Notes from the Field
Wild Florida!
New images from Wild Florida! For some reason these 14 photographs were sitting, hidden from the light of day on my hard drive array and although they were tagged for processing and publishing for quite some time (along with many hundreds of others) I decided to just...
Rugged Beauty of the Pacific Northwest Coast
It's been a whole month since I last did a post, and as I just expressed in my August 2014 monthly newsletter I just sent out today (you should subscribe!) I've been in my typical month-long hiatus that occurs every four years when the World Cup happens. Then I had...
Grizzlybear Prickly Pear – Washington’s Desert Beauty
Recently I made yet another foray into the deserts of my increasingly favorite area of the Pacific Northwest, the Oak Creek Wildlife Area in Yakima County, Washington. As I've stated in other posts across the years, I am a big fan of cacti - and especially when they...
Swallowtail Butterflies of the American Southeast
Today I'm going to do a short and sweet post with a lot of photos highlighting three of the most beautiful swallowtail butterflies of the genus Papilio found deep in the hot, humid American Southeast during summertime. The three species are the eastern tiger...
The Pacific Northwest’s Humble & Edible Salmonberry – Including Recipes!
Today's post is brought to you by my stomach. Since I moved to the Pacific Northwest three years ago, I've sorely missed my well-developed knowledge and skills of natural foraging any time I was out in the woods or Everglades of my native Florida. In the past three...
Strike a Pose! It’s a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake!!!
Last week I was doing a swing through Central Washington and I finally saw, caught and released my first West Coast rattlesnake. I can't believe it's taken me this long already. Oddly enough I had my main portrait lens on my camera when I spotted it, and it was...
The Night is Alive at Midnight in the Yakima River Canyon (Notes from the Field #3)
Yakima River Canyon, Washington June 1, 2014, 11pm I arrived later than planned this late afternoon to Cowiche Canyon, where the trip was half spur of the moment/half delayed because of a nasty headache. Not too much exciting happened except I saw my first badger...
Forest F’owl! A Barred Owl in the Cascade Foothills
Yesterday I was spending a nice family day/Memorial Day with my wife and kids and we went for a late afternoon/early evening hike through the old-growth forest around Deep Lake in Nolte State Park which is about 40 miles southeast from Seattle in the foothills of the...
Cuteness Overload!
Not a title I'd ever believed in a millions years that I would write, but I couldn't think of a better one. A week or so ago I was passing through Selah, WA and stopped at a rest area on Interstate 82 just outside of Yakima and within the circle formed by the exit...
Charming Scorpions and Handling Snakes
“Those who charm scorpions and handle snakes only brand themselves with their own hands.” ~ Sri Guru Granth Sahib I've been spending a lot of time out in the desert and sagebrush country in Central Washington over the past couple of weeks, particularly in the area...
Scarab Beetles!
Yesterday I was in sagebrush country - that vast open wilderness that is Central Washington and is home to rolling hills covered with sagebrush and rabbitbrush, rattlesnakes and coyotes, crumbling basalt rock formations and wide open blue skies. Near Vantage, WA, a...
A Great Blue Heron Catches a Northwestern Garter Snake
Over the years I've seen all kinds of snakes meet their end at the end of a beak, but the other week in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Olympia, WA, I saw a first. A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) I was stalking at the edge of a flooded...