Mike in the Wild

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A Greater White-fronted Goose at Gainey Ranch

Counting birds for the Arizona Game and Fish Department was a volunteer activity right up my alley. Conducted on one Saturday every January, it surveyed wild aquatic birds at urban lakes, ponds, and canals throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. This information helps urban planners and wildlife managers manage these populations as well as identify potential opportunities for the public to view the birds. For me, it was also a chance to check out the Gainey Ranch Golf Club in North Scottsdale before their nine o’clock tee time. The fairways meander around five manmade lakes that lie within a small section of Scottsdale’s Indian Bend Wash - eleven miles of parks, lakes, paths, and golf courses that embellish a flood control project. Migratory birds as well as year-round avian residents thrive in these desert oases. Over the course of an hour and a half, I tallied all the birds at Gainey, including the commonplace ones like the twelve m...

Shipwrecks, Turtles, and More in Carlisle Bay, Barbados

I’d been to Barbados four or five times already, so it wasn’t exactly new on my six-stop Eastern Caribbean cruise. The island had plenty to admire—history, culture, scenery—but this time I did what I could’ve done anywhere in the region: hit the beach and go snorkeling Carlisle Bay Beach was a no-brainer—just a five-minute taxi ride from the cruise port. For $35, I scored a chaise and umbrella steps from the water, a complimentary rum drink, plus a guided snorkel to not one, but two shipwrecks. And yes, sea turtles were basically a promise. The mile-long beach sat at the far end of crowded Bridgetown, Barbados’s capital. White sand, calm water, blazing sun, water sports—it checked every Caribbean box. And, inevitably, so did the winter crowds. The numbers didn’t feel overwhelming until we crammed onto a pontoon boat for the short ride to our first stop, the Berwyn. In the water, at least two other snorkeling groups hovered over the century-old wreck. Hundreds of arms a...

Snorkeling Tortola and Norman Island

On my first cruise out of San Juan in nearly a decade, I revisited mostly familiar islands—Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua, Saint Kitts—each still delivering its own distinct charms. But it was Tortola, the lone newcomer on the itinerary, that I most anticipated. I’d explored Saint Thomas and Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands before, but the British Virgin Islands had always remained just out of reach—lush silhouettes rising beyond turquoise channels, a short ferry ride from shores I already knew. Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, and a scatter of smaller islets sit tightly grouped with their American neighbors in what many call the Caribbean’s most beautiful seascape. Tortola also promised some of the trip’s best snorkeling, so I booked an afternoon excursion to one reef-rich islet. Still, I wanted a feel for the island itself. So first thing after our cruise ship arrived, I hopped into a shared open-air taxi and crossed the island to Cane Garden Bay Beach, several miles from t...

Extreme Antigua

We should have listened more carefully as we settled into our seats for our circumnavigation boat tour of Antigua. But I was distracted—rattled by last-minute changes to the meeting spot, the start time, and a tense standoff over the condition of my American cash. Yes, I knew there were supposed to be no rips in the bills I used to pay for the trip. I just hadn’t noticed one when my husband and I pooled our money in our stateroom that morning. So I missed the moment when the captain asked the group a question that would soon matter very much: Does anyone have back problems? Our friend Jackie had joined us on a seven-day Caribbean cruise out of San Juan. For months, we’d planned excursions on each of the five islands we’d visit. Jackie and I both love snorkeling, and she’s fond of recounting her kayaking adventures in Costa Rica and zip-lining triumphs in Roatan. The tour I found sounded tailor-made for her: Adventure Antigua’s Extreme Circumnavi...

The Saint Lucia Amazon and Other Island Endemics

On my first visit to the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia in almost ten years, it was easy to decide what to do on my cruise ship's nine-hour stop: find a Saint Lucia amazon. The island is the only place this parrot lives, where only fifty years ago it faced near extinction due to habitat loss and hunting. Even with a robust recovery in its population, Saint Lucia's national bird still only roams a small portion of its historic range - so I hired a guide to guarantee I found it. While most of my fellow passengers scattered towards thermal springs, beaches, gardens, and the majestic volcanic spires called the Pitons, my husband and I met Nestor on a busy street outside the cruise port in Castries. In addition, two other birders from the ship also piled into our guide's well-worn 4Runner. We made our way out of Saint Lucia's capital and largest city as lines of heavy traffic streamed in for work and school. The mountainous landscape was mostly forested ...

Guided Birdwatching near Puerto Vallarta

Encountering another dozen new bird species was exactly what I wanted to do on my single day off the Royal Princess cruise ship in Puerto Vallarta. Of course I only dreamed that was what the day had in store for me when I booked Alejandro as a birdwatching guide almost two months earlier. While planning the visit, I had let him know that I was hoping to see some tropical birds in Mexico's interior like trogons, parrots, motmots, and hummingbirds - with only one exception, that's exactly what I accomplished. On the same cruise a year earlier, I had visited the Vallarta Botanical Gardens where I encountered at least sixteen different bird species, eleven of them new-to-me tropical varieties like yellow-winged caciques and San Blas jays. Only a half-hour drive southwest of the busy port city, the garden showcased a variety of cultivated plants in a mountainous forest preserve bisected by the rainy season rapids of the Rio Los Horcones. I was excited to explore...