoyed very much during my spring visit last year. Laguna Atascosa NWR was one…
2021-02-01 Got To Get Back To South Padre
Visiting South Padre Island has never disappointed me. I began February with a visit to test this trend, and it fulfilled its promise to entertain, though a slow start in…
2021-01-30 Boca Chica Beach
I wanted to ride my bike on Boca Chica Beach all week, but operations at the Space-X Launch Complex mandated a closure of the road to the beach. Finally, on…
2021-01-28 Sabal Palms, Ten Days Hence
It was a foggy morning ten days ago when I visited Sabal Palm Sanctuary for the first time. It added an air of mystery to my introduction to this amazing…
2021-01-26 A Day at Palmito Hill
Fog was so thick, at 50 feet things faded from my view, and at 100 feet I could barely make out the shapes ahead of me while I drove. That…
2021-01-22 A Day at Estero Llano
Friday morning I launched out of my campsite on a mission to explore one of the crown jewels of birding in South Texas; Estero Llano Grande State Park, south of…
2021-01-19 A Day on South Padre Island
A visit to the Lower Rio Grande Valley without spending time on South Padre Island would be silly. Tuesday I paid the island my respects. It came as no surprise…
2021-01-18 Sabal Palm Sanctuary
On 2021-01-18, it was a foggy morning in south Texas at the Sabal Palm Sanctuary, and when I walked into the grove, it added an eerie, mystical quality to my…
2021-01-15 and 16 At Breeze Lake
Last spring, while on my way through Texas and the COVID-19 pandemic was taking a grip on our nation and the rest of the world, I’d been boondocking in my…
2021-01-11 Quemado Roadside Birds
Less than two miles south from the small town of Quemado Texas, is a roadside rest stop, or picnic area, as Texas calls them. I found this location while on…
2021-01-08 A Visit To Langtry Texas
Less than a half-mile from the Rio Grande, and almost 40 miles upstream from its confluence with the Pecos River, is the sleepy town of Langtry Texas. This is where…
2021-01-06, Winding Up My Stay in Big Bend
It was a week I’ll remember fondly. As I drove out of New Mexico late last December, I had doubts about being able to pull off a stay inside Big…
2021-01-02 Big Bend’s Ross Maxwell Drive
New Year’s Day and Saturday night, I stayed in Terlingua (Texas). I waited there until I could take advantage of my Sunday night reservation for camping in Cottonwood. Saturday morning…
2020-12-29 On The Texas Mountain Trail
When I drove away from the Guadalupe Mountains, I took TX-54 south from US-62 to Van Horn Texas. I kept seeing road signs along the highway saying “The Texas Mountain…
2020
2020-12-27 Sunday Camping in Guadalupe National Park
After spending most of December in New Mexico, I left The Land of Enchantment after a productive Christmas photo session with Scaled Quail at Bitter Lake NWR outside of Roswell.…
2020-12-25 Christmas at Bitter Lake Near Roswell
In April 2020, as I was ending my first Texas birding adventure, I called my friend Jerry in Albuquerque and told him I was headed his way via Roswell. He…
2020-12-22 Tuesday At Bosque del Apache
Before I left Albuquerque for points south, I stacked up several days’ worth of images from my last few photo safaris. Most times, I’d have boondock camped and worked on…
2020-12-18&19 At The Bernardo Unit – Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex
Halfway between Albuquerque and Bosque del Apache is the Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex – Bernardo Unit, where cranes and geese are now visiting more than at Bosque. My friend…
2020-12-17 Wednesday At The Rio Grande Nature Center
There is a small reserve on the northwestern edge of Albuquerque that I have enjoyed since some of my earliest visits to the region. It is the Rio Grande Nature…
2020-12-16 Tuesday Finches at 10,600′
Update: Folks with better eyes and ID skills than I have pointed out that there are some Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finches among the Black Rosy-Finches in some of my images. Another friend…
2020-12-09 A Morning in Corrales New Mexico
A friend of Jerry’s advised him that there were many cranes grazing in his Corrales neighborhood, so we drove there on Wednesday to investigate for ourselves. Jerry’s friend was right!…
2020-12-06 Wild Ducks at the Albuquerque Zoo
Not everything you find at the zoo is captive. At least that has been my experience at several zoos I’m familiar with. As an example, the San Diego Zoo’s Wild…
2020-12-05 Bosque and New Mexico Falconry
My first awareness of the art of falconry came as a young lad in elementary school when I read the Hardy Boys Mystery series and found the story The Hooded…
2020-11-30 Monday at Bosque del Apache
I first visited Bosque del Apache in August 2003. Having heard of its legendary assembly of winter geese and cranes, I found a means for combining work in Santa Fe…
2020-11-29 Sunday At The Catwalk
I left Arizona on Saturday and drove over a series of mountain ranges, hoping to visit the Catwalk in New Mexico near Glenwood. I always enjoy the scenery on the…
2020-11-26 & 27 Outside of Pima Arizona
I set Thatcher Arizona as a destination on this expedition because I wanted to upgrade the electrical system at my friend Linda’s house there. It took me several days to…
2020-11-16 Monday at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum
The morning at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum started off slow. I like to hike to the top of the property where there is a pond called Ayers Lake. On the…
2020-11-12 Thursday In Gilbert Arizona
It was a big day for me Thursday in Gilbert. The sun was at its harshest mid-day height when I arrived at the Water Ranch, but I stayed into the…
2020-11-09 Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
After driving all day from Ely Nevada, I felt tuckered out. I didn’t want to boondock camp in Las Vegas, so I booked a night at an RV park in…
2020-11-07 November in Northern Nevada
Yesterday I left Payette Idaho, and headed south, looking forward to exploring new roads. I had a great stay with my friends in Payette, while I got my RV into…
2020-10-29 So Far, So Good!
On Saturday (Oct-24) I drove from June Lake to Fallon Nevada, where I spent the night in the Walmart parking lot. Many of the roads I took once I entered…
2020-10-17 First Stop, Dirty Socks Spring
On Saturday morning, I hit the road to Idaho after getting breakfast at my favorite Poway restaurant. I got the oil changed in the RV and the generator, and I…
Ever Closer To Hitting The Road
When I returned home in late May of this year from my Texas expedition, I expected it to be a couple of months before I would embark on a new…
2020 Texas Birds Annual Magazine
I was honored to contribute to the 2020 Texas Birds Annual Magazine of the Texas Ornithological Society (TOS). This spring, during my jaunt through Texas I was sharing my blogs…
Recent Massive Gallery Updates
I’ve been busy cataloging images from my Texas expedition and updating the bird galleries on the Birds I Have Known pages. It was a lot of work, but I’ve just…
2020 Bird Gallery Updates: Part 1
One benefit of taking a lengthy journey, such as my 2020 Texas Expedition, is collecting images of new bird species for my species galleries. If I’ve met the bird before,…
2020-05-28 Cattle Call Brawley
After leaving Arivaca Wednesday morning I drove a rural route through Ajo and Gila Bend to Yuma where I spent the night. Thursday morning after having breakfast I launched the…
2020-05-27 Arivaca Cienega
After my visit to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Tuesday morning, I drove south 170 miles to Arivaca. The route I chose was not conventional, and I passed through Three…
2020-05-20 Road From ABQ and Mount Graham
Two corrections: Thanks to the astute observations of readers Celestyn Brozek and Lori Conrad, I’ve learned my “Cassin’s Vireo” is the wrong Solitary Vireo. The proper identification is Plumbeous Vireo.…
2020-05-15: The Bosque at Tingley Beach
Sadly, my friend Jerry has since passed away. He is sorely missed. My friend Jerry Goffe retired from his forensic photography business a few years ago and devoted his time…
2020-05-12: The Road to Bosque del Apache
Tuesday morning May 12th, after a few extra hours with the birds at Bitter Lake NWR outside of Roswell New Mexico, I drove a circuitous, winding route through Ruidoso. A…
2020-05-16: Recounting My Passage From Texas
During my first expedition into Texas in 2020, I learned that Texas Rest Areas and Picnic Areas could be phenomenal places to meet birds. I found this especially true of…
2020-05-07: Texas Farewell
On Monday, March 23rd, I settled into the Breeze Lake RV Campground in Brownsville Texas expecting to stay for one week to get my refrigerator repaired. One thing led to…
2020-04-17: Feeder Vigil in Brownsville
I believe I’ve identified the birds in the gallery below correctly, but I welcome any corrections that experienced Texas birders might care to share. I’ve always tried to be a…
Brownsville Birds: Texas Quail
On 2020-04-06, I was staying at the Breeze Lake RV Park in Brownsville. Because of the pandemic, access to South Padre Island was cut off for all but residents. I…
Brownsville Birds: Red-Crowned Parrots
Being trapped, so to speak, by the COVID-19 pandemic, my bird explorations have been curtailed. Rather than attempt a series of long yarns, I thought I’d share a few image…
2020-04-01 April 1st In Camp
I had done no bird photography since arriving in Brownsville on March 19th. With my backlog of stories about my birding adventures on the Central Gulf of Texas finished, I…
2020-03-22 Passing Through Harlingen Texas
In Harlingen Texas, where I stayed Sunday night, I noticed Red-Crowned Parrots. So I did a little research and read about a neighborhood where they’d been seen before. I set…
2020-03-20 Exploring Laguna Atascosa
