Last week I gathered my daughters up for a camping trip to kick off their fall break. We drove from Tucson east to the Guadalupe Mountain National Park of west Texas (where I went last November to photograph fall foliage), then up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, over the Sacramento Mountains to White Sands National [...]

… which is full of wildlife, in case anyone was wondering. Illustration on-the-fly by my younger daughter.

About ten days ago, when the girls and I were on our Colorado trip, Billie mentioned some bee activity in the backyard, near the door to the garage. When I came home I noticed that bees were flying in and out of a small gap where the back porch roof meets the flat garage wall. [...]

Continuing our journey, after Aztec Ruins National Monument we spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. The next morning, we made the loop through the sister monuments of Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki Ruins, then on to the Grand Canyon. Photos from the third and final leg are now available. Below are ten of my favorites, [...]

Continuing our journey, after Great Sand Dunes we drove west through the lovely San Juan Valley into southwestern Colorado, where we visited Mesa Verde National Park. From there we drove south into New Mexico, and then — after Aztec Ruins National Monument — west to Arizona. Photos from the second leg are now available. Below [...]

Over spring break, my daughters and I took a road trip from Tucson to Denver and back, putting 2,700 miles on the Honda Fit and visiting seven national parks and monuments (and many great friends) along the way. Photos and narratives from the first leg of the trip — Tucson to Great Sand Dunes National [...]

Charles Darwin is known more for his detailing of finches on the Galapagos than of his work with hawks (if any), but hawks and Darwin are on my mind this week and next. First, we had a Cooper’s hawk visit our yard the other day: He started at the bird feeder, which I had just [...]

One of the advantages of living in southeast Tucson is our proximity to Saguaro National Park East, which is about five miles from our house. Over the New Year’s weekend, my daughters and I spent an afternoon climbing around a magnificent rock outcropping, allowing me to burn through photo after photo in the desert’s golden [...]

For several years I had been itching to get over to the Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas and southern New Mexico. Known primarily for their geological features — the Guadalupes are the remnants of a large Permian reef that was part of a vast shallow sea that once covered the entire region — I was [...]

Last weekend the San Xavier del Bac Mission, just south of Tucson, was lit at night for the first time in several years. Due to renovation, the White Dove of the Desert, which is located on the Tohono O’odham reservation, will not be lit again for three years. Below (and here for larger views) are [...]