Mike in the Wild

The crashing wave's foaming water raced to cover the sand, forcing me to walk a zigzagging path to keep my feet dry.  Meanwhile sandpipers hunted with the rhythm of the ocean, scouring the draining sand in search of a meal left by the inundation.  Such a walk along the beach is one of my happiest memories, reminding me of childhood vacations along the Jersey Shore and future trips to exotic ports of call in the Caribbean. But I learned recently that you don't have to travel to a saltwater beach to see sandpipers; merely check out the closest lake, stream, or river near wherever you live.  Yes, I'm referring to even my own landlocked desert city of Phoenix.  I frequently write about the birds along my jogging route: the ruddy ducks on park lakes, nesting great-horn owls on the golf course, the Harris's hawks roosting on a lamp post.  Very recently it was on the Arizona Canal very close to my home where I spotted my first sandpipers in the area. The birds seem to ...

On rare occasions a visit to Watson Woods is a disappointment: not a singe blue grosbeak, summer tanager, great horned owl, wood duck, or bobcat in sight.  Of course there are always some birds - you can certainly bet on seeing lesser goldfinches.  However the preserve has accustomed me to regularly being wowed by a brand-new discovery and an exciting story to recount, like on a single outing to the park in June when I encountered a whopping three of the four tanagers and grosbeaks that call the area their summer home.  Yet two weeks ago I almost called it a day and left after only finding blue grosbeaks, beautiful but not out-of-the-ordinary subjects lately.  But then there was a sign from above when I looked up and saw a flock of over two dozen ibises soaring overhead. I had actually ended up at the northern end of Watson Woods, crossing under Prescott Lakes Parkway where Granite Creek was a mere trickle despite the recent rains.  Not usually exploring that a...

Tides are as familiar to experienced beach-goers as all the items they pack for a day at the shore: blanket, beach chair, beach umbrella, sunblock, ice chest.  The sea level's rising and falling play a critical role on exactly where we pitch this camp for our fun in the sun and surf.  Everyone of us has a story of the time an especially large wave washed over our encampment as the tide stealthily creeped higher up the shore, stealing a sneaker or a shirt on its return to the ocean. On rocky coastlines tides cover and reveal a world teaming with life that's especially adapted to these regular periods in and out of water.  Last weekend shortly after sunrise I investigated exposed tidal pools in La Jolla, California during the first low tide of the day.   Tides are the result of the gravitational effect of the moon and the sun along with the Earth's rotation on our seas.  They're mostly on a predictable schedule, ebbing and flowing twice a day, resulting i...