After I left Corpus Christi, measures against the COVID-19 outbreak began tightening. Restaurants could only seat a limited number of customers, and grocers were limiting the amount of products like…
2020-03-19 Adios Corpus Christi
By Thursday I knew it was time to explore my way south into the Lower Rio Grande Valley. I’d had three days to explore Aransas NWR, and a couple of…
2020-03-17 Tuesday After The Boat Ride
I said my goodbyes to the Skimmer and her crew in Fulton Beach after a wonderful morning full of highlights at Aransas NWR. I fully expected to settle in somewhere…
2020-03-17 Aransas By Sea
I arrived at 215 North Fulton Beach Road in Fulton, Texas at 8:30am. Our departure aboard the Skimmer was scheduled for 9am, so I had some time to assemble my…
2020-03-16 Monday Afternoon In Rockport
I drove to the city of Rockport after leaving from my second day at Aransas and prepared for the boat ride I’d signed up for, which launched from nearby Fulton…
2020-03-16 Aransas NWR Day 2
“Wow” hardly seems sufficient to describe my morning! I stayed in Austwell Sunday night, and I was only 12 miles from Aransas NWR, so I could achieve an early launch…
2020-03-15 My First Day At Aransas NWR
As I write this episode, I’ve been so involved taking pictures this past week that I buried myself under a ton of work to prepare them for my stories. I…
2020-03-13 Three Days At The Triple R
Sadly, shortly after my March-2020 visit to the Triple-R RV Resort, (but before the Covid-19 pandemic) they shutdown operations. I’ve heard no word about any plans to reopen. I personally,…
2020-03-09 A Whirlwind Tour Of Del Rio Texas
I pulled away from Marathon early Sunday morning and headed towards Del Rio Texas on US-90 under gray and cloudy skies. It is a wide, flat valley where Marathon resides.…
2020-03-07: Bird Adventures In Big Bend
Prologue The Texas adventure I dreamed about for years began in California, but passed through Arizona and New Mexico before reaching the promised land. Preparations for my journey began in…
2020-03-04 Wednesday At Dripping Springs
My stay in Las Cruces was extended several days because of issues I had to sort out with my RV generator. All is well now as I send this post…
2020-03-02 Aguirre Springs In The Organ Mountains
This morning, my friend Jerry and I said our goodbyes. Jerry headed back to his home in Albuquerque, and I started preparations to leave Las Cruces behind and head south…
2020-02-29 & March 1 At Mesilla Valley
Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park proved to be the best birding location in the Las Cruces area for my friend Jerry and I. I scouted the park briefly on Friday,…
2020-02-27 – Drive from Thatcher to Las Cruces
Leaving Safford and Thatcher Arizona, I drove east towards New Mexico on the most remote roads I could find on the map. I traveled on roads ripe with twists, turns,…
2020-02-24: Boyce-Thompson Arboretum
Sunday, after spending the day at the Gilbert Water Ranch, I drove the Superstition Highway forty miles east to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior Arizona. I’d been here only…
2020-02-23 At The Gilbert Water Ranch
I scouted several of the trails at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert after I arrived late Saturday afternoon, but I did not carry my camera. The light was fading, and…
Scenes From The Past
I was going through old images today, clearing out duplicates and just general digital housecleaning. I found a set of older files I had assembled and called “Scenic-Set”. I thought…
My 2019 Christmas Bird Count
Most folks with a passion for birds know about the “Christmas Bird Count”, so for those veterans please indulge me while I say a little about it to those who…
2019
2019-11-22~24 Late November Yard-birds
Activity at the water feature over my fish pond was hot and heavy in late November. I thought I could enjoy the activity with my binoculars, but when a female…
Memories of La Jolla Cove
As I began my series on Birding Destinations I was mostly focused on places away from my home turf. It occurred to me, that it might be a disservice to…
2019-10-28 Monday Afternoon At Vendel Road
When I woke up this morning near Gila Bend Arizona, I thought my next stop would be at home. But the call of the wild was too strong to ignore.…
2019-10-27 Sunday at Arivaca
As I wound up my Autumn 2019 Arizona expedition, I wished I had more time to linger and explore. I’d have liked to of spent more time this south-central region…
2019-10-24 Catalina State Park
After my all-day marathon photo-safari at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Wednesday, I was too tired to drive very far south towards Tucson. I stopped in nearby Superior Arizona for…
2019-10-23 At The Boyce Thompson Arboretum
I let myself get behind in my posting. Since leaving the “BTA” I’ve completed two more photo safaris, but it took me longer than expected to organize the photos and…
Catching Up With Old Friends
I met my friend Linda in 1978 while I was living in Missoula Montana. Without going into too many details, it was one of the most interesting periods in my…
2019-10-16 The Arboretum At Flagstaff
Having spent Sunday through Tuesday enjoying the company of my friend in Bullhead City Arizona, I left there and headed east over the mountains along Highway 68 to Kingman Arizona.…
2019-10-13 Cibola NWR
I spent some time at Cibola NWR on my way to Bullhead City. Cibola National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 25 square miles of the Colorado River Valley. The northern boundary starts…
2019-10-11 Lack & Lindsey Road
I spent an enjoyable afternoon near the Salton Sea at Vendel Road on Thursday. I left there early Friday morning and drove east, and then north to the southeastern beaches;…
2019-10-10 Vendel Road, Salton Sea
My trip to Arizona finally launched Thursday morning. I used the opportunity to visit some of my favorite bird destinations. My first stop was Poe Road, but I was disappointed…
2009-05-01: Remembering The Mission Trails BioBlitz
I took part in the first three organized BioBlitz events with the San Diego Natural History Museum. The first one took place in 2008 at Balboa Park, the second in…
2019-09-23 Juvenile and Sub-Adult Birds
In the latitudes I frequent, July and August are the months I tend to meet most of my juvenile songbirds. Waterfowl and raptors often produce young earlier, and when conditions…
2019-09-19 Head Shots
My first instinct when photographing wildlife, especially birds, is to capture their entire essence. That usually means getting them to fit in the frame. But sometimes, what the subject gives…
2019-09-06 – Friday at Border Field
Earlier I wrote about the first two stops I made on my tour through some of my favorite locations between the San Diego Bay and the Mexican border. This episode…
2019-09-06 – Bird and Butterfly Garden
I posted recently about the first of three stops I made last Friday at some of my favorite birding destinations in the southwestern corner of San Diego County. I started…
2019-09-06 South San Diego Bay
The seasonal ebbs and flows because of migration keep things interesting for the bird enthusiasts in San Diego County. Few places on earth show the changing population of the avian…
2019-08-20 Tuesday On The Shores Of Mono Lake
I compare my favorite method for image collection to that of the Great Blue Heron. While the Snowy Egret dances in the shallows to chase prey out of hiding, the…
2019-08-18 Klamath Basin
The drive from Oregon to San Diego prevented me from a timely presentation of this day’s events, and of the last episode of this odyssey at Mono Lake. (Stay tuned)…
2019-08-17 Klamath Veterans Park
The story of Veteran’s Park this stay was the midges. Millions of black flying bugs too small to provide much of a meal were hovering low over the waters of…
2019-08-12 Eureka and Points South
… and then it happened. My stay in Crescent City was a good one. The harbor had been especially rewarding. I enjoyed the birds I met, and the weather was…
2019-08-12 Day Two in Crescent City
Time to wave goodbye to Crescent City and get moving south again. I expanded my awareness of the surrounding coastline yesterday, but still the harbor drew me back. It was…
2019-08-10 Crescent City
I only made it about 20 miles south out of Brookings yesterday, and I landed in Crescent City. I’ve always found this city’s Boat Basin to be a good place…
2019-08-09 Brookings and the Smith River Mouth
On this Friday I drove from Medford Oregon to Brookings Oregon southwest along US-199 into California and then north on US-101 back into Oregon. US-199 starts in the Rogue Valley…
2019-08-07 Siskiyou Summit
On my drive over the Siskiyou Summit Ridge, most birds were resistive to my efforts to find them. I had one episode with what I believe was an Evening Grosbeak…
2019-07-31 Colusa NWR
When I broke my Nacimiento-Ferguson camp, I knew I was in for a long drive north in the Samurai. The rest of the drive this day would be neither scenic…
2019-07-29 Piedras Blancas Oystercatchers
I had a lovely visit with my cousin Bill and his wife Carolynn. I’ve been keeping in touch with Bill through email and Facebook, but we hadn’t met up for…
2019-07-29 Morro Bay
After my meeting with the Guillemot in San Luis Obispo, I continued my push to Morro Bay a few miles north, and I found suitable quarters to shelter me from…
2019-07-28 San Luis Obisbo Guillemot
I had business to attend that required me to travel to Oregon. When I was planning my route north and decided to drive the central coast road, I used the…
2004-06-23 Redington Road
In 2004, I was just beginning my education about birds and how to capture them in my images. It was an exciting time for me. Many of my meetings with…
Things I Learned About Marbled Godwits
Marbled Godwits have a survivor’s story not unlike that of the Long-Billed Curlew. Both were hunted for meat in the late 19th century and suffered a population crash. Both birds…
What’s An Avostilt?
