Song Sparrow
Memories of Poway Pond
Very near my home is Poway Pond. Actually, there are two ponds. One is publicly owned, while the other is privately owned. The privately owned pond is now named “Taylor…
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 Whelan Lake
In 2003, my pursuit of bird photography was budding. I knew Phil Unitt was ramrodding the San Diego County Bird Atlas project, and I wanted to contribute. Phil had a…
Memories of Dixon Lake
I enjoyed visiting Dixon Lake several times between 2004 and 2008. Sometimes I would hike the trails. Other times I would rent a boat and tour the shoreline. I usually…
Memories of Grand Teton National Park
My first time visiting Jackson, Wyoming was in November 2001. I was participating in the only nature photography seminar I’ve ever been to. It was a week-long event, and I…
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
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…
Memories of Minesing Wetlands
2023-05-18 A Quick Tour Of McKinnon Road Thursday, I drove north, towards my friend’s cottage near the shore of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. I planned a few stops along…
Memories of Patagonia
Near the start of my 2023 expedition to Canada, I passed through Patagonia in March and visited the Patton Center for Hummingbirds for my first visit to this well-known birding…
Memories of the Klamath River Mouth
On 2017-09-12, I drove south from Crescent City and found the Klamath River Mouth where River Otters entertained me. I spent the night right there and drove a short distance…
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…
2023-06-19 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…
2023-06-11 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, 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
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…
2023-05-20 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,…
2023-05-05 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…
2023-03-21 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…
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…
2022-04-05 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…
2022-03-29 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…
2022-03-11 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…
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…
2020-11-26 & 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…
2020-11-20 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,…
2020-11-07 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…
2020-03-15 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…
2020-02-23 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…
2019-10-27 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…
2019-01-26 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…
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…
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…
2013-05-03 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…
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…
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…
2017-09-07 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…
2017-07-18 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…
2017-03-21 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…
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…
2015-06-09 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…
2015-05-14 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…