Bald Eagle – My Wildlife Wonders No. 6
Once pushed to the brink by habitat loss, persecution, and the pesticide DDT, the bald eagle was down to just a few hundred nesting pairs in the Lower 48 states by the 1960s. It remains one of the most dramatic raptor population crashes in modern North American wildlife history. Today, their comeback is considered a...
Bali Starling – My Wildlife Wonders No. 1
A hush falls over the misty forest of Nusa Penida. Light rain weaves silver threads through the canopy. From the hush of the foliage, a flash of white breaks the green—a bird glides in, landing with effortless precision on a spiny trunk. It's a striking bird with brilliant white feathers, a deep blue leathery patch...
Skåne, Sweden is for the birds.
I recently traveled to Sweden for a speaking engagement in Stockholm, and added 5 days in Skåne County, about a half-hour outside the major city of Malmö. Home base was a guest home in Höllviken in the backyard of a local family, perfect for peace and quiet before my event. In Malmö, visitors have easy...
Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota
It appears that 2022 is the year I visit national parks experiencing extraordinary flooding events. In the spring, massive flooding washed out vast parts of Yellowstone National Park just after I visited during record snow. And recently, I visited Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota just after historic flooding caused by heavy rains and snowmelt in...
Sunrise at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
I recently had the opportunity to return to Annapolis, Maryland to visit family, and we awoke early to visit the United States Naval Academy yard before sunrise. The Plebe Summer training program is in full swing on the Naval Academy base, and incoming freshmen Midshipmen gathered en masse on Farragut Field for morning PT. Meanwhile,...