There is a moment, when something long and quick moves through the grass beside your foot, when the body decides before the mind does. Everybody has it. I have it. Then the mind catches up, and if you are lucky enough to be in Oaks Bottom on a warm morning, what you are looking at …
This morning at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, I saw something I’d never seen before. A Western Skink, sunning itself on the stone steps along the trail. Brown body with clean longitudinal stripes, an iridescent blue sheen across the scales catching the morning light, a long tail flicking against the rock. I’ve walked these …
Perfect evening light at Oaks Bottom tonight. Seventy degrees, golden hour around 6pm, and the wildlife was out in force. The trails were full of people enjoying the spring weather, and the birds didn’t seem to mind the company. Bald Eagles — Juvenile and Adult Both juvenile and adult Bald Eagles were perched in perfect …
I spent my birthday exactly where I wanted to be—at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge—surrounded by crisp fall air, dripping gold and copper leaves, and the calm of wetland life. It was the kind of day you wish you could bottle up: clear light, a gentle breeze, and the kind of quiet that makes you breathe …