Vertebrates but not birds

Northern Alligator Lizard - Leanne shows one off You can dig up a picture of a lizard on a cell phone accessing the internet incredibly fast.  There, too, information can be accessed and digested.  The images can be perused, the stories of others gleaned over, and a virtual experience obtained.  But I have to tell you, all that pales to holding one in your hand. This is the problem with electronic intelligence.  It enhances intellect but not passion; it builds knowledge but not character.  You can learn a lot from media, but until you have real time with what you are reading about it is all just two-dimensional living.  Life comes from interacting with the world, with all its beauty and ugliness combined.  You can think that lizards are neat, but if you have never held one what do you really know?  It is possible that you can describe the classification of the Northern Alligator Lizard down to genus and species - but do you know what one fee...

My corn snake, Orville, eating a mouse (thawed from frozen). First of all, an apology, for those who just saw this and had a panic attack.  Snakes are one of those things that some people just can't stand.  Most snakes, in Canada anyways, are non poisonous.  There are a few that can kill if you don't get quick medical attention, but the number of people who get bitten, let alone die, are small.  In Canada only about 300 people get bitten by a snake each year, and none of them die (see bottom link).  Some poisonous snakes, such as the night snake and hog nose snake, produce venom that are of low impact to humans.  The more poisonous ones, like rattlesnakes, live in only restricted areas and are not seen all that often.  You can take this from someone who looks for snakes regularly - I have only seen two rattlesnakes. Orville, his name, is a corn snake, native to southeastern US.  Corn snakes are related to milk and king snakes, which are...

Kangaroo and Joey - Photographed in a wildlife preserve, Australia Stealth.  The art of not being seen - or in this case being seen but not being a threat.  You can tell from the image that the Joey is aware of my presence; it is looking right at me.  The mother is also aware, but is not threatened.  Both can leave any time - the Joey was out of the pouch earlier and later on the mob (name for a group of kangaroos) disappeared into the evergreens behind.  Yet they stayed because they were not threatened.  Free to be photographed, not harassed. You only get this kind of shot through trust.  OK, a good long lens helps, and we will throw in a good dose of luck to boot, but if there is no trust on behalf of the quarry you will not get the shot.  These kangaroos lived on a game preserve; they could up and disappear at will but did not.  They were comfortable enjoying the outdoors, the occasional sunny break, and the grass (sounds like a Canad...

Kathryn Svendsen catches a Red Snapper in New Zealand Who doesn't like fishing?  Well, some of you don't, but my wife certainly does.  We have done fishing in a number of places.  This would include British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and the Maritimes (Nova Scotia).  Lately we did some ocean fishing in New Zealand. We signed onto a fishing charter with a friend and two others to do some fishing, specifically for Red Snapper.  We traveled out from port and dropped our lines in, and came up with a number of fish.  I think I had the largest one, but my wife outdid me in sheer numbers.  It took her a while, but once she got the hang of it she was a machine.  She must have caught between eight to ten of them. The process of fishing is fairly familiar to most people; use a fishing rod with hook, bait the hook, and send the thing to where the fish are.  Catch, fillet, cook, eat.  And, I have to say, the cooked fish was very nice.  ...

Grizzly bear eating berries near Lake Louise, Alberta Canada has a large number of majestic animals.  There are moose, mountain sheep and mountain goats, elk, caribou, not to mention all the aquatic behemoths such as whales, walrus, and dolphin (the killer whale is actually the world's largest dolphin).  The most splendid of them, many would argue, is the grizzly bear. I have only seen grizzlies twice in the wild; the first time was a couple of years ago just behind a wildlife fence along the highway through Banff.  That was pretty impressive, as I have been along that stretch of road many a time and it was the first time I saw this marvelous creature.  This experience though, was so much more amazing. We were driving along the highway to Lake Louise and there was what seemed to be a bit of a traffic pile up.  I had seen these before, and usually it meant there was some wild animals about.  I have had great opportunities to photograph elk and mountai...

Juvenile Cane Toad, Fiji "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."  The results of actions without proper thought or research can be truly devastating.  Good intentions led by ignorance is a sure way to produce regret.  This is true in so many avenues of life, whether it is finances or love or, in this case, an attempt at biological control. The cane toad is native to South America, where it has evolved over millennia and fits into its ecosystem in a balanced way.  There are natural mechanisms in place that prevent its population from getting out of control.  But take it away from there and introduce it to a place where those mechanisms don't or can't exist, and you are asking for a disaster in the making. Australia is currently having a very challenging time with the cane toad.  Brought to help keep pests controlled in the sugar cane fields, they quickly spread and started their march across the country.  They are effective predators and b...

Columbia spotted frog I grew up in Ontario as a kid and lived near natural areas that teemed with life of all kinds.  There were insects and mammals, amphibians and turtles, and lots of different kinds of fish.  We spent hours wandering around the near by wilds, exploring every nook and cranny and discovering the wide assortment of creatures that existed there.  It was there that the passion for wildlife took hold of me, where I learned to catch and identify creatures, and there that I formed an interesting bond with my brother. The two of us are almost seven years apart, an eternity when you are young, and we never really spent much time together doing stuff.  We did, however, both develop an interest in the outdoors, him more towards fishing and me more towards photography.  As adults now we find that this is a common theme that runs through our lives, both drawn towards living things existing naturally around us.  We have both shared our passion wit...