Notes from the Field
Reverence and Wild Shrieking Animals
There is something so wondrous about the summer evening as it fades to dusk when the golden hour lights up the mountains in a warm serene bath of vibrant light and color, and watching the entire horizon transform itself as the light swiftly changes into cooler blues,...
Native Orchids of the Rocky Mountains – Western Rattlesnake Plantain
Last month I was in Alberta and Montana unsuccessfully trying to get grizzly bears on camera, but I did bring home some beautiful botanical images. Here are the first of them! Check out this Western Rattlesnake Plantain! ~ click on any image to enlarge or find...
Cameron Falls! An Incredible Waterfall and Geological Marvel!
Cameron Falls! Last week I made a sort of unplanned hop over the border into Alberta, Canada as I was spending part of my week photographing the landscapes and wilderness of the incredible Glacier National Park in Montana's Rocky Mountains. Excessive crowds and...
Dilemma in the Desert: the Beauty or the Beast?
My last trip out to Arizona's Sonoran Desert, I was adamant about finding the United States' only venomous lizard - the gila monster. I wasn't going to leave until I found one and got it on camera. Unfortunately, my luck was terrible and I was finding just about...
Hooded Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia minor) – Wetland Native Carnivorous Plant
Sometimes while searching among the most remote wild places across North America hunting down rare native orchids and other flora and fauna, I often find patches of amazing animal-eating carnivorous plants! This is exactly how I stumbled into these hooded pitcher...
Racing Skink Stripes and a Blue Tail
When I was a kid growing up in Bradenton, Florida - the most difficult of all the local lizards was the "blue-tailed" skink. We chased them all over the place for years, sometimes catching one, but usually being put to shame by a small reptile. Years later, they are...
Southern White Fringed Orchid (Platanthera conspicua)
Quick post today to share with you one of my favorite terrestrial orchids of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts - the southern white fringed orchid! Often difficult to photograph in Florida's bright summer sunlight, heavy overcast skies were a huge in helping get this...
Oregon’s Stella Orangetip Butterfly
Recently I was checking out some places in Central Oregon the Bend area and while having a chat with some random fellow hikers who in a truly wild coincidence had lived around the corner from me in Fort Myers, Florida, this beautiful little stella orangetip butterfly...
Desert Wild Native Orchids!
Imagine my surprise a few days ago as I was wandering through the dry, hot sagebrush desert of Central Washington State in rural northern Grant County flipping rocks in search or scorpions, spiders and reptiles to photograph when at the edge of a series of lakes there...
Are All Your Ducklings in a Row? Mine Are.
Last week I was participating in Bellevue's Peamouth Patrol as a volunteer when I spotted this this little mallard family with eight ducklings huddled together for an afternoon nap. Moments before I spotted this group, the male (also known as a drake) noisily flew a...
Oregon’s Second Highest Volcano – Mount Jefferson
After a mad flurry of family, graduation and corporate portrait jobs, I'm back at my desk editing my recent wildlife and nature images I shot during one of my "office escapes." This was one shot of Mount Jefferson I thought I'd missed because five hours from home, I...
First Spotted Coralroot Orchids of 2016!
This is a follow up to my last orchid-hunting post. Last week was my first official orchid-hunting expedition of the year, and I followed the suggestion of a fellow orchid-hunter to check out a new area (for me) – Fidalgo Island near Anacortes, Washington. In most...