WILD THINGS: 2 SCENES FROM A BREEDING SEASON
She flew in and landed atop the fence, although it wasn’t immediately clear that she was a she. Mourning doves are sexually monomorphic, meaning both genders look...
WILD THINGS: THE AFTERNOON THAT HASN’T ENDED
It was mid June, hot as Hades and I was on the sidewalk outside of Harpoon Harry’s after lunch.
This was three years ago.
The heat was that all-encompassing,...
WILD THINGS: NOTES ON A NEAR-HURRICANE
Winslow Homer painted two watercolors on his first trip to Key West in 1895. The first was a relatively demure study of a coconut palm. There was...
WILD THINGS: THE SECRET LIVES OF YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS
It would be tough to be a yellow-billed cuckoo in the Florida Keys if you viewed yourself through the eyes of a birdwatcher, because, well, you’d always...
WILD THINGS COLUMN: AN IDEA OF ORDER AT KEY WEST
In the proper scheme of things we, as humans, are not supposed to occupy intimate space with a bird like a Cory’s shearwater. Shearwaters are pelagic birds,...
ASK THE BIRD GEEK: ARE BIRDS REALLY JUST FANCY, LITTLE DINOSAURS?
Are birds really just fancy little dinosaurs? — Bi-Residential Barry
Yes! Yes, they are.
I started to write about how all the birds we know can be traced to one...