I’ve finally got so many digital photos that I’m slowing down the computer–and this b-log refuses to upload any more. With Kt’s help, I have a flickr.com account, and slowly but surely everything will be moved over there. I’m not so vain as to think any of the photos is anything like good, but maybe [...]

It’s that time of year when you can’t step outside without something getting fussy. Even so harmless an act as hanging up the laundry gets the Gila Woodpeckers yelping, the Cactus Wrens grating, even the normally demure Verdins chipping. This morning the mob was  reinforced by a scolding, buzzing Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, a bird I hadn’t [...]

Monsoon season truly is the desert’s second spring, and the more welcome of the two, following as it does on these past few weeks of blistering heat. Traditionally, the season has been marked meteorologically, its start defined as the third consecutive day with dewpoints above 55 degrees Fahrenheit; but this year, for reasons unfathomable, the [...]

Imbued with the modernist faith in progress, I long believed that “we” were becoming ever more respectful of the world around us, and that the bad old days were truly old. But enlightenment is not a forever thing, and more and more I think that we are slipping back, back, back: terns hosed off their [...]

A Rufous-tailed Robin was discovered last night on Alaska’s St. Paul Island. There is a previous report from Attu, but this one–well seen, photographed, and documented–should turn out to be the first accepted for the ABA Area.