We drive for several hours, navigating small villages and heading into ever more remote reaches of Ecuador, until eventually we arrive at Cabañas Yankuam, 3 km from the village of Orquídeas and very close to the Peruvian border. At long last! We have arrived in … Continue readingA Boat Trip on the Río Nangaritza
I had long wanted to visit immense Podocarpus National Park, renowned as a park of megadiversity, even within a megadiverse country. It is truly a jewel of Ecuador’s park system. Cloud forest at Podocarpus National Park (Photos by Narca) Just how great is this diversity? … Continue readingPodocarpus National Park
Lake Llaviucu lies at the lowest edge of Cajas National Park––at a mere 10,000 feet!––and is ringed by a lovely, well-maintained trail, perfect for easy hiking. The trail traverses marshy grassland, mature montane cloud forest, and some secondary forest––and is the abode of spectacular mountain … Continue readingBirding Lake Llaviucu, Ecuador
It’s hard to stay away from a country as intriguing and diverse as Ecuador––and the birding is fabulous! Since I was last there, Quito has built a fine new international airport, quite a distance from the city. (The old airport was basically in town.) Here’s … Continue readingEcuador, again!
Imagine: you’re immersed in the early-winter splendor of the Chiricahua Mountains. Dawn light on the Chiricahua Mountains (Photos by Narca) The air is brisk and glorious, and, hiking up South Fork, you settle into the depths and subtleties of the season… into the drifts of … Continue readingWinter’s Subtleties
What finer sight is there than a giant California Condor, soaring in thermals in a sky of peerless blue, above the painted rocks of canyon country, and the immense chasm of the Grand Canyon? Gravitas: California Condor (Pen and ink by Narca) We –– the … Continue readingFor Condor Enthusiasts!
The lure of finding a Bicknell’s Thrush –– a rare summer denizen of high elevations in New England and southeasternmost Canada –– pulled me away from the heat of southern Arizona last month. (The cool mists of northern New Hampshire might have had something to … Continue readingBicknell’s Thrush in New Hampshire
John Davis is undertaking an epic journey––by foot, horseback, bicycle, boat––to dramatize the need for wildways, for safe wildlife corridors that connect habitats and wildlands to each other. This particular Western Wildway is a 6000-mile-long corridor stretching from the Northern Jaguar Preserve in Sonora, Mexico, … Continue readingTrekWest and the Western Wildway
Last night Alan and I ventured into Cave Creek Canyon above Portal, as wind swayed the sycamore branches, and a thickening crescent moon shone over the scene. We joined friends Dave Jasper and Rick Plage to see the location of a likely owl nest that … Continue readingA Western Screech Owl
In Costa Rica along the crest of the Cordillera of Tilarán, is a world of mist and greenery: the cloud forest of Monteverde. Trade winds from the Atlantic bring a steady flow of clouds across the mountain ridges, nourishing an astonishing forest, draped in ferns, … Continue readingThe Hummingbirds of Monteverde