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...
WILD THINGS: WITHOUT HOPE AND WITHOUT DESPAIR
The general theory of spring migration in the Florida Keys is that it lasts from about April 15 to May 15. But it’s only...
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...
