The Dassie Rat (Petromus typicus) is endemic to the Southwest Arid Zone of Africa. Their range encompasses northwestern South Africa (Northern Cape Province), central and western Namibia and southwestern Angola. These cute, squirrel-like, long tailed rodents occur regularly and sometimes commonly in rocky areas within this vast swathe of desert and semi-desert land. What makes […]
Plants are flowering faster than scientists predicted in response to climate change, research in the United States showed on Wednesday, which could have devastating knock-on effects for food chains and ecosystems. Global warming is having a significant impact on hundreds of plant and animal species around the world, changing some breeding, migration and feeding patterns, […]
Last week my friend Gary Stacey, the new Wintu Audubon Society president, took me out on Shasta Lake in search of Purple Martins (Progne subis). You see, Gary had told me that last year when he was out on the lake he saw Purple Martins feeding their young, and had gotten a good close look […]
The al Hassa lagoons east of Hofuf in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia are arguably part of the biggest oasis in the world. The argument is over whether you can count the fact that much of the water is channelled run-off from the area’s huge collection of palm plantations as well the city’s treated […]
. 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 the […]
The Serra da Canastra National Park is located in the Canastra Mountains, in the Minas Gerais stateof southwestern Brazil. The headwaters of the São Francisco River begin inside the park. The altitude ranges from 900 m to 1,496 m. I took some days off, and decided to have 4 full daysphotographingthere. Geiser Trivelato, an experienced […]
I finally mustered up some patience to snag some flight shots of hummingbirds. How’d that happen? They’re all Black-chinned guys and gals and they’re all pretty fancy. In other news…? Finally some some fun migrant warblers (a Blackburnian and Wilson’s) but it’s so slow here. A two day weekend would be great so I could […]
I have been very lucky of late to have the opportunity of capturing a pileated woodpecker family at their nest. The nest was in a barren tree trunk void of branches and only about 20 feet high. On top of that the photo viewing was clear of trees. The light at times was not terrific, […]