Mike in the Wild

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Sixteen Birds at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens

Besides the lush landscape, what initially struck me at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens were the butterflies. It was early November, past the rainy season along the Mexican State of Jalisco's Pacific coast, and the fluttering insects were everywhere. I wondered whether they were the most - both in variety and numbers - I'd ever seen gathered in one place. Of course I knew most people visited the Vallarta Botanical Gardens for the plants. Several acres showcased both native and exotic species of flora growing along paths and tended in greenhouses and assorted settings. The most renowned specimens were probably the wide variety of orchids. But I was actually visiting the garden for the birds. And fortunately for wildlife lovers, most of the gardens were protected as a vast forest preserve covering over seventy acres just a short drive from busy Puerto Vallarta. The first bird I encountered was a golden-cheeked woodpecker. I wasn't fast enough to ph...

My Pilgrimage to the Giant Sequoias

I couldn't fly into Fresno without seeing one of my best friends from college and his wife. They had just flown back from Spain five days before, having spent a month and a half walking the Camino de Santiago where they trekked five hundred miles in total. While I am in awe of both their spiritual and physical stamina, I was actually visiting Fresno to make a pilgrimage of my own. I'd soon cover almost the same distance, albeit in a rental car, on a journey to bear witness to living entities often just as old as Christianity itself. The giant sequoias were awaiting me. It's been close to forty years since I've moved to Arizona, and I've visited California dozens of times. But surprisingly I've never visited three of the state's national parks: Giant Sequoia, Yosemite, and Kings Canyon. Except for skiing near Lake Tahoe, the wonders of the Sierra Nevada mountain range had eluded me. However I have been to Northern California and witne...

A Western Screech Owl in my Phoenix Backyard

It's been a long time since I've seen a western screech owl: six years, by my rough record-keeping. So I was delighted to recently witness one in my Phoenix backyard after only a few days back in town following my long summer stay in Prescott. The last time I wrote about this small owl species, I had just seen one roosting during the day at the Desert Botanical Garden. It was the second time I had seen one there, and the third time ever. The first was actually in an adjacent community to mine in Phoenix, when I watched an owl over the course of several days as it basked in a winter's early morning light from a perch in the hollow of a saguaro cactus. Over the next six years, I occasionally heard the western screech owl's bouncing-ball hoots during winter nights in the desert. However I was much more apt to hear the deep calls of a great horned owl, which I was also more likely to see on my sunrise runs. Last week for the first time s...

The Calls of the Great Horned Owlets

There's no more enchanting sound in nature than the nighttime hooting of great horned owls. And most of us living in North America are fortunate to hear them, as the birds dwell almost everywhere on the continent. However I was recently surprised to discover that the shrieking skeeeets I was hearing nightly this summer in Prescott were also the vocalizations of these beautiful birds. In fact I met the two screamers early in the season, just as monsoon clouds started gathering for the first time on a humid evening shortly before sunset. I had hiked to a neighborhood trailhead that leads into Prescott National Forest to get a better view of the menacing skies from a higher vantage point. Intimidating flashes of lighting and bursts of thunder emanating from dark clouds eventually cut my walk short. But just before I left the trail, two caterwauling birds drew my attention. I quicky spotted them roosting atop adjacent juniper trees...

Wildlife and Memories on a Delaware Beach

Many, many years ago, when I was young, I spent countless summer days down the Jersey Shore. Sand, sun, surf, and boardwalk arcades, all enjoyed with family and friends, were my carefree interests. The numerous sea gulls, crabs, and, especially, the jelly fish were an irritating distraction. Almost forty years later, I found myself a short distance across the Delaware Bay from New Jersey, in Rehoboth Beach for the very first time. While the beach fun was still a big draw, I spent a lot of time focused on the coastal wildlife, including even the gulls and crabs I used to eschew. My sister's favorite New Jersey beach story is the time a sea gull grabbed a bagel sandwich from her hand. If she were to recount that tale today, I might ask here exactly what species of gull stole her breakfast. In Delaware, the most common gull was a black-headed variety, very likely a laughing gull. They teemed around the picnickers the day I visited Whiskey Be...

An Easy Hike into the Grand Canyon

I've hiked into the Grand Canyon several times since I moved to Arizona in 1988. The last two times were into the canyon proper but actually outside the National Park, on Havasupai Trail which lies within the adjacent Havasupai Indian Reservation. And the first time was down Hermit Trail which does lie in the Park. Those three hikes were memorable for the fact that I also backpacked so that I could camp overnight, thus avoiding an exhausting climb out the same day I descended. They were also quite notable because they happened more than thirty years ago. Last month I finally descended again, albeit on a much shorter and far easier trek. From the South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park there are four public trails that lead hikers into the canyon. They all eventually reach the Colorado River, a force that started carving the majestic landscape over sixty million years ago. Two of the trails, Hermit and Bright Angel, follow pathways originally tre...