FLAMINGO FOMO AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
This is the thing: I’ve seen American flamingos before. At least a dozen times in the U.S., maybe two dozen times, sometimes in groups, sometimes as solo...
WILD THINGS: PRIZED BOOBIES & BOOBY PRIZES
It was late in the day and Kevin Christman was leaving the Keys, not for the weekend, but for good – boxes packed, small dog in his...
BIRD WATCHERS DELIGHT IN RARE FLAMINGO SIGHTING ON GRASSY KEY
Florida has a tetchy relationship with flamingos. A few centuries ago, before the state had been developed, they were common in South Florida and the Keys, as...
WILD THINGS: NOTES FROM A SMALL POND
Were I a better birder, I would have been at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden when the gates opened at 10 a.m., but I’d...
WILD THINGS: DRIVEWAY MOMENTS WITH WHITE-CROWNED PIGEONS
The white-crowned pigeon and I had something of a tradition in the summer. He’d be out there feeding in our driveway, and every time I’d open the...
WILD THINGS: YELLOW BIRDS, YELLOW ROBES
Of the many arguments I’ve gotten into online, one that has stuck with me the longest was about prothonotary warblers and the origin of their name.
I mean,...
WILD THINGS: SPARROWS AND THEIR TYPE
As a rule, it’s not hard to find a house sparrow in the U.S. It seems I’ve seen them on nearly every block of every city, as...
WILD THINGS: BIRD REPORT FROM WEEK 2 OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE
I’ve spent a lot of time watching the Tour de France over the last few weeks, and am sad to report there hasn’t been a lot of...
WILD THINGS: SOOTIES, NODDIES & SHEARWATERS, OH MY
We were 20 miles offshore, 70 miles from Havana, in about 900 feet of water, when Kevin Christman described the bird we were all watching as “cute.”
The...
WILD THINGS: BIRDS & BIKES ON THE TV
Filming the Tour de France is a complicated thing. It requires an armada of camera people riding on the backs of motorcycles, about 20 stationary cameras, an...
