A fun, easy, and educational activity Autumn is a great time to go mushroom hunting with the arrival of the season’s rain showers. If you’re keen to identify those species you find, it’s helpful to know the color of their spores. If you would love to...
Sketching My Way to a Birder’s Big Day While spending the month of August 2019 birdwatching in Costa Rica at Rancho Naturalista, I had time to read in the evenings since the days are short in the tropics. I found a well-worn copy of Birding Without Borders...
Stories about the flora and fauna I am observing in Costa Rica from July to September, 2019. In Search of Quetzals August 30, 2019. I was treated to a morning birdwatching in the field with guide Jorge Serrano Salazar from Paraiso Quetzal Lodge to search out a very...
In honor of World Giraffe Day, I’ve assembled some facts and resources on giraffe biology, ecology, anatomy, and conservation. You’ll also find here a giraffe coloring page I’ve designed for kids. What Giraffe Look Like -Giraffe are even-toed...
Let’s learn some fun facts about moths in celebration of National Moth Week as well as National Pollinator Week!. Moths don’t get the respect and attention they deserve, overshadowed by their more colorful and day-flying relatives, the butterflies. But...
In honor of World Oceans Day, I’d like to share some fascinating biology facts, as well as conservation issues surrounding the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. Bluefin Tuna Conservation Challenges There are 3 species of Bluefin Tuna including the Atlantic, Southern, and...
Identifying Those Pesky Warblers! One of the more challenging bird families to identify are the Parulidae; or wood-warblers. Many, like the common Yellow-rumped Warbler flit about high in the canopy for which birders acquire ‘warbler neck’ from straining upwards to...
What’s So Special About Seahorses? With the head of a horse, the eyes of a chameleon and the tail of a monkey, it’s no wonder seahorses have captured our imagination for millennia. Cultures have memorialized them worldwide, from 8,000-year-old cave paintings in...
Tapirs are large, primitive mammals. They look a bit like a hodge-podge of other animals with a round, thick body, short legs, a small stub tail and most notably, a prehensile nose. They’re often mistaken for anteaters, wild hogs, or even hippos, but are most...
John James Audubon John James Audubon was one of the world’s most acclaimed ornithologists and bird artists, known best for his studies and illustrations of North American birds in their natural habitat. As a bird artist myself, I’ve always been fascinated...
