“Call me when you’re finished,” the Tres Rios employee offered as he closed and locked the gate behind us at the Tres Rios Wetlands, “and I’ll come let you out.” As the gate closed behind us, we entered a birder’s paradise.For the next four hours, we would be locked away from civilization, driving around some …
Trash belongs in garbage cans, dumpsters, and landfills. It does not belong in parking lots, along roadsides, in school yards, or on lawns. But for some reason, it’s especially offensive when found along a nature trail. On the Trail Generally, very little trash is found on hiking trails, demonstrating that hikers and nature enthusiasts are …
After years of using my mammal skull collection for education, I feel comfortable at this point talking with anyone about the adaptations these animals had for surviving. I even enjoy these discussions and look forward to greeting people who might be interested in learning some of the differences in tooth design, eye placement, and nose …
Years ago, on a trip to Australia, we took a hike with a guide in one of their national parks with the hopes of encountering native animals. After hiking 14 miles, we returned to our cabin with no sighting of wildlife except for one spider and several birds. An older couple who were on the …
Who would enter the desert after dark? As it turns out, lots of people did recently at White Tank Mountain Regional Park in Waddell, Arizona, northwest of Phoenix. White Tank is the largest of the Maricopa County Parks with about 30,000 acres in rugged desert terrain. We have brought our snakes and skulls here several …
Animal life has always excited me more than plant life – zoology over botany. Why would anyone want to study dull, boring vegetation? However, my attitude toward plants began to change when we headed to the Sonoran Desert the first year we volunteered for U.S. Fish & Wildlife. Into the Desert After setting up camp …
“We saw a bear running up the butte on our way home tonight!” some other volunteers told us recently. The butte rises next to our camp area on the National Elk Refuge, but we rarely see animals on it during summer. Two days after the bear sighting, we climbed the mile up to the top …