WILD THINGS: BUSHWHACKED BY EXUBERANCE

Giddiness can sneak up on you. When it does, it often makes me think of that James Taylor line, “Ain’t it just like a...

WILD THINGS: A CATTLE EGRET IN THE LAND OF NO CATTLE

The sky was a giant blue bowl, inverted and empty. I couldn’t even find a turkey vulture. Where could they all possibly have gone?...

WILD THINGS: THE GREAT WHITE HERON — A QUESTIONABLE BIRD

The great white heron came in fast and loud, wings half folded, pushed by a tailwind, letting out a raspy dysphonic squawk right before...

WILD THINGS: THE SCOOP ON SCAUPS

Heavens to Murgatroyd, the light at Fort Zach was gorgeous, a blanket of chromatic bliss saturating everything that wasn’t in shadow. And the shadows...

WILD THINGS: AN EYE ON THE SPARROW WHEN THE GOING GETS NARROW

It is important, I believe, to allow yourself to be dumb about certain things, to permit yourself to wallow in the hazy comfort of...

WILD THINGS: GOOD LIGHT AND THE RUMP-SHAKING TEETER-BOB

The front came in fast on Sunday, like a bad mood. I was driving home on North Roosevelt and suddenly everything was divided between...
a large bird sitting on top of a nest in a tree

WILD THINGS: OSPREY CAN YOU SEE

o throw the anchor first, and get a good look at whoever was doing the staring afterward.  We were at Destroyer Key, sometimes called Split...
a bird standing in the water looking for food

WILD THINGS: WHERE THERE’S A WILLET…

The second bird of the new year was an osprey, a proper bird, singing his piercing ultra-falsetto song of love somewhere over the new...
a flock of birds flying through a blue sky

WILD THINGS: COUNTING EVERYTHING; HOPING FOR ANOMALIES

I don’t usually have anxiety dreams about birding. I usually have them about cameras, social faux pas or software. Actually, it’s software more than...
a bird with a red ball in its beak

WILD THINGS: ASK THE BIRD GEEK

Do we have any crows or ravens down here in the Keys? How do I get them to follow me around en masse? —...