WILD THINGS: CARDINAL VIRTUES AND NUMBERS
In empirical terms, the male northern cardinal is a spectacular bird. Flaming red with a punker’s crest on top of its head, a black...
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: A GUIDE TO BIRDING GUIDES, SORT OF
I’m old school, at least as far as field guides to birds go. I prefer a book to an app, but it’s a qualified...
WILD THINGS: NIGHT HERONS AT THE DINER
I didn’t flush up the yellow-crowned night heron. The Key deer did.
But me slowing down on Watson Boulevard to get a better look at...
WILD THINGS: DEVIL BIRDS — NOT ALL THAT BAD
The thing I like most about anhingas is their long pointy bill. It’s somewhat stabby looking, possibly because it is built for stabbing.
Non-birders, and...
WILD THINGS: THE LOWDOWN ON THE DOWN-LOWS OF RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS
Red-winged blackbirds vexed me when I first started birding. Not the males. They're easy. They have that sleek all-black plumage, accented by those nominate...
WILD THINGS: MOVIES, SHARKS & MOVIES ABOUT SHARKS
Key West and the Florida Keys have a bit of a film history – “The Rose Tattoo,” “Criss Cross,” “Operation Petticoat,” “Miami Vice.” Like...
WILD THINGS: LOST ISLANDS AND KILLING-PETERS
The other day I was poking around in the back issues of The Auk, the oldest and most prestigious ornithological journal in the United...
WILD THINGS: SUBLIMATING THE SUBLIME
I’ve never trusted the word sublime, at least not enough to use it on the regular. I’ve always taken it to convey a sense...
WILD THINGS: CUCKOO SHADOWS
What was ideal was heavy rain that happened the night before, the kind of inclement weather that tends to encourage migrating birds to maybe...
