WILD THINGS: YOU’VE GOTTA HAVE STANDARDS
It’s not that my wife hates birdwatching. She just has very stringent standards for when she will go.
The idea of walking around for hours,...
WILD THINGS: EXQUISITELY STRANGE AMERICAN FLAMINGO
It is surprisingly difficult to see a flamingo in Florida, at least a wild one. We get flamingos in the Florida Keys, specifically American...
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...
WILD THINGS: THE FLAMINGO VORTEX
The flamingo was in the ugliest part of the pond. Out in the middle, where it was probably about a foot deep, the surface...
WILD THINGS: FLAMINGO SIGHTING IS FRESH OMEN FOR 2021
10:22 a.m. and the year was still pure. I had not seen a bird.
I was in the living room, staring at my laptop, trying...
WILD THINGS: VEXED BY A DUCK
I hate chasing birds. And I hate getting up early. And, closing out my third decade living in the Keys, I don’t much like...
WILD THINGS: COUNTING ON THE BIRD COUNT
The 121st Christmas Bird Count, Key West edition, started with Ellen Westbrook and three guys named Mark (Songer, Whiteside and me) standing at the...
WILD THINGS: DANCE IS LIFE — FOR SOME
I was reading a species account of the Reddish Egret the other day, when the authors described the bird as a “charismatic species,” which...
WILD THINGS: PRESERVING THE SPIRIT OF KEY WEST’S FRAN FORD
I was thinking about Fran Ford the other day. Possibly because I was sitting on a bench in the shade of a giant ficus...
WILD THINGS: SCUTES & SHITE-POKES AT THE BLUE HOLE
I was up at the Blue Hole on Big Pine the other day, standing on the platform, staring at the gator in the shallow...
