I have long been convinced that reptiles, if there were just a few more of them and if they were just a little easier to see, would give birds a run for their money as the most popular objects for natural history hobbyists. Like birds, most reptiles are diurnal, and the challenge of the “little […]

I stepped out of the house this morning to a bloody mess on the front porch: the hindquarters and tail of a packrat, with the front of the skull and a neat packet of guts a few inches away. I don’t want to alarm the UPS man, so I scooped it all into the yard […]

The irresistible lure of the wastewater plant drew Darlene and me back to Benson this morning. Shorebird numbers had dropped somewhat since yesterday morning; there were fewer than 200 birds on the second pond, most of them Wilson’s Phalaropes. And peep numbers had fallen greatly, with just a few dozen Western and Least Sandpipers still […]

‘Tis the season for sewage ponds in the northern hemisphere, and as I look back at the last few days’ notes, I’ve been to more than my share this past week, and in two countries at that! Today it was Willcox’s turn, followed by a quick stop at Benson; both are potential sites for the […]

The question was posed some years ago in the letters column of Birding magazine: which is better, birding or sex? Myself, I think the answer is obvious, but others have disagreed. What is 100% certain is that one of these popular hobbies is older than the other: Adam named the creatures of the earth quite some […]