Northern Mockingbird
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 the Salton Sea at Red Hill
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…
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…
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-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,…
2023-06-23 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…
2023-06-11 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…
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…
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…
2021-02-19 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…
2021-02-06 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…
2021-02-01 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…
2021-01-26 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…
2021-01-11 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…
2020-12-27 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.…
2020-11-26 & 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…
2020-11-28 End of November Gallery Updates
I finished the gallery updates from my half day at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. As I pen these words, I’ve made my way into New Mexico. I’m in Glenwood, where…
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…
2020-05-28 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…
Memories of Breeze Lake Texas
My first birding expedition into Texas was in the spring of 2020. After being on the road since February 21st, on Monday, March 23rd, the world-wide panic from the pandemic…
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…
2020-03-20 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…
2020-03-09 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…
2020-02-23 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…
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…
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…
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…
2014-02-26 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…
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…
2017-04-19 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…