A story by John Muir John Muir’s favorite bird was the ‘ Water-Ouzel’, better known nowadays as the American Dipper, to which he devoted an entire chapter of his book The Mountains of California, published in 1894. The dipper is also my favorite bird...
An inventory of my Cabinet of Curiosity As an artist and naturalist, I’m an inveterate collector of dead things cast off by the living. Many of life’s most beautiful objects were once alive and are just as beautiful and intriguing when not. My home is like one big...
The Darlingtonia Midge & Its Murderous Accomplice Who would believe that an insect and an insect-eating plant could have a mutually beneficial relationship? Surprisingly, that’s exactly the case in the unlikely union between the mosquito-like midge and the...
Autumnal Recrudescence––Say What??? Happy Autumnal Equinox! But, curiously it feels like Spring again. Why? Because I’m awakened by the birds in our neighborhood at dawn, singing as if it’s June. Perhaps you’ve noticed it too. So what physiological reason can we...
Interview between Christine Elder and Isabelle Rizo I was interviewed on July 23, 2016 by my friend and colleague, Isabelle Rizo about my journey in combining my work as a naturalist, environmental educator, and artist with teaching folks to connect with nature...
Porcupine Love; a Spiny Affair Reproduction for porcupines – the subject of many speculative jokes- is a chancy affair. The female is fertile only once a year in the autumn and then only for a window of several hours. The male, being a solitary creature, must...
A Mystery Solved on Sanibel Island When I’m out in nature, it’s as if I’m still a wide-eyed child, noticing everything around me and watching for new and interesting stuff to discover. We were recently on Sanibel Island in Florida and I found the...
A howler monkey hoots in the distance; his voice, one of the loudest in the animal kingdom, echoing throughout the mangrove swamp, a flock of white-crowned parrots flies overhead, speeding across the river canyon, cicadas buzzing their incessant zeee, zeee, zeee in...
I shot this video at sunset while exploring a lake in central Oregon in the early spring. We were gleefully surprised by a wonderful natural phenomenon I have never witnessed before. Check it out on this short 2-minute...
