The Purple Gallinule is one of my favorite birds – luckily for me, they are very common in our wetlands!! Like other Gallinule babies, they are just little balls of black fluff when they are born. By mid-August, there were still a few groups of chicks toddling after their parents in the reeds and peeking […]
Every once in a blue moon, I take only my binoculars when I go birding these days. But then, I miss the opportunity to capture a lasting image of the creatures who are out and about, like the noisy Tri-colored Heron above, or this beautiful White Ibis. Every time I leave my camera at home, […]
I love walking in the wetland preserves at this time of year. Sometimes it is far too hot at midday, but if you go very early, just after sunrise, or late in the day, just before sunset, it is perfect! I spotted the Black-bellied Whistling Duck pair above recently, and discovered a plump young Gallinule […]
Sometimes it isn’t birds that capture my attention on my walks. Sometimes it’s the reptiles, the amphibians, the fish, the plant life whose beauty just makes me stop in my tracks. Experiencing, and truly appreciating, the wonder of the natural world on a daily basis has become more and more essential to me in recent […]
Sometimes we are fortunate enough to see a rainbow high in the sky when the sun appears after the rain. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks uses such beautiful imagery when he describes this special sign between G-d and human beings! He refers to: “. . . the symbol of the covenant, the rainbow, in which the […]
I am always fascinated observing how birds often appear to be sharing some little secret, or chatting about events of the day. How I would love to know what they are saying! It brings to mind the famous legend about King Solomon, who was thought to have ability to understand the language of the birds: […]
Nearly every morning, the first thing I do after I wake up is grab my camera bag and go birding. No matter how many times I return to the same place, and no matter what time of day it is, I discover something new and remarkable and inspiring. Every once in a while, I come […]
In 2013, the editors of Audubon Magazine posed the question, “Why do birds matter?”. One of my favorite responses was this: No other creature can transcend earth, evoke beauty, inspire dreams, and ground us in nature as does even the smallest bird. –Julie Sacco, Director, North Park Village Nature Center. I’ve been reading two fascinating […]
The Sparrows’ boisterous song reverberates through the narrow winding stone streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, and seems to grow louder as you approach the Kotel. Its lively sound is nearly as ever-present along the shores of the Yarkon River, near where the River flows into the Sea, part of a loud, mixed chorus […]
My first encounter with Rabbi Shlomo Katz was in a class at Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo in the charming Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem. He began and ended the shiur with a niggun, and his voice and guitar were beautiful to hear. Not long after, I saw Katz perform before a huge crowd at the 15th Annual […]
Birder's Journey 