I’ll never forget when in 2003 I first heard the expression “Avostilt”. The San Diego County Bird Atlas needed images of Elegant Terns, and author Phil Unitt introduced me to…
2019-01-26 Merced National Wildlife Reserve
After spending the week with my family in Medford, I drove away on Friday, southbound on I-5. My first stop was in Marysville California to visit a friend I knew…
2019-01-21 Sacramento and Colusa Refuges
Driving to see my family in Oregon, I took a little timeout to visit the reserves between Williams and Willows California (USA). The long interstate drive wore me down, especially the…
2018
2018-12-22 Christmas Bird Count
One day a year I enjoy the mere act of counting birds. It’s not for ego. It’s not done to call attention to myself. It’s not for an ‘I got…
2018-12-17 La Jolla Cove
Last week I had LOTS of warblers chasing flying insects at my house, and I tried chasing them with my D5 and my biggest lens. It was impossible to follow…
2012-12-27 Margaret Fleming Nature Trail
There is a small corner of Torrey Pines State Park in Del Mar that does not get the attention that the bluffs get. It is understandable though, the bluffs above…
2012-12-14 Poway Snipe Hunt
About a mile east of my house, along Poway Creek there is a hotspot for birds in winter. As a flood control measure, the City of Poway mows the creek…
2012-11-14 Osprey vs. Ravens in Poway
One Wednesday morning I spotted an Osprey perched on the utility pole in my yard. It was dining on a fish caught at my neighbor’s nearby ponds by Beeler Creek.…
2012-09-12 Santa Rosa Mountain in September
If one reads my blog and scans for “Santa Rosa Mountain”, they might get the idea I love going there … and they’d be right. I’ve been visiting this place…
2012-09-08 Equestrians at Border Field
I headed south on a Saturday morning to the beach at Border Field. One cannot go further south along the Pacific Coast unless one wants to go into Mexico. When…
2012-08-29 Exploring Lake Hodges
It was a Wednesday near the end of August, and I took a mid-morning trip to Lake Hodges, not knowing what birds I might meet. I rode my bike out…
2012-08 August Yardbirds
I took a lot of images of Lesser Goldfinches the month of August 2012. I used them as subjects to experiment with different photo techniques. These birds are my most…
2012-08-23 Late Summer On Santa Rosa Mountain
Juvenile Western Bluebirds were fun to watch on this Thursday in late August while I visited Santa Rosa Mountain. I find these birds to be at their most attractive as…
2012-08-01 Lindo Lake Solitary Strike-Out
I’m always late to chase. I’d heard a Solitary Sandpiper was present at Lindo Lake, and though the reports were merely days old, it was clear to all present the…
2012-06-16 A Pelagic Trip With Dave Povey
A pelagic bird is a specialist of the deep ocean. These birds rarely approach shorelines, and when they do, it is only for nesting. Remote rocky islands are the usual…
2012-06-10 A Weekend in Idyllwild
I spent an early June weekend with my ex in Idyllwild, a quaint little town nestled a mile high under the peaks of San Jacinto Mountain. Idyllwild has shopping for…
2012-06-03 San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park
Aviaries at the San Diego Zoo were on my radar for my trip to Balboa Park that day. I’d purchased a year’s pass earlier when I took an interest in…
2012-05-17 San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park
I wanted to get my money’s worth from the one year pass to the zoo before it expired. My motivation for purchasing the pass was the access I wanted to…
2012-05-06 Zoo’s Safari Park Again
Knowing that the annual pass for the zoo I bought to gain access to the nesting colonies of egrets and Ibis was due to expire soon, I made three visits…
2012-04-28 Shameless Zoo Captures
Still interested in following the progress of the nesting colonies of local Ibis and egrets, I drove on a Saturday to the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park near Escondido. I…
2012-04-24 Chula Vista Again
Low tide was early on this Tuesday morning. The mudflats at J Street were alive with waterfowl and shorebirds. I don’t get as many opportunities as I’d like to spend…
2012-04 April Stuff In My Poway Yard
I took my camera into my yard several times over the course of the month of April 2012. Spring can bring me some extraordinary birds, though I don’t always have…
2012-04 The 8th and 11th at La Jolla Cove
I spent Sunday and Tuesday mornings at La Jolla Cove, with only Brandt’s Cormorants on my radar. These visits were part of my campaign to capture and document with images,…
2012-04-04 Memories of Mussey Grade in Ramona
Over the years, I’ve had several friends who’ve lived along Mussey Grade in Ramona. When I was a boy, I can recall fishing trips with my dad to Lake San…
2012-03-30 Borrego Turkey Shoot
I have mixed feelings about Wild Turkeys in San Diego County. Going back thousands of years, there is no historical or archeological evidence they ever lived here. They were introduced…
2012-03-24 Poway Downy Woodpecker
My experience in my Poway yard with the woodpecker clan has provided me regular meetings with Nuttall’s and Acorn Woodpeckers, and sometimes the often shy Northern Flicker. Downy Woodpeckers are…
2012-03-24 Borrego Springs Hawk Watch
Swainson’s Hawks are long-distance migrants. They spend winters in Argentina, but travel to Western North America to breed. Until 2003 it was believed that all Swainson’s Hawk migration was through…
2012-03-19 La Jolla Cove
This Monday was my third trip following up on the nesting Brandt’s Cormorants at La Jolla. Most of the eggs I’d seen under brooding adults in February had turned into…
2012-03-11 Torrey Pines Gnatcatchers
California Gnatcatchers are listed as threatened because of habitat loss. It has been their bad fortune to depend on a few locations lusted after by developers eager to make a…
2012-02-16 La Jolla Cove
I made seven trips to La Jolla Cove between February and May 2011. This Thursday I toured the coastline, looking for any subject that might offer itself to me. When…
2012-02-16 Chula Vista Bayfront Park
I drove this Thursday morning to San Diego Bay at Chula Vista Bayfront Park. My favorite route to this destination is not direct. Rather, I take “F” Street to Marina…
2012-03-02 Cormorants at the La Jolla Cove
Three species of cormorant exploit the cliffs and surrounding waters by La Jolla Cove; Double-Crested, Pelagic, and Brandt’s. I found Brandt’s Cormorants on eggs and raising babies in full public…
2013-10-29 Waterthrush At Dairy Mart Ponds
I’d heard reports of a Northern Waterthrush at the ‘stick pond’ near Dairy Mart Road for at least a month. Having looked and failed to find this bird when on…
2013-08-29 Arizona Trip
One aim on this trip was to visit family in Northeast Tucson. While there I spent some time at Agua Caliente Park. It had been in my head for several years…
2013-08-23 J-Street and Border Field
Two locations well worth visiting any time I’m in South San Diego Bay region are J-Street by Chula Vista’s Bayfront Park, and Border Field near the Mexican border. I spent…
2013-08-09 Agua Dulce Again
Agua Dulce Creek is a popular birding destination for the local San Diego birding community. On my way to visit this place I stopped first at the town center of…
2013-08-02 Border Field Again
I took a direct route to Border Field this early August Friday morning. I passed the Bird and Butterfly Gardens on my way. I ignored the Dairy Mart Ponds as…
2013-07-24 Saltworks & Imperial Beach
Wednesdays are set aside for accepting guests as part of the nesting tern surveys at the Saltworks section of the San Diego Bay NWR. I’ve had to good fortune to…
2013-06-24 Tijuana River Valley
My aim on this Monday morning was to enjoy the company of birds, whoever they may be. A good place to accomplish such a goal is the Tijuana River Valley.…
2013-06-15 Milk Ranch Road
I parked at the staging area ten miles south of Julian California where Milk Ranch Road meets Route-79. The path I traveled on my bike is displayed on a map…
2013-06-13 Tijuana River Valley
I visited four places in the Tijuana River Valley on a Thursday mid-June morning. I started at the Bird and Butterfly Garden to be teased by Black-Throated Magpie-Jays. I followed…
2013-06-06 Clark Dry Lake (Thrashers At Last!)
My adventures this Thursday included visits to Clark Dry Lake and the Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor Center, west of Borrego Springs, California, in San Diego County. I made several excursions…
2013-06-02 Santa Ysabel Reserves
There are two sections of land as part of the Santa Ysabel Open Space Reserve. One is the Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve West north of Rte-78, and the other…
2013-05-21 Laguna Mountain Birds
The locations I visited during this expedition were Agua Dulce Creek and the visitor center in the town of Mount Laguna. The visitor center is often a good place to…
2013-05-29 Palomar Mountain Birds
The locations I visited were the San Luis Rey Picnic Grounds off California State Route 76, East Grade Road on Palomar Mountain, Nate Harrison Road. Palomar Mountain resides near the…
2013-05-17 Ramona Grasslands Again
This was my second visit in 2013 to the Ramona Grasslands. My first visit was a month earlier, and there were several new players on the stage for this act. The…
2013-05-15 Tijuana River Valley
My plan for this Wednesday morning was to explore the Tijuana River downstream from the Bird and Butterfly Garden and discover how far it would take me into the estuary.…
2013-05-11 Tijuana River Mouth
With every visit I make to the Tijuana River Mouth I’m rewarded with a sense of renewal. Fresh air blown over the waves of the Pacific Ocean, sun and sand…
2013-05-10 Iron Mountain Blues
My house sits on a small hill at the west end of Poway Valley, and Iron Mountain looms large 6.5 miles to the east of my front yard. It makes…
2013-05-08 Lake Hodges Passerines
There are trails around Lake Hodges well suited to hiking and biking. I drove to the community sports park off West Bernardo Drive this Wednesday morning to look for Blue…
2013-05-05 Nesting at the Safari Park
I returned to the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park this Sunday morning to spend time with the free range birds that exploit the facilities here for nesting. I was not…
2013-05-03 TJRV Dairy Mart Ponds
The Dairy Mart Ponds and the Bird and Butterfly Gardens are two well-known places along the Tijuana River for attracting unusual birds, especially during migration. In the 1950s, the dairy…
2013-05-01 Santa Margarita River Trail
The Santa Margarita River flows out of Riverside County, draining a basin 30 miles long, and crosses south into San Diego County, then west across Camp Pendleton and out to…
2013-04-29 Coast To Crest Wildlife Corridor
The San Dieguito River system drains from the mountains east of Santa Ysabel through the San Pasqual Valley and out to sea at Del Mar. Forward thinking citizens fought for…
2013-04-27 Borrego’s Clark Dry Lake Birds
I made several fruitless thrasher hunts during the first half of 2013, and while I failed to locate the Le Conte’s Thrashers I had hoped for on these trips, I…
2013-04-24 Border Field Sanderlings
I let my bike carry me and my camera gear the two miles from the Border Field parking lot to the Tijuana River Mouth early this Wednesday morning. My best…
2013-04-21 Zoo Safari
I took another look at the Zoo Safari Park (Wild Animal Park) to check on the nesting progress of the free ranging egrets and ibis. It was still early, though…
2013-04-13 Spring In The Ramona Grasslands
The Ramona Grasslands is a 3,521-acre preserve located west of the town of Ramona. I took my fat-tire bike and camera gear out on a Saturday morning to investigate some…
2013-04-04 Imperial Beach Swallows
I travelled to Imperial Beach one April morning in 2013 to see if I might find any interesting bird activity. Normally I’d expect shorebirds, egrets, or waterfowl at 7th Street,…
2013-04-04 Border Field
Weekday visits to Border Field, at the extreme southwestern corner of the USA, requires a long walk. It is over a mile from the parking area to the sandy beach,…
2013-03-26 Thrasher Hunt
County Road S-2, or the Great Southern Overland Stage Route, runs along the desert floor at the foot of the local San Diego mountains. The route is one of my…
2013-03-24 Surfbirds At The Mission Bay Jetty
Good image captures of Surfbirds were a source of frustration for me until this day. These shorebirds are not rare during the winter season in San Diego County, but I’d…
2013-03-23 Around Poway
When winter is ending and spring approaches in southern California, and we’ve been hosting dull, drab Yellow-Rumped Warblers for three months, the males shed their winter garb and don their…
2013 March In South San Diego County
In March 2013, I went twice to Lower Otay Lake in search of a Prairie Warbler. As did many of my adventures in South San Diego County, my first trip…
2013-02-15 Balboa Park Flora
I took a day to wander through Balboa Park, forsaking birds and concentrating on the plant kingdom.
