The last few weeks have been pretty busy for me with lots of tours and finding lots of migratory birds. This year’s early rain through the month of March was extreme but all along we knew that it would be a spectacular spring and hence have been rewarded with carpets of amazing multicoloured blooms covering […]
Myocastor coypus (Camargue) – Rodentia – Myocastoridae – It can reach a weight of 12 to 14 kg! It lives in burrows alongside stretches of water. They waste close to 90% of the river plants they feed on eating only the stems, a destructive feeding and burrowing behavior but… that is not the full extent […]
Welcome! hello there! I’d write more but my hands are frozen and typing is no fun (excuses, excuses, eh? Mmhmm)! Yeah…Texas, what? 35 degrees this morning? I do not approve. I’m craving my happy-thriving temperature of 84 and above. This 30’s thing this is pretty unacceptable. I’m not made for this nonsense, guys! But hey, […]
Yesterday and today I ran a birding tour in the Fukuoka area for two guests from the UK. Conditions were quite challenging, however we saw a total of 66 species and heard an additional 5. Highlights included Black-faced Spoonbill, Far Eastern Curlew, Great Knot, Japanese Cormorant, Grey-headed Lapwing, Asian Stubtail, Narcissus Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush, Red-flanked […]
Moose, as it is known in North America or the Eurasian elk, as it is known in Europe is the largest species in the deer family. An adult Moose will average 1000 pounds and stands 6 feet high at the shoulder. Moose have a keen sense of smell and of hearing, but are nearsighted. Moose […]
Shooting wildlife is a thrilling endeavor. It’s hard work, can involve travel to remote locations, and sometimes requires braving the elements. And yet, even on a bad day, it is thrilling. The ultimate thrill is when everything comes together to procude a high quality artistic image of the creature engaged its natural behavior in its […]
Phoeniconaias minorPhoenicopteriformes – Phoenicopteridae It is the smallest species of flamingo; it lives in sub-Saharan Africa with another population in India. It mainly breeds at Lake Natron in northern Tanzania andfeeds primarily on a cyanobacteria or Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes and contains the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their […]
Late this afternoon I stopped in at what is reputedly the smallest and newest lake in Japan, Lake Shirachi in Shimabara. Actually more of a large pond than a lake, it is surrounded by streets but usually has herons and egrets as well as a few resident “soup” ducks. However it is also a good […]