Names are powerful things. In many human cultures, the selection of a name for a new baby is a matter of the utmost seriousness, reflective of a family’s, society’s, or religious group’s past as well as perhaps portentous of that child’s own future. So it is also that what particular groups of people, entire races […]
When it comes to spectator sports, birding ranks somewhere in between bass fishing and reading. For while the watching and tallying of birds can be enjoyable, relaxing, invigorating, and even emotionally and spiritually restorative, the watching of others watching birds is anything but. Which is quite likely why, despite birding being the preferred hobby of […]
As an increasingly regular – but not nearly so frequent as I would like – visitor to the British Isles, I find myself in the unusual position of having attained a familiarity with its avifauna that is marginally comfortable but all-to-easily diminished between visits. Thus whenever my feet find themselves once again on British soil […]
When it comes to states, few are more difficult to approach from a natural history perspective than California. Its long, narrow shape combined with a Pacific Ocean-facing coastline running the entire length of one side join with a variety of eco-regions that range from desert to sub-alpine to create a level of diversity that’s seen […]