Lured back to the hive after a heist gone bad, a pair of pollen smugglers ignore the bright chaos, their crimes darken the sky. • Honey bee | Apis mellifera
Apr 302012
Apr 302012
There is some debate over which world eco-zone Saudi Arabia belongs in. In the north its flora and fauna are typically western palearctic but in the south west of the country there is a distinctly African feel. The argument is about the rest. I work in Riyadh but I am fascinated by “the little bit [...]
Apr 302012
Today marks the second anniversary of the Gulf oil spill. Oil has long stopped flowing from the leaking rig, but that doesn’t mean the disaster is over. Local fishermen have been making some off-putting discoveries: nets full of eyeless shrimp, clusters of clawless crabs, and more. Oil and the dispersants used to break it up [...]
Apr 302012
Last year we were remarking about how early the seasons are starting, particularly with early springs, now there seems to be an abrupt halt to this trend. In any case the whole world is seeing huge changes in climate and many unnatural and prolonged weather patterns, with intense flooding in Australia, violent hurricanes across the [...]
Apr 302012
Playa Hermosa is a beach in the northwestern part of Costa Rica. There may be other places called “lovely beach” in the country but this is the official one. The beach is decent but, for birding, you should really head inland. I went up that way this past weekend for a short family vacation with [...]
Apr 302012
. Silent Spring, the ground-breaking book by Rachel Carson on the negative effects of DDT and other pesticides, celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Carson’s genius, in part, was in personalizing a difficult and somewhat esoteric subject using a humble and ubiquitous example—nearly everyone, regardless of age, education or political leaning, could easily grasp [...]
Apr 292012
During the spring Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) can be easy to locate and then approach because they spend so much time singing from the tops of boulders, bushes, posts and other manmade objects. I photographed this Meadowlark singing while perched on a sign on Antelope Island State Park this past Monday. The bird was so close that unless [...]
Apr 292012
One photo of a Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), two different compositions: As much as I like to compose images that are full frame I find that I often allow myself a touch of extra space around my subject so I can recompose in post processing by making different crops. When I photographed the resting Black-bellied [...]
Apr 282012
I was absolutely sure: there were NO Tigers in Bandhavgarh. Despite being one of the most hailed Tiger reserves in India and promoted with quotes for the National park like “you are unlucky not to see a Tiger in Bandhavgarh”, I was certain: it was a hoax! A tourist trap. I had taken 8 safari’s [...]
Apr 282012
A couple of years ago, I went on a 10-day Baja (Mexico) boat trip that was simply outstanding. One of the highlights was seeing the incredibly acrobatic humpback whales of the southern Baja region. When we reached this area (near Cabo San Lucas), we ran upon a pod of ~12 Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that began [...]