My friend Luciano told me how much fun it was to explore the Rio Grande aboard our friends Matt and Marianna’s boat. So when I ran into them at the SPI Birding and Nature Center a few days into my two-and-a-half week tenure on the island, and they extended an invitation, I knew I would … Read more
I spent Sunday at South Padre Island (Texas) and couldn’t resist shooting flycatchers. For most of us interested in learning to identify birds, small flycatchers are among the most difficult groups of birds to identify in the field by sight alone. I enjoy the entire flycatcher family, but as we meet more of them, we … Read more
As I send out this week-old report, I’m staying with my good friend Jerry in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Many of the birding venues we’d hoped to explore during my visit remain closed, but we all hope that things open soon. 2020-05-08 Friday I pulled away from my Breeze Lake haven in Brownsville, Texas at about … Read more
After I left Corpus Christi, the measures against the COVID-19 outbreak began tightening. Restaurants were only allowed to seat a limited number of customers and grocers were limiting the amount of products like milk a customer could buy. I’d called a couple or restaurants on South Padre Island before leaving Corpus Christi and learned they … Read more
Like Morro Bay’s otters, Piedras Blancas has its own mammalian attractions: the Northern Elephant Seal. From the time of their discovery by European profiteering mariners, these animals were slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands for the oil derived from their blubber. Thought to be extinct in 1884, a remnant population of eight individuals was discovered … Read more
