by Rich Leighton | Jan 25, 2024
The golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis) is a fascinating species found across most of the western United States and north into Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. With a distinctive striped appearance and several unique behaviors, this...
by Rich Leighton | Jan 25, 2023
The black turnstone is a highly migratory species, breeding primarily in the Arctic tundra of Canada, Alaska, and northern Europe. During the winter months, it moves south to coastal areas along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts of the United States. The black...
by Rich Leighton | Nov 3, 2022
The last time I passed through Montana, I stopped by some duck ponds in Anaconda at a place called Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area and there were dragonflies and damselflies everywhere! I was familiar with some of the species, but this one olive-golden...
by Rich Leighton | Jun 29, 2022
The Spanish dagger is one of those plants that brings a bit of nostalgia to me. It was a very common non-native landscaping plant in my childhood in Manatee County, Florida that always had these amazing displays of flowers in the spring at the very top of the plant....
by Rich Leighton | Jun 20, 2022
It’s so strange that I’ve spent so much of my life traveling around the United States and have never seen a tarantula in the wild. I even owned a tarantula-breeding business for zoos and collectors in the 90’s, yet somehow finding one in the wild...
by Rich Leighton | Jun 17, 2022
As with so much in the wild and in life, sometimes the most beautiful things can also be dangerous, such as this Texas mountain laurel I found in Harlingen, Texas a couple of months ago. The seeds that will eventually be produced after these incredibly beautiful...
by Rich Leighton | Jun 15, 2022
Sometimes you are just walking along admiring the wildflowers like I was on this day in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, when from inside a a thicket of shrimp plants, I saw this green anole watching me carefully. I just love the turquoise color around its eye!...
by Rich Leighton | Mar 24, 2022
About four or five years ago I was in Big Bend National Park in West Texas and I just missed the perfect shot of a cactus wren and it bothered me for years. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Mission, Texas looking for reptiles and while looking quietly under an enormous...
by Rich Leighton | Mar 19, 2022
I’ve been trying to get a decent shot of a northern cardinal (I grew up calling them red cardinals in Florida) on camera for decades! Last week I was in near Weslaco, Texas and this handsome male dropped out the trees and landed right in front of me and stayed...
by Rich Leighton | Mar 16, 2022
Very recently I was looking for the somewhat rare and mostly unheard of American alligators found in South Texas just north of the Mexican border in Hidalgo County when I suddenly surprised this spiny softshell turtle that I didn’t even see until I was about 4...
by Rich Leighton | Mar 11, 2022
Last week I was finally able to get a green jay on camera. This has always been one of those vividly colorful tropical species I’ve always wanted to see in person, and now I’ve finally got to see a lifer up close and personal. This species can be a little...
by Rich Leighton | Feb 25, 2022
Last winter as we were saying our goodbye to Washington State which had been our home for the past decade, we visited Icicle Creek in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, a place my family and I had hiked the previous summer and I was after one last hunt for winter...
