Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Memories of Catalina State Park
2019-10-24 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…
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 Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
The first time I visited the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve was on 2015-05-05. I was starting out a long expedition of the western USA states and driving my Suzuki Samurai.…
Memories of 2005 at Dog Lake – BC, Canada
My earliest adventure in Canada was while traveling to Alaska. Late in May-2005, I drove out of Idaho and crossed over the border at Kingsgate Port of Entry. After driving…
Memories of Moose-Wilson Road, Wyoming
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…
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…
Memories of Glenwood Catwalk and the Glenwood Fishery
My first visit to the Catwalk at Glenwood New Mexico was in August 2003. I was new to bird photography, and I remember meeting my first Summer Tanager there. It…
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 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…
2022-10-01 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…
2022-06-16 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…
2022-06-07 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…
2022-03-28 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.…
2022-03-09&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…
2022-03-04 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…
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…
2021-02-06 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…
2021-01-22 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…
2021-01-11 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…
2021-01-02 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…
2020-11-29 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…
2020-11-28 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…
2020-11-20 Mid-November Gallery Updates
I know I’ve been posting a lot lately about the updates on the bird species galleries I’ve been doing. This updating process is going to take a while. After all,…
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…
2020-11-09 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…
2020-03-09 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.…
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…
2014-10-23 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…
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…
2017-07-16 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…
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…
2015-05-25 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…
2015-05-19 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.…