2013-01-31 Imperial Beach Hot Spots
South of San Diego Bay and north of the Tijuana River and the border with Mexico, lies the town of Imperial Beach. Both the bay and the river valley are…
2013-01-22 Bayfront Park In Chula Vista
Chula Vista Bayfront Park is positioned between the Chula Vista Marina and San Diego Bay. I make a point of visiting this place whenever I’m on errands nearby, but it…
2013-01-20 San Diego Safari Park
Now that my review of 2014 is complete, I’ll be starting the process again with 2013. I’ll begin by sharing my January visit to the old “Wild Animal Park”, now…
2014-12-19 Santee Lakes
This post wraps up my retelling of stories from 2014. Tales of 2013 remain to be told, and I hope to spin those yarns soon. I know I’ve been pumping…
2014-12-04 Poway Creek Mergansers
There is a location on Poway Creek, a mile from my home where I like to hunt for Wilson’s Snipe each winter. While the snipes may bring me to this…
2014-11-30 Birds At Vendel Road
No trip to the Salton Sea is complete without paying a visit to Unit #1 of the Sonny Bono NWR at Vendel Road. In winter, it is an exceptional birding…
2014-11-30 Poe Road Passerines
My past stops at Poe Road on the southwestern shore of the Salton Sea have yielded worthwhile bird encounters. On this visit at the end of November 2014, I focused…
2014-11-30 Cattle Call Park
Cattle Call Park in Brawley California, is rodeo arena at the western edge of town. Unusual birds will occasionally make an appearance here. My only meeting with a Gray Flycatcher…
2014 November Bullhead City Attractions
Bullhead City Arizona, sits on the Colorado River below Davis Dam and across the river from Laughlin Nevada. I have friends there whom I enjoy visiting occasionally. Havasu National Wildlife…
2014-11-25 Bill Williams NWR
The Bill Williams River flows west out of central Arizona and joins the Colorado River at Lake Havasu near Parker Dam. Planet Ranch Road leaves Highway US-95, south of Bill…
2014 Late November At The Salton Sea
By the time November ends at the Salton Sea, the waterfowl population explodes. Snow Goose numbers can reach 30,000. Sandhill Cranes seem to be increasing each passing winter season. Where…
2014-10-23 Autumn In Garner Valley
In the past, I’ve written about my late June meetings with Pinyon Jays in Garner Valley, but on this autumn visit there were different avian hosts to entertain me. I…
2014-10-21 Poe Road And The Salton Sea
When I drive to the Salton Sea from my home in San Diego County, I usually make Poe Road my first stop. Not only is it the first access road…
2014 Mid-October At Old Mine Road In Ranchita
I will remember 2014 as the year I met Lewis’s Woodpeckers for the first time, and while this account is not about that first meeting, this, the second meeting was…
2014-09-23 At The San Luis Rey River Mouth
The still and brackish waters at the mouth of the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside California can be attractive to migratory birds passing by on their southbound route from…
2014-05-22 March Yard Birds
March 2014 brought a Cassin’s Vireo into my yard, and I managed to capture respectable images. Hutton’s Vireos are regular visitors to the oak trees on my property, but other…
2014-03-12 Mount Laguna & Lindo Lake
The town of Mount Laguna, at an elevation of 6000 feet, sits along the scenic “Sunrise Highway” in the mountains of San Diego County. It has a store, restaurant, cabins…
2014-03-22 Lincoln’s Sparrows In My Yard
I remember well March 2014 because I enjoyed the company of five or six Lincoln’s Sparrows in my front yard for about a month. Lincoln’s sparrows are not rare in…
2014-02-26 Tubb Canyon Trail
I’d heard recent reports of interesting birds sighted near Tubb Canyon, and never having visited this place before, I was eager to explore it. I cannot remember the bird that…
2014-03-05 Birding At Border Field
It’s a long walk from the designated parking area a few yards from the border with Mexico (hence the name “Border Field”) to reach the beach where the USA and…
2014-02-14: A Visit To Chula Vista
South of San Diego, about halfway to the border with Mexico, the City of Chula Vista has a boat launch and a marina that abuts San Diego Bay. The waters…
2014-12-08 San Diego Botanic Gardens
I set out very early to visit the San Diego Botanic Gardens in Encinitas California. People had been reporting Varied Thrushes there, and I wished to spend some time with…
2011-10-13 At The Salton Sea
I’ve had other wonderful visits to this amazing place, but this day ranks as one of the best.
2016-04-24 Klamath Falls Gulls
Bonaparte’s Gulls are one of the smaller species of birds in the ‘gull’ clan. Until this spring day in Klamath Falls, all my encounters with this species were of immature…
2018-07-15 Sunday At The Cove And Other Places
Sunday I ventured into the “natural” world and took a much-needed break from the rigors of my house remodeling. I made La Jolla Cove the focal point of my adventure.…
2018 Remembering My Poway Yardbirds
I’m coming to the end of my tenure as custodian of my Poway abode, and I have been remembering all the birds that have visited me here. I’m not a…
2018-05 More Moments With Yardbirds
This past week I’ve been sneaking an hour or so in the late afternoon (when the light is favorable) to break from my projects and spend time with some of…
2018-04 A Few Moments With Yardbirds
It’s been six months since I’ve actively posted here. Below I explain some reasons for my absence. In the months since I’ve given any time for myself to take pictures,…
2017 Review (it was a VERY good year)
Rebuilding virtually every page on my website (see my “2018-06-16 Busted Web Pages” post), I realized I hadn’t assembled a page for reviewing all my 2017 blog images. It was,…
2017
2017-10-27 a Week at Clover Flat
As a part of project to study the inland wetlands of San Diego County, the San Diego Natural History Museum’s science team spent the week at a property in the…
2017-09-20 Santa Barbara and Home
I arrived in Santa Barbara on Monday and made my way to my friend Peter’s home, where I spent Monday and Tuesday nights. Monday evening was arranged for all my…
2017-09-17 Sunday in Morro Bay
It was a big day in Morro Bay Sunday. I found otters at their usual place at the upper end of the harbor. To my delight, there were two babies…
2017-09-16 San Simeon and North
(as far north as I could go) I drove all day Friday. It was the longest day single day of driving for this entire trip (368 miles). I left early…
2017-09-15 Sacramento Valley Trifecta
Sacramento NWR, Colusa NWR, Gray Lodge Wildlife Area The Sacramento NWR mostly had puddle ducks, with a few Raptors and herons. They have not flooded the fields, yet it looks…
2017-09-12 Crescent City To Klamath River
I drove south to Crescent City Monday afternoon and scouted the harbor for bird possibilities. The light from the west swayed me from any inclination to take photographs. Tuesday morning…
2017-09-10 Mail Boat Ride (Plus Pistol River)
I parked Saturday night in a space along the main road going south out of Gold Beach. All day I’d been parked along the South Jetty, but it was questionable…
2017-09-09 South to Gold Beach Oregon
Having booked a ticket on the Mail Boat for the 108 mile white water of the Rogue River, I had a whole day to look for subjects to satisfy my…
2017-09-08 South From Bandon Oregon
As I was finishing my last blog entry from the South Jetty in Bandon, the rocks filled up with Western Sandpipers who had loafing on their minds. It was about…
2017-09-07 Central Oregon Coast
A study on “peeping” I awoke at the north end of Coos Bay (North Bend Oregon) to a dense fog, then drove out the Horsfall Beach road. A recommended trail…
2017-09-06 Wednesday And Back On The Road
The smoke in southern Oregon continues to be a plague upon all who live there. Los Angeles, as I write has an air quality index of 68 (parts-per-million) and max…
2017-09-01 Crater Lake Trip
I drove over the Crater Lake Highway on my way from Klamath Falls to Medford. I spent the night on a logging side road north of Fort Klamath and found…
2017-08-31 Abert Lake To Klamath Falls
After my adventures at the Malheur NWR, I left Burns Oregon, heading east on US-20 and continued my zigzagging journey across southern Oregon. Reaching Riley Oregon, I turned south on…
2017-08-29 On The Road To Malheur NWR
I left Payette Idaho after staying with dear friends for 11 days, driving south to Jordan Valley, then northeast through Burns Junction. The road down the east side of Steens…
2017-08-21 In The Shadow Of The Moon
