WILD THINGS: SHOREBIRDS, SOLID GROUND AND TREACHEROUS MUCK
I was about to head out on my road bike when my future wife said, “Put a helmet on. I’m not changing your diaper.”
That...
WILD THINGS: OWL BE THERE
The owl looked straight at me over his left shoulder, then swiveled his head about 350 degrees and looked straight at me over his...
WILD THINGS: AN ORNITHOLOGICAL DEBACLE
I was hearing a red-winged blackbird but seeing a common grackle. Which was fine. If I wasn’t excessively comfortable with cognitive dissonance I wouldn’t...
WILD THINGS: POETRY & SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION IN BLACK AND WHITE
I vacillate in my opinions about bird names. Sometimes I like the names that are clear and technically descriptive. Sometimes I like the ones...
WILD THINGS: CLASSY & ROYAL BIRDS
I know it is anthropomorphic, and therefore wrong, to think of terns as classier versions of gulls. In the proper scientific sense, class should...
WILD THINGS: IF IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK AND QUACKS LIKE A DUCK…
There is a semi-old adage that says if something walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably...
WILD THINGS: DOVE HEADS & OLD-SCHOOL ORNITHOLOGY
William Earl Dodge Scott and John Wyley Atkins must have had some interesting correspondence, as evidenced by a letter Atkins once sent to Scott.
“I...
WILD THINGS: THE SECRET LIFE OF HERMIT CRABS
I was lucky enough to spend some time on a backcountry island a few years ago. There was a house, but it was pretty...
WILD THINGS: ASK THE BIRD GEEK
Why aren’t there any blue jays in the Lower Keys? — Paul Z. Bandit
It’s pretty hard to avoid blue jays in the eastern half...
WILD THINGS: DUCKS: RUSSKIES, OKIES AND OTHERWISE
The things that freak people out about Muscovy ducks are the caruncles, sometimes called wattles – the prominent, bright red, fleshy bits on their...
