Cuba – Day 5 – Ciénaga de Zapata y Paella
I awoke on day 5 in Cuba expecting that day would be the highlight of the trip and I was not disappointed. Once again we departed under the cover of darkness, our bus weaving its way through difficult turns in narrow one-lane city streets. We eventually got out of town and realized as the sun…
Cuba – Day 4 – Un Combate Decisivo Para la Victoria
We boarded the bus in the dark on day 4 excited about the list of target birds for the day. From Playa Larga we headed south along the coast of Bahía de los Cochinos to Playa Girón, then east to Refugio de Fauna de Bermeja. There we picked up two additional guides and headed into…
The Rebirth of England|Ecology
In March 2020, I ended nearly four years of working as an independent biologist, artist, and photographer under the name England|Ecology to join Bargas Environmental Consulting. After a great three years there, I determined it was time to work for myself again. This time, however, it is a bit different: England|Ecology is a California Limited…
Cuba – Day 3 – Bay of Pigs
Bahía de los Cochinos: Most Americans know it as Bay of Pigs, a place name that is usually followed by the word “invasion”, due to a failed 1961 landing operation that while manned by Cuban exiles, was organized and financed by the Central Intelligence Agency in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. It is both…
Cuba – Day 2
Despite the time shift I had just encountered from traveling to Cuba I was up well before dawn. My unexpected first bird calling from somewhere in the darkness was a Killdeer. The second was more expected as a Barn Owl screeched while flying somewhere nearby. I saw a strange light behind the trees and thought…
Cuba – Day 1
I opened my eyes at 4am on January 5, 2023 initially confused at where I was, then soon remembered that I was in a hotel room in Fort Lauderdale. A familiar mixture of exhaustion (from a difficult day of flying from Los Angeles the day before) and excitement consumed me as it was on that…
Cuba – Prelude
Like many Americans, I’ve had a lifelong fascination with Cuba. At first it was the stuff we all know about US – Cuba relations with such history as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs invasion, leading to what is nearly a complete ban on travel there by Americans. Later, the wont to…
The Virtual Swiss Alps 800: Running Motivation During a Pandemic
I am not necessarily a highly self-motivated distance runner. I love running for hours on the trails. I love being outdoors. I also love to do lots of other things outdoors. Without races to motivate me I tend to do… lots of other things that aren’t running. I had a decent slate of trail races…
Horned Lark with California Poppies
I’m spending a little of my Sunday morning playing around with my photography workflow on an iPad Pro instead of a laptop. My experimental subject is this Horned Lark I photographed this week not far from the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. The Horned Lark is a bird of fields, low grasslands, and other open…
Hoyt Mountain
It was Sunday, January 26, 2020. My planned outing for the day started like most new routes: sitting at my computer looking at Open Street Map (which has an amazing amount of trails digitized), trying to find a route that looked interesting enough to do, and researching recent reports on the internet from others that…
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