Anyone who witnessed last week’s total solar eclipse is not likely to forget the spectacle … EVER! When my friend Jerry called last February suggesting we rendezvous in Idaho after…
2017-08-19 Willard Bay
Willard Bay was a last-minute addition to our ad hoc tour schedule for the Salt Lake City area. Our time in this state park was all too brief. Even so,…
2017-08-17&18 Antelope Island Phalaropes
The stars of the day were the phalaropes, when they picked up and flew in mass, wheeling and dipping in unison, it was breathtaking. I tried to capture images, but…
2017-08-17&18 Antelope Island Swallows
Swallows in flight are difficult subjects to photograph. When I realized I was overloading on gull and phalarope images, I paid attention to these elusive birds darting low over the…
2017-08-17&18 Antelope Island Gulls
I rarely get opportunities to meet Franklin’s Gulls, so when they appear before me I’m compelled to chase them with my lens. Brine Flies created a carpet on the beaches,…
2017-08-17 Antelope Island (Part 1 of 4)
I fell in love with Antelope Island in the spring of 2015 when introduced by friends Ron and Mia, so when my new friend Joe suggested we spend the day…
2017-08-16 Bear River
After showing Jerry and me the Promontory Road raptors in the early morning, Joe took us out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Reserve. While I’d visited this area in…
2017-08-16 Promontory Road
My friend Jerry drove north from Albuquerque with a plan to rendezvous with me in Layton Utah. He told me his plan was to spend the night in Green River…
2017-08-14 Bicknell Bottoms
I’ve not been able to keep up with my reports from this trip because of the hectic pace I’ve had to keep this past week. I plan to get caught…
2017-08-14 Capitol Reef FlyBy
As I write this note from Salt Lake, it is one week since I left home on this expedition. I’ve been so busy these past days, I’ve not been able…
2017-08-13 Zion Drive Through
I’ve been doing a lot of driving this past week, which has cut into my time to post pictures. On my drive through Zion National Park, I resorted to using…
2017-08-13 Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
This morning I found my way to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. I visited here once before while doing my big inter-mountain trip in the Samurai (the one where I…
2017-08-12 Driving Up The Colorado River
I’ll be spending the next few days driving north into the Inter Mountain States. I’ll be meeting with a friend in Salt Lake City to spend a few days hunting…
2017-08-11 Salton Sea Sunsets
Choosing to add a few more “features” to my RV delayed the launch of my expedition into the inter-mountain West. I might have taken Interstate 15 on my way to…
2017-08-07 Warner Valley With The SDNHM Team
The science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum had taken on a project to survey the biology at several inland wetland areas. I missed out on the previous…
2017-07-22 Killdeer Chicks
After breakfast yesterday I chased the killdeer chicks at the Community Park in Poway along Rattlesnake Creek that my good friends Charlie and Kirsten told me about. It wasn’t the…
2017 June: Elf Owls In Riverside County
Authorities in California have listed these sparrow-sized owls as “endangered.” They believe that the Lower Colorado River is the limit of their range in California. That makes their presence in…
2017-07-19&20 Heading Home From The Sierras
Leaving June Lakes yesterday, I found a road I’d not travelled before. I’d been to Mono Mills on CA-120 East, but never further. The route from US-395 to Benton is…
2017-07-18 Twin Lakes Mammoth, Round Two
My plan for this day was to head out to the end of Lake Mary Road in Mammoth. There were several locations nearby where I thought I might find the…
2017-07-16 Mammoth Lakes Birds
Mammoth Creek connects a string of high elevation lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Starting above Skelton Lake (9,920′), it drains into Arrowhead Lake (9,690′), Lake Mary (8,920’), Lake Mamie…
2017-07-15 Tioga Pass And “Common” Birds
June Lake, where I’ve been staying with friends, is a short drive to many great bird locations and abundant first rate scenery. Tioga Pass is the east gate to Yosemite…
2017-07-13 Eastern Sierra Scenery
Occasionally I’ll take a quick break from pointing my camera at birds and take in some of the surrounding scenery. Today I’m sharing some of those images. A brief description…
2017-07-12 Sonora Pass And Beyond
At 9623 feet, Sonora Pass is the second highest pass over the Sierras. I wanted to explore this area because I was told there was a store along the route…
2017-07-12 Bridgeport Reservoir
On leaving Mono Lake, my route north towards Sonora Pass carried me through the town of Bridgeport. Northeast of the town is a large shallow lake called Bridgeport Reservoir. I’d…
2017-07-12 Mono Lake Birds
This morning I headed toward Sonora Pass. California Route 108 traverses the Sierra Nevada range from the Gold Country on the west to the eastern Sierras near Bridgeport. The road…
2017-07-08 Woodpecker Chase
Saturday (7/8) I chased woodpeckers. My first stop was at Earthquake Fault just outside of downtown Mammoth. I’d been told I’d find Williamson’s Sapsuckers there, and I did. I also…
2017-07-07 and 09 Lower Rock Creek
Friday morning (7/7) I chased (but missed) my friend Steve Brad’s Indigo Bunting. He’d been visiting the region in the weeks prior to my departure. I’m reasonably certain I was…
Collisions In The Eastern Sierra
Later this week, I plan to drive north to visit friends and chase birds in the Eastern Sierras. I always enjoy travelling to the region, because of the spectacular scenery.…
New Gallery Added (Eggs And Their Shapes)
I recently posted a set of ad hoc galleries to show images of bird eggs. I’ve since updated and migrated these images to the Gallery (see main menu). To view…
2017-06-17~20 Cottonwood Springs (Part 2)
On my previous post I shared images of the players in the Rat Theater, but I also had some nice avian encounters during this expedition. Mockingbirds, Mourning Doves and House…
2017-06-17~20 Cottonwood Springs
From June 12th to the 20th, the San Diego Natural History Museum science team focused their mission on Cottonwood Springs and the Pinto Basin at the southeastern corner of Joshua…
2017 June in Joshua Tree National Park
My trip to Joshua Tree National Park was not without its surprises. I promised to wait one month before speaking of one of them, but there is a good reason…
2017-06-01 Nesting at Border Field
I drove down to Border Field this morning and met with the biology team surveying the California Least Terns (endangered) and Western Snowy Plovers (threatened). Both species struggle with habitat…
2017-05-28 Red Hill At The Salton Sea
Travelling south after my expedition with the San Diego Natural History Museum to Horse Thief Springs (read more of that trip HERE) in the Mojave Desert, I could not bring myself…
2017-05-17 Nesting Season At The Saltworks
It’s always a good day when visiting the nesting sites at the Saltworks, especially when it includes spending time with wildlife biologists Brian, Robert, Lea and Kate. On my way…
2017-05-15 South San Diego Bay
I obligated myself to providing a ride for a friend to the San Diego airport and thought it might be worthwhile to stick my nose into some of my old…
2017-05-05 Best of Arizona
I spent from 2017-04-22 through 2017-05-04 touring some great bird locations in Arizona. The places I managed to visit during this time were Agua Caliente Park, Sabino Canyon, Mount Lemmon,…
2017-05-04 Arivaca Cienega
Thursday morning I got out early to the Cienega at Arivaca, one of my favorite birding locations. Here I found Hermit Warblers, Orange-Crowned Warblers, Lucy’s Warblers, Brewer’s Sparrows, Vermilion Flycatchers,…
2017-05-03 Arivaca’s La Siesta Campground
When you lookup the word “rural” in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Arivaca Arizona shown. I have a friend who’s lived in Arivaca since she was 10…
2017-05-01 2 Days In The Santa Rita Mountains
With instructions to find Florida Canyon, I headed south from Tucson to explore new places. I’ve visited nearby Madera Canyon twice before, but I’d been hearing about Florida Canyon for…
2017-May At Horse Thief Springs
Horse Thief Springs on the northeastern flanks of the Kingston Mountains is one of the Joseph Grinnell restudy locations taken on by the San Diego Natural History Museum. The site…
2017-04-26~28 Mount Lemmon: Sky Island Heaven
Early Wednesday morning I set off to visit Mount Lemmon using instructions for locating birds on the mountain from local birder, Liz Harrison. Her instructions were invaluable and gave me…
