Natural History Journal

During the first week of April, Eric and I spent six amazing days birding in South Texas, starting in the McAllen area and ending on South Padre Island.  Follow along with our journey here: Part I:  Lower Rio Grande Valley Thornscrub and Woodland Part II:  Coastal Prairie and Thornscrub Part III:  Gulf Coast Wading Birds Part IV:  South Padre Island Neotropical Migrants After moving down the Rio Grande River toward the Gulf of Mexico, we left the woodlands behind us and ventured out onto the coastal prairie of South Texas.  Here, we spent an incredibly windy April morning birding along Old Port Isabel Road, at Palo Alto National Battlefield, and, briefly, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.  The beautiful flowers of a prickly pear cactus In the open country of the coastal prairies, we spotted Scissor-tailed Flycatchers hanging out on barbed wire fences and powerlines.  This gorgeous flycatcher, with its long, elegant tail feathers and salmo...

During the first week of April, Eric and I spent six amazing days birding in South Texas, starting in the McAllen area and ending on South Padre Island.  Follow along with our journey here: Part I: Lower Rio Grande Valley Thornscrub and Woodland Part II:  Coastal Prairie and Thornscrub Part III:  Gulf Coast Wading Birds Part IV:  South Padre Island Neotropical Migrants One of the most famed birding destinations in North America, the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas enjoys a warm subtropical climate where plant communities found nowhere else in the U.S. thrive.  Here, elements from the Chihuahuan Desert to the west and the coastal prairies to the east blend, meeting along the Rio Grande River where Tamaulipan thornscrub and subtropical woodlands once flourished.  Due to this unique climate and combination of habitat types, an impressive list of bird species native to Mexico and farther south extend their range north across the border into the southern...

Nature is all about life - and death. As lovers of the natural world, we delight in the abundant, thriving, humming life all around us, which is at no time of the year more apparent than during the spring season of growth and rebirth.  As the world breaks free from the grip of winter, we revel in a season of renewal and resurrection. But remember that in the natural world, it is through death that the way is made for life to flourish.   The death and decomposition of organic matter provides nutrients for the ecosystem.   Plants must die to feed herbivores.  Herbivores must die to feed carnivores.   Seeds that fall to the ground must die to themselves in order to germinate and grow, their rough seed coats falling away to transform into roots stretching down for water and shoots reaching up for sunlight. So too in our spiritual lives, it is through death that the way has been made to experience abundant life.   Specifically, it is the deat...

A few weeks ago, one of our best friends texted Eric and me the link to an amusing news story about a rare Yellow-billed Loon that had temporarily taken up residence in the pool of Las Vegas' famous Bellagio fountain.  The fountain show had to be stopped so that the loon could be relocated, but not before a number of birders were able to see this incredible rarity.  ( Read the whole story here. )  When Eric texted back, joking that we should all take a road trip to Vegas to see the loon, I casually mentioned that there had also been a Yellow-billed Loon hanging out in Bodega Bay for the last month... much closer to us than Vegas!  I hadn't made an attempt to see it yet because, while much closer than Vegas, Bodega Bay is still a good three-hour drive away from our home, and, you know, responsible adult things have to get done.   Then our friend's wife (who also happens to be one of my dearest friends) chimed in that she would much rather go to Bodega Bay th...