Essays
April 2024
Pardon the terrible pun, but I wanted to grab your attention.
It’s dawn on a cold, snowy morning in upstate New York, and I’m quietly making my way through an evergreen thicket. It’s my third trip here, and I’m hoping this one finally meets with success. I stop every few yards to scan the trees in the dim light with my binoculars. Only an hour in, my heart skips a beat when I spot a dark, promising shape near the trunk of a hemlock, about 100 feet away. It looks like a Barred Owl, and she’s an absolute beauty. Continue reading...
August 2023
I’m on my knees in wet sand, and the bear is about 150 feet away, on the opposite side of the stream. Suddenly, he spots something, and takes off running - directly toward me! While I’m intent on getting action shots, I can’t help feeling nervous about the fast approaching 700-pound animal. About 30 feet away, he lunges, and comes up with a glistening salmon in his mouth. Disaster averted, and man do I ever have a great action sequence! Continue reading...
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November 2021
Even if you’re a frequent traveler to Yellowstone, you will probably never see a badger. While said to be a common species, badgers do a good job staying hidden from prying eyes. For one thing, they’re mostly nocturnal critters - only occasionally out during the day. For another, they’re consummate diggers, spending most of their time underground, either looking for food, nursing young, or sleeping. So, for many park visitors, badgers are simply ghosts. Continue reading...
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February 2023
I'm stumbling my way down a sandy, wet path through dark scrub forest and marshes in rural South Carolina. It's 5:00 a.m., and I'm the only human out at this ungodly hour. My headlamp just died, so avoiding the deep puddles in the path from last night's rain isn’t exactly easy. A loud squawk causes me to jump - apparently an owl startled by my presence. My destination: an empty graveyard. Continue reading...
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A Waterman's Tale
Coming soon...