2017-04-25 Sabino Canyon
I envy Tucson citizenry for this jewel. If I lived here, I’d make it a point to visit Sabino Canyon several days a week. Not only are there amazing birds,…
2017-04-24 Agua Caliente Park
I spent the entire day yesterday at Agua Caliente Park in northeast Tucson. I visited this place in years past and found it to be very productive for getting bird…
Broad-Billed Hummingbird Nest in Tucson
While visiting relatives in northeastern Tucson, my cousin showed me a nest in her backyard bougainvillea. It turned out to be that of a Broad-Billed Hummingbird. What caught my attention…
2017-04-20 Salton Sea and Ramer Lake
My visit to the Red Hill Marina Campsite was fun, but it was time to continue my journey to Arizona. Ramer Lake is another interesting bird location in the Salton…
2017-04-20 Salton Sea: Bowles Road to Red Hill
I spent the night at Bowles Road and woke up early to find a swarm of tree swallows all around me. It was a bright and clear morning, so I…
2017-04-19 Salton Sea at Bowles Road Overlook
The Bowles Road overlook is on the southeastern shore of the Salton Sea. I found this location many years ago when exploring the edges of the sea from another favorite…
2017-04-19 With Round-Tailed Ground Squirrels
My involvement with the San Diego County Mammal Atlas project made me aware of the Round-Tailed Ground Squirrel species. Prior to this I had not a clue about this small…
Cutouts: A Retrospective
I’ve been pursuing generating images I call “Cutouts” for several years. Truth be told, I wanted to display them in my galleries as thumbnails for the species albums. I have…
2017-03-21 Poway Community Park
Starting my morning “constitutional” at Poway Community Park this day, I noticed a Killdeer foraging in the now fast moving shallow water of Rattlesnake Creek. I liked the way the…
2017-03-20 Monday’s Flowers At Anza-Borrego
I felt the need this morning to get “out in the world”. I set my sights on Borrego Springs. Swainson’s Hawks are migrating and the flowers should be interesting about…
2017-02-21~22 Clarion to Cabo, And Home
2017-02-21 Tuesday (Adios Clarion) The weather predictions for our departure from Isla Clarion were for rough seas, so I dosed myself with motion meds and braced for the worst. Though…
2017-02-20 Hiking Isla Clarión
I spent the day hiking on Clarión Island’s southern flanks. Most of the rest of the passengers on the voyage visited these locations on the previous afternoon while I stayed…
2017-02-18~19 Isla Clarion By Sea
Before we said goodbye to Isla Socorro, we drove the boat north along the island’s eastern flank and visited a different beach, called Playa Blanca, a little south from where…
2017-02-17 Isla Socorro, A Day At The Beach
Yesterday was a big day exploring the higher elevations on Isla Socorro. To investigate as much diversity as possible, we visited a beach on the opposite side of the island…
2017-02-16 Socorro’s Cloud Forest
We left the boat early this morning, and the Marines graciously offered to give us a ride in trucks partway up the mountain. When the trucks could go no further…
2017-02-15 Our First Afternoon At Isla Socorro
We left Isla San Benedicto early this morning and drove the boat 32 miles south to Isla Socorro and arrived to anchor about 8:00am. Even though we had all the…
Rat Theater Version 2.1
Processing images from the boat cruise consumed all my time this month. Recently Scott Tremor (San Diego Natural History Museum) and I camped out in our local desert to trap…
2017-02-14 Isla San Benedicto
Our company would meet Isla San Benedicto this morning. The object of our journey, the Archipiélago de Revillagigedo was finally at hand. On August 1, 1952 at 8:30 AM, the…
2017-02-13 Seafaring South
Monday was a travel day on board the Shogun. We had 350 miles to navigate, and at 10-12 miles per hour it would take a while. While the captain and…
2017-02-12 Isla Santa Margarita
We left Isla Asuncion late in the afternoon, and while we slept, the captain and crew drove all night towards our next destination: Isla Santa Margarita, ¾ the way down…
2017-02-11 The Rocky Islands
This was an exciting day for us. It would be our first contact with terra firma in three days. We’d travelled approximately halfway down the Baja peninsula. Our time on…
2017-02-11 Passage to The Rocks
Amy and Jorge are always up at the crack of dawn, forward of the bridge and counting birds. No matter how early I rose each morning, I would find them…
2017-02-10 Seafaring South
On the second day of our voyage the overcast and fog that met us at the start of our journey continued, making conditions for capturing images a challenge. For those…
2017-02-09 San Diego and Ensenada
We left San Diego through a shroud of fog and marine haze. We expected to see whales and dolphins on this first day of our voyage to the islands of…
Best Memories Of The 2017 Revillagigedos Trip
Having completed the “package” of 14 episodes about the recent trip to the Archipiélago de Revillagigedo (2017-February). I’ve assembled 52 of my favorite moments from the trip. Below, I display…
Revillagigedo Archipelago: We Did It!
My journey south this past 3 weeks to visit this seldom visited island set (roughly pronounced ReVEEya-He-HAY-dough) was the most interesting, exciting, educational trip I’ve ever undertaken. My fellow passengers…
Buen Viaje! Andele Revillagigedo
This afternoon I head down to Fisherman’s Landing to load my gear (and I have a lot of it) on the 98 foot vessel, Shogun. Early tomorrow, with 25 intrepid…
2017-01-17: A Great Day At The Salton Sea
It was a great day at the Salton Sea yesterday. I arrived too late Monday for any work photographically, but it allowed me to be there at first light, which…
2016
2016 Image Review
This past year has been eventful for me. It began with health-scare and a six-month recovery from a pulmonary embolism that started the previous autumn, but not diagnosed and treated…
Now Showing at Rat Theater
I’m not sure if there’s much curiosity out there about how I’ve been capturing images of small rodents these past six months, but I thought it might be fun to…
2016 Final Mojave Excursion: Birds
Perhaps it was because of the cool weather, perhaps because it was the last expedition of the season, or the combination of team members on this trip, but there was…
2016 Final Mojave Excursion: Mammals
Camping at the Granite Well site has been the coldest excursion of all the museum outings. It is good that this is the last outing until spring next year. On…
2016-11-29 Tuesday At Cottonwood Spring
Some of you may recall I stayed at this location at the end of September with the science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum. It was my first…
2016 – November Birds In The Mojave
When I’m camping with the science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum, I try to find time to meet the local birds. Autumn migration can provide some pleasant…
2016 November- Rodents in the Mojave
The expedition into the Mojave Desert with the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Bird and Mammal Science Team is almost two weeks past. With all the travelling on my return…
2016-11-08~14: Camping In The Mojave
I left Poway on Tuesday, November 8 to catch up with the Bird and Mammal team from the San Diego Natural History Museum. The science team had been at their…
2016-11-06 Mammal Atlas Update
The Brush Mouse was the last subject for the San Diego County Mammal Atlas we added to the image collection. When I took on the role of ‘image wrangler’ for this…
2016-10-30 The Salton Sea & My New Nikon D5
2016-10-31 Monday (apologies for the semi-technical nature of this post) Yesterday I drove to the Salton Sea to test out my new camera. I know a place along the southeastern shore…
The Hideous Norway Rat
Call it the brown rat, common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat, Rattus norvegicus is one despicable rodent. As…
2016-10-13 Pinyon Wells Critters
I recently posted about the trip I took last week to Pinyon Wells in Joshua Tree National Park with the Bird and Mammal Department of the San Diego Natural History…
2016-10-16 Mammal Atlas Update
Here is the status of the San Diego County Mammal Atlas project: Last week, the first sections of the book went to the typesetter. When the typesetter completes the work,…
2016 – Early October Camping At Pinyon Wells
I spent the second week of October with the bird and mammal department of the San Diego Natural History Museum in Joshua Tree National Park. The site is called Pinyon…
2016-10-07 Joshua Tree Park: Birds Too!
