(A version of this story first appeared last summer in Santa Fean magazine. Since then, New Mexico has experienced the largest wildfire in the state’s history, at one point approaching the small town of El Rito where the Raptor Center is located. Director Lori Paras told me she had to evacuate all the birds from the center while the fire raged. Last year while reporting … Continue reading High Hopes at the Santa Fe Raptor Center
(A version of this article first appeared in Santa Fean magazine in December 2020. Although it focuses on where to view bighorn sheep in Northern New Mexico, it includes some fascinating facts about Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep that should interest any wildlife lover. It’s part of my SouthWest Wild series.) And you thought you had it hard this winter. Quarantine is no picnic, but it … Continue reading Big horns, big viewing
(Tarantulas live throughout the Southwest. But where do they go during our cold high altitude winters? I wrote this piece for Santa Fean magazine, where it first appeared in October 2020. It’s part of my SouthWest Wild series) New Mexicans are used to seeing tarantulas on roadways and trails in the early fall, when males leave the safety of their burrows on a grueling march … Continue reading What happens to tarantulas in winter?
I moved to New Mexico for my health. Well, that was the proximate reason. No, I don’t have tuberculosis (like so many in the 19th century who moved to the American Southwest did). Instead, several years ago I developed a severe mold sensitivity and an autoimmune condition. The combination was debilitating at times, and my doctors warned me that my conditions made me more susceptible … Continue reading An open invitation to America’s open spaces: An interview with journalist Hal Herring for the American Conservation Film Festival
Sometimes it pays to get up in the middle of the night, drive through the dark cold loneliness of a December morning, and wait in freezing temperatures to enter a wolf den (well okay, a wolf pen). That’s what I did while researching my story, Lobos in Limbo: The Halting Recovery of the Mexican Wolf, which recently won a Genesis Award from the Humane Society … Continue reading Proud winner of a Humane Society Genesis Award
