House Wren

Memories of Boulder Creek Road
Memories of Boulder Creek Road

When I was 16 years old, and starting to drive independently, exploring San Diego County’s remote back-country roads was one of my greatest joys. Boulder Creek Road was one of…

Memories of Lake Poway
Memories of Lake Poway

I don’t always bring a camera with me when I visit Lake Poway. Only 7.5 miles from my home, I find its peace and serenity soothes me and heals my…

Memories of Balboa Park
Memories of Balboa Park

There are many reasons to love Balboa Park. Anyone unfamiliar with the attractions there is truly missing out. The museums alone are worth visiting. There are 18 of them to…

Memories of Cottonwood Spring – Joshua Tree NP
Memories of Cottonwood Spring – Joshua Tree NP

Cottonwood Spring is located inside Joshua Tree National Park. Twice, in 2016, I visited there, with the science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum; once at the end…

Memories of Lake Ontario’s Northern Shore
Memories of Lake Ontario’s Northern Shore

2023-05-13 Ontario’s Bronte Harbour After enjoying breakfast at a local diner last Thursday, we visited Bronte Harbour. My friend Judy wanted to show me the nesting Red-Necked Grebes at the…

Memories of Mammoth Lakes
Memories of Mammoth Lakes

In 2017, I spent two days exploring Mammoth Lakes in the eastern Sierra-Nevada Mountains. Below are notes from the visit. 2017-07-16 Mammoth Lakes Birds Mammoth Creek connects a string of…

2023-07-11 Over The Chiricahua Mountains
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…

2023-06-07 Blue Marsh, PA
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
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.…

2023-05-27 Ontario, West of Oakville
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…

2022-08-10 A Taste of Kansas
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…

2022-05-17 Two Days in Cody Wyoming
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…

2021-02-23 First Time At Quinta Mazatlan
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…

2021-01-28 Sabal Palms, Ten Days Hence
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
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…

Memories of Siskiyou Summit Road
Memories of Siskiyou Summit Road

I have family in Central Point Oregon that I like to visit as often as possible. During my stays there, I like to explore the surrounding region. Above the Rogue…

2012-12-27 Margaret Fleming Nature Trail
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…

2012-04 April Stuff In My Poway Yard
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…

2013-06-15 Milk Ranch Road
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…

2013-04-29 Coast To Crest Wildlife Corridor
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…

2017-09-17 Sunday in Morro Bay
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…

2017-09-15 Sacramento Valley Trifecta
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…

2016-11-29 Tuesday At Cottonwood Spring
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…

2015-10-23 Rustler Park
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…

2015-05-06 Zion National Park
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…