Though the main course on the menu for my outing to Joshua Tree National Park wore fur, when feathers showed up I had to take a bite or two. I…
Joshua Tree National Park (Part 2)
It’s time to share the rest of the story about the week I recently spent with the museum’s science team a week ago. Some people choose their route on trips…
Late September at Joshua Tree NP
Last Sunday (2016-09-24) I left Poway for Cottonwood Spring in southern Joshua Tree National Park to stay with members of the museum’s science team for the week. With the San…
2016-09-17 Mammal Atlas Update
Over the last several weeks, I have been gathering, grooming, and sorting images for the upcoming San Diego County Mammal Atlas, and unfortunately have neglected to update my website with…
2016-08-30&31 Springs at Santa Rosa Mountain
I’ve posted about my favorite place on the planet before: the Springs on Santa Rosa Mountain. This outing was the first time I’ve brought another photographer with me. Jerry and…
2016-08-28 Bird & Butterfly Garden
A week ago Sunday I picked up my friend Jerry from Albuquerque at the airport for a week of recreational photography. I’ve been neglecting my need to collect images for…
A New Project With “The Nat”
The San Diego Natural History Museum’s Science Team has long been working a project called the “Mammal Atlas“. I’ve been working with this team on other projects, and it’s always…
2016-06-10, 24 Hours On Santa Rosa Mountain
Friday morning I headed to Santa Rosa Mountain to test my RV against the miserable dirt and rock road up the mountain. I was concerned about some of the roughest sections…
2016-05-08 Sunday In The Eastern Sierras
I had a big day taking pictures this day. It began when I reached Mono Lake’s western edge. I saw a flycatcher that flew off before I got my camera…
2016-05-07 Stuck In Modoc Mud (With a Poem)
Driving south on Highway 139 out of Tulelake California, I found a quiet side road to pull off and camp for the night. Tulelake resides in Siskiyou County, but the…
2016-05-06 Tule Lake
I’ve been waffling about which route would carry my homeward. One choice would drive me further east in Oregon before finding Highway 395 south. Such a path would add many…
2016-05-05 Klamath Falls, Veterans
When I finished with the dippers in Ashland Thursday afternoon, I drove out on Highway 66 through Keno and the old Oregon Trail to Klamath Falls. It was late in…
2016-05-04 Wednesday,Turning to Home
My nephew Chris and I drove out to Butte Falls and wandered the woods in search of Blue Grouse yesterday. We came up short for birds, but the country and…
2016-05-02 Monday on the Siskiyou Summit Road
Once again I prepared to drive over the Siskiyou Mountains from the Applegate Valley to Ashland. I hoped to see Calliope Hummingbirds, especially males. Last year when I drove this…
2016-04-29 Ken Denman and Touvelle
The Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area and the TouVelle State Recreation Area are near Eagle Point Oregon, on the Rogue River north of Medford. While visiting my family here last June,…
2016-04-28 Upper Applegate Valley
The Applegate River originates in northern California and drops into its own serene valley past Jacksonville before contributing to the Rogue River a few miles west of Grants Pass. Miners…
2016-04-24 Lower Klamath Basin
Origins of the Klamath Basin The region bordering Oregon and California is a marshy expanse of shallow lakes. Geologically, the valley is called a ‘graben’. Parallel north-to-south faults act to…
2016-04-23 Saturday Carson City to Tule Lake
I learned yesterday that the flu that was being passed around in my nephew’s house has abated. I was purposefully progressing at a snail’s pace to give it time to…
2016-04-22 Friday’s Drive Through The Storm
I awoke at my campsite beside Crowley Lake this morning to a glorious sunrise. I showered and ate leftovers from two nights ago, and then took a quick spin to…
2016-04-21 Lone Pine and The Alabama Hills
I left Dirty Socks Spring for the short drive to Lone Pine. If museums are your thing, you’ll probably like Lone Pine’s Film History Museum. Once you’ve seen the Alabama…
2016-04-20 Dirty Socks Spring
2016-04-20 Wednesday The local birding community is well aware of Dirty Socks Spring. At the southern edge of the Owens Lake basin, it used to be a county park with…
Favorite March Moments of 2016
As I prepare to depart on my next road trip, I thought a reflection on some of my favorite photographic moments from my most recent trip might be appropriate. My…
The Cienega at Arivaca
2016-03-25 and 26 Friday and Saturday Part of the Buenos Aires NWR, the cienega at Arivaca, has been a favorite birding location of mine for more than a dozen years.…
Cassin’s Sparrow in Arizona
2016-03-25 Friday, On The Road To Arivaca On my drive from New Mexico toward Arivaca Arizona, I made it a mission to find Cassin’s Sparrows. Having stumbled onto them last…
2016-03-24 Upper Gila River to Virden Bridge
At Silver City I stayed at the KOA Campground. All the tanks I wished to be full, were showing low levels, and all those that I preferred to be empty…
2016-03-23 Homeward Past Bosque Del Apache
2016-03-23 Wednesday Begins My Homeward Leg My stay with Jerry in Albuquerque was wonderful. My only regret was that I took so many pictures without processing or posting to my…
2016-03-21 Burrowing Owls of Los Lunas
Jerry and I wanted to spend some quality time with his new owl buddies in Los Lunas. After an excellent breakfast, we drove south to find the birds. We stayed…
2016-03-20 & 22 Rio Grande Nature Center
2016-03-20 and 22 On Sundays there is a regularly scheduled nature walk at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, and I joined the group on this day. Organized groups…
2016-03-19 Albuquerque Botanic Gardens
Saturday 2016-03-19 Shooting macro images of flowers is something that interested me early in my ‘career’, but I rarely do so anymore. Most of you reading this and who’ve known me…
2016-04-10 Sights South Of Albuquerque
Members of Jerry’s camera club recently described San Lorenzo Canyon to him. On Friday, 2016-03-18, we set out to find this place in the desert above the Rio Grande. We…
2016-03-17 A Day At The Albuquerque Zoo
On Friday 2016-03-17 Jerry and I headed to the Albuquerque Zoo. I’d been there years ago (on Jerry’s advice) to photograph feral Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers, and I was…
2016-04-08 Hanging Out In Albuquerque
The primary motivation for me to take this trip has been to hang with my friend of many years. Jerry is a first-rate photographer, and he loves nature photography for…
2016-03-13 at Bullhead City and the Tamed Colorado River
On leaving my friend in Yucca Valley (Pioneertown actually), I traversed miles of open desert and reached Interstate 40 near Amboy California. There is a serene beauty to the desert.…
2016-04-05 Heading North (Before I Go East)
On Friday 2016-03-11 I launched on a drive that would cover 2650 miles across 3 states. A visit to see my good friends in Bullhead City Arizona would complete the…
2015
Sketchy Cutouts; More Image Experiments
In 2013 I began experimenting on my images with a process I call Cutouts. I was interested in presenting the birds in a non-standard way to give the subjects more “pop”. Some…
2015-11-14 Miramar Bonaparte’s Gulls
I visited this location Friday evening to meet a friend for a sandwich. We sat near the boat dock, and I noticed a small gull in flight over the boat…
2015-11-12 Arizona Trip Favorites
Mid-October I finally launched my expedition into Southern Arizona. I’d have left sooner but for the ‘fix-it’ jobs at home that delayed my get-away. On my way to Tucson I…
2015-10-31 Salton Sea Southeast
The southeastern shore of the Salton Sea is an area I enjoy exploring. Between the agricultural fields and the edge of the sea, there are many opportunities to encounter birds…
2015-10-30 Highway Hypnosis In Arizona
My friend Barbara cooked a nice breakfast this morning, and I got packed up and headed out early. I made a stop at the Buenos Aires NWR Visitor’s Center on…
2015-10-29 Arivaca Arizona
Arivaca is a small community in south-central Arizona with an estimated population of 900~1000 citizens. There is a watershed of 45 square miles that drains out on Arivaca Creek. The…
2015-10-27 Marana Powered Paragliders
Leaving Madera Canyon, I drove into southern Tucson to beat the high cost of lodging in Green Valley. This road would take me near the shop where Sami got the…
2015-10-27 Madera Canyon
Leaving Tubac Arizona I wanted to visit Madera Canyon. That required a night in Green Valley at an overpriced motel. Hindsight tells me I should have traveled north 26 miles…
2015-10-26 Tubac Arizona
From Sierra Vista I set my sights on the Santa Cruz River Valley. The path most scenic took me through Patagonia, a town well known to birders. I’ve passed this…
2015-10-25 Sierra Vista
When I left Rustler Park I continued down the east side of the mountain to Portal. Hunting season being in place, there were numerous unsavory characters running on the same…
2015-10-23 Rustler Park
Having taken care of the Samurai’s transmission, I was eager to get started on the rest of my adventure. It was less than a two-hour drive to the base of the…
2015-10-22 “Common” Tucson Birds
One positive that came out of having my transportation down was that I could spend quality time with the birds around my cousin’s abode. It’s likely that many locals here…
2015-10-18 Mount Lemmon
Another journal entry: With the Samurai out of commission and waiting for its transmission, I found myself dependent on the kindness of loved ones for excursions. On this morning we…
2015-10-15 Tucson via the Salton Sea
Hello (he said after a long break). This blog entry is more a ‘journal’ than an editorial post. Please keep this in mind when working through the text below. My…
Do You Have Bird Prejudice?
