Spotting a Scarlet Tanager in the upper story of an Eastern Forest transports me to the tropics. And it is a tropical forest dweller in our winter months. Our Northern Cardinal is almost as rosy and House Finches a bit
Did you ever regret you hadn’t met someone after hearing it was too late? I did today. James Lovelock was one of my scientific heroes. He died on Tuesday at age 103. I knew people who worked with him at
We released Lilah today, sending her along the path ahead of us. You can run to the end and wait for us there! The path feels empty without our companion, her coat shining white and golden and tail wagging to
These bluebirds are residents here all year. The first was abandoned but we now have eggs and chicks in two nest boxes. After cool weather, it is now warmer and insects have hatched for parent birds to stuff in the
Almost all the Yellow-rumps have left for breeding grounds in the north. They are a pleasure to welcome back in the garden in early fall, quite unmistakable with their yellow rump and side. A large warbler and the only one
The first astronauts described Earth with mystical awe as a vulnerable pearl in the barren wastes of space. It had looked the same since before the rise of mammals in the Cenozoic epoch, but suddenly our dirty footprints are all
These plump sparrows arrive in late fall and are still here, waiting for an impulse to fly to their breeding range in northern states and Canada. White-throated sparrows peck under the feeder for food spilled by Cardinals and others from
Hereby begins a short series of our winter visitors. The Tundra Swan is smaller than the other two swans found in Virginia. The Mute Swan was introduced and breeds here, but the Trumpeter Swan like the Tundra is a winter
Just as the most famous sultan of the Ottoman empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, was known by different names according to region, the formerly named Magnificent Hummingbird is called Rivoli to the north of a boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica
Theres something about being island-born that calls you back, even if delivered there by accident (instead of London). Gazing from a mainland shore, if I see an island I feel drawn to visit and savor the mystery. It is Avalon
The Northern Jacana is a pheasant-sized waterbird with long toes for walking on lily-pads. Found in Mexico and occasionally in Texas, there are other species in the tropics in the New and Old World. Females are larger than males, a