I believe that most people have bird prejudice, birders and non-birders alike. Birds that are large or showy are popular even among people who have a mild to passing interest…
Endangered Greater Sage Grouse
Open sage country, from the Great Basin and into the Rocky Mountain states, is where you can find the Greater Sage Grouse surviving. During breeding season, sage cocks, as the…
2015-08-19 Saltworks Shorebirds
By August each year, tern nesting is winding down at the Saltworks, but the Snowy Plovers still have a few chicks, so people in the southeast part of the Saltworks…
2015-08-13 Santa Rosa Mountain
I’ve worked as a photographer with the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) since 2010 on a project called the San Jacinto Resurvey. The goal of this project is to…
2015-08-05 Saltworks
Having spent way too much time of late at the computer rebuilding my website, it was important that I get out to the field. Since Wednesday was a Saltworks day,…
Blue Grosbeak (Bird Of The Day)
Introducing a new series It’s been on my mind recently that I could do a better job of bringing attention to some birds in my Bird Gallery. What I plan is…
2015-07-08 Saltworks
It’s always a pleasure to hang with the science team when they march through the levees at the Saltworks to survey the terns and skimmers nesting there. I’ve been lucky…
2015-07-05 Santee Lakes
My friend and business partner’s second son was born on the Fourth of July last year, and there was a birthday bash at Santee Lakes planned for this day noonish.…
2015-07-02 Tijuana River-Border Field
On this day, I ventured down to Tijuana River Valley looking for the reported Yellow-Throated Vireo I’d heard of there. I struck out on the vireo, but there was a…
2015-06-18 So Endeth The Journey
April 27, 2015 I departed my home in Poway for an expedition through eight western states, California to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and back down the coast…
2015-06-17 King City to Morro Bay
The reason I chose King City as my destination on the previous day was twofold. First, I planned to drive over the Santa Lucia Mountains to the Big Sur coast…
2015-06-16 Fort Ross to King City
I gathered the images displayed here during my drive from Fort Ross to King City. I got an early start out of Timber Cove and made my way down the…
2015-06-15 Eureka to Fort Ross
I gathered the images on display here while driving south from Eureka to Fort Ross via the Mattole Road in Humboldt County, California. The southbound Mattole Road leaves US-101 south…
2015-06-14 Oregon Into California
I made my goodbyes to my family the night before I left Southern Oregon, and I stopped in the town of Rogue River for breakfast. As with so many times…
2015-06-11 Siskiyou Mountains
My drive through the Siskiyou Mountains followed National Forest Road 20 from the Applegate Valley, past Dutchman’s Peak (with a detour to the lookout station at its peak) and on…
2015-06-10 Applegate Valley
Upper Applegate Road leaves Oregon Route 238 about 8 miles south from Jacksonville Oregon, and continues to just past the California border above Applegate Lake. I traveled this day along…
2015-06-09 Ken Denman Reserve
One of the most pleasant and personally rewarding episodes for me on this expedition was the stay I had with my nephew and his family in southern Oregon. I hadn’t…
2015-06-05 Klamath Falls
I pulled into Klamath Falls Oregon in the late afternoon on June 4th. After securing lodging and a meal I wandered down to Veteran’s Park next to Lake Ewauna and…
2015-06-05 Klamath Falls Run
After my refreshing, even inspirational stay at Fields Oregon <Read Saga Page>, I headed off to meet the road to Klamath Falls. The road from Malheur, through Fields and on…
2015-06-03 Malheur NWR
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is located roughly 30 miles south of the town of Burns Oregon. I arrived in the afternoon after my mud-slinging drive down the BLM Access Road,…
2015-06-02 Malheur Run
My stay in Payette now past, I headed into eastern Oregon with my eye on the prize of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The two-lane highway (US-20) parallels the…
2015-06-01 Snake River Birds of Prey
I’d been to the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area 14 years ago, but it was in the autumn and the area was silent of birds,…
2015-05-31 Bird Island Reserve
Payette Idaho’s Birding Island is a 650 acre reserve that is part the just north of New Plymouth, which is not very far from Payette Idaho, which is across the…
2015-05-27 Bitterroot Valley, Days 4 and 5
Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge near Stevensville Montana, in the Bitterroot Valley sits along the Bitterroot River about 25 miles from where it empties into the Clark Fork River in…
2015-05-25 3rd Day In The Bitterroot Valley
I spent the first two days with my friend in the Bitterroot Valley getting caught up with processing images from the drive in from Wyoming. I spent time visiting old…
2015-05-22 Teton and Yellowstone Parks
My final departure from Jackson Wyoming on this day took me back through the same drive that Rick and I took on May 18th. Even before I crossed into Yellowstone…
2015-05-19 Moose-Wilson Road Re-Visited
That I did not find the Black-Backed Woodpecker does not, in my mind, constitute a failure. Those birds that I found made this outing a success … glass half full.…
2015-05-18 Jackson to Yellowstone
My friend Rick and I drove up from Jackson to Yellowstone for the day. I was looking for the Harlequin Ducks that were reported at the “Fishing Bridge” at the…
2015-05-17 Moose-Wilson Road
The Moose-Wilson Road skirts the western perimeter of the greater Jackson Valley just west of the Snake River. The northern end of the road ends at the Teton Park Road…
2015-05-16 Jackson Wyoming
My website suffered a catastrophic crash with complete loss of data on July 25, 2015. Much of the blog content going forward was necessarily re-created from memory. This could be…
2015-05-14 Pinedale Explorations
I visited Andy’s shop the next morning before he arrived at work. His friend Ross popped out the side door of the shop and figured out who I was by…
2015-05-13 Drive to Pinedale
It was a long drive out of Brigham City Utah to Pinedale Wyoming on this day. An ad hoc decision to investigate precipitated my first stop while climbing out of…
2015-05-12 Two Days At Bear River
The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, west of Brigham City Utah is 80,000 acres of marsh, open water, uplands, and alkali mudflats. There is a one-way dirt track loop through…
2015-05-10 Two Days At Antelope Island
One of the true high points of this trip was Antelope Island State Park, north of Salt Lake City in Utah. This is a very compelling place with LOTS to…
2015-05-09 Fish Lake Utah
Some birds I found at the lake area were Black-Crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, Gray-Headed Juncos, Double-Crested Cormorants, and American White Pelicans … though of these, I gathered no…
2015-05-08 Bicknell Bottoms
Yesterday’s visit at this place was just not enough to take it all in, so I opted to stay another day. My drive took me nearly completely around the valley,…
2015-05-07 Otter Creek and Bicknell Bottoms
I left Mount Carmel Junction and headed north on Highway US-89. It’s about a three-hour drive into Bicknell Utah, and then but a few minutes south to what the locals…
2015-05-06 Zion National Park
After I left Henderson I got through Las Vegas as efficiently as I could manage (no easy feat). I drove about 135 miles north on I-15 to Saint George Utah…
2015-05-05 Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
The Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve in Henderson Nevada near Las Vegas Nevada is a converted water treatment facility that now serves as a bird sanctuary. It lies north of Henderson…
2015-05-03 Silver Creek
While I was visiting my friends in Bullhead City Arizona, my friend Jack Norris wanted to go camping at a place he’d found while volunteering for ‘search and rescue’. He’d…
2015-05-02 Havasu NWR
May 2nd and it’s over 100°F at 8am. There were a few birds out and active, but I didn’t fare so well. I trekked into a cottonwood stand and found…
2015-04-28 Bill Williams NWR
Authorities have acknowledged the Bill Williams NWR as “a birding area of global importance.” There are many birds that breed in the habitats there, some of which are threatened or…
2015-04-28 Cibola
The community of Cibola Arizona, resides along the Colorado River about 25 miles south of Blythe California where the cultivated lands contrast harshly with the surrounding barren desert. Officials designated…
2015-04-28 Ramer Lake
Ramer Lake lies adjacent to the Alamo River and Highway 111 near the Salton Sea. Within the lake are many islands covered in Tamarisk (Salt Cedar) trees that serve as…
2015-04-28 Salton Sea
My first ‘real’ stop on this outbound leg of this expedition was at the Salton Sea. I made four stops in the general area. Poe Road, Vendel Road, Lack &…
2015-03-16 Oceanside Harbor
I needed to get out, and I’d heard through the grapevine that Red-Throated Loons were present at the Oceanside Harbor channel. I pulled into the parking area at sunrise and…
2015-03-11 Julian to Mt. Laguna
I set off on a quest to photograph Pine Siskins. Two locations that held promise were the Birdwatcher store in Julian and the Visitor’s Center at Mount Laguna. Indeed, I…
2015-03 First Week In March
I’ve spent waaaaay too much time of late working on organizing the new shadeTreeImaging.com website. I got a couple of very brief outings and got these images. I gathered the…
2015-02-20 Ranchita to Borrego
I wasn’t sure where I’d end up this day, but I knew it would be a good day as long as I was ‘out in the world’. Tri-colored Blackbirds teased…
2015-02-15 Daley Ranch and Pamo Valley
On this weekend I made two excursions. Saturday found me on a reserve just north of Escondido called The Daley Ranch, located in a high valley in the northern part…
2015-02-01 Tijuana River Valley
I decided to head back down to the Tijuana River Valley this “Super-bowl Sunday” to look for rare birds. I sorta struck out on some, but found some semi-rare birds…
2015-01-27 Tijuana River Valley
I went on this day, seeking a reported Eastern Phoebe, a bird that does not belong on the west coast (guess we forgot to tell this bird). While I roamed…
2014
2014 Autumn In La Jolla
My dad and his three older sisters were born in La Jolla during the early 1900s. The village was a humble place in those times. Streets were cobblestone and homes…
2014 Early Autumn On Santa Rosa Mountain
Within the span of one week, I made two excursions to Santa Rosa Mountain in late August and early September 2014. I’ve described this place several times in past posts,…
2014 June Lakes and White Mountain
I went looking for Black-Backed Woodpeckers at a two or three-year-old burn along US Highway 395 a few miles north of June Lake Junction. While I failed in that endeavor,…
2014 Early August With Eastern Sierras Mammals
Birds were not the only subjects to entertain me while visiting my friends at June Lake. The eastern shore of June Lake by Oh Ridge Campground gave me my first…
2014 Early August With Birds at June Lake
I am fortunate to have generous friends willing to welcome me into their homes as I travel. My friends Carmen and Mark have a house at June Lake California. I…
2014 Early August Around Mono Lake
During my stay with friends Carmine and Mark at June Lake California, I made several excursions in the surrounding area’s well known (and some not so well known) scenic attractions.…
2014 Late July At The Salton Sea
Whoever said “you must suffer for your art” must have been thinking about photographing birds at the Salton Sea in mid-summer. Temperatures here often elevate to over 115°F in the…
2014 Late June At Garner Valley
I recall a lot of MacGyvering to my Samurai before this trip. I wanted to provide sleeping quarters, suspended from the side of the vehicle, and a tent on a…
2014 Early June On Santa Rosa Mountain
I never grow tired of visiting Santa Rosa Mountain, a sky island in southern Riverside County California, a stone’s throw from the border with San Diego County. Part of me…
2014 Early April In Tecolote Canyon
I’d been hearing reports of a Swamp Sparrow at Tecolote Canyon for over a week from the local birding hotline. I don’t consider myself a ‘chaser’ like some folks who…
2014 At The Ramona Grasslands
Just inland from where I live in Poway California, and 900 feet higher in elevation, sits the community of Ramona California. This high valley historically has been an agricultural area,…
2013
2012: Year In Review
In the past couple months I’ve been occupied with projects in preparation to sell my home and begin an extended ‘traveling lifestyle’ in my small RV. I’ve not been able…
2012
2012-07-13 A ‘Ruff” Day At Famosa Slough
On Friday the 13th, I had a scheduled errand to deliver a friend to the airport and launch her on a trip to the UK. After getting her there and…
2012 Poway Kites In April
The grasslands in Poway between Metate Road and the South Poway Industrial Park has in years past been a good place to find White-Tailed Kites. Sadly, this is not the…
2005
2005 Alaskan Chronicles
On May 18, 2005 I left for a ‘trip of a lifetime’ that covered 12,000 miles and 73 days. All did not go as planned, but it truly WAS a…