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Murphy camping, biking, kayaking, and in the pet hospital today. I can normally separate what my brain wants from what my heart wants.  Logic, reason, and experience against feelings, desire, and hope.  The impassioned voice and the passionate voice.  Most of us will have these notions occurring simultaneously, a flood of sentiments that may seem overwhelming.  The risk and intensity are low when the situation is of little consequence, but enormous when it comes down to life-altering decisions.   Most of the time, the outcome will have little impact on our lives.  "Should I buy the roast or the chicken?"  This will not impact your life in a big way.  Either decision would be acceptable.  On the other hand, "Should my dog have surgery or should I put him down?" is on another level entirely.  Cost, pain, rehab, quality of life, time, future risk, and more all become part of the equation.  And try as hard as you like, keeping them...

White ibis hunting on grass.  Top inset:  Juvenile.  Bottom inset:  Hunting in water. White ibises have become very comfortable around humans, and as such, you can find them on or near beaches, lawns, and in parks.  I photographed the above ones in Florida (main) and Texas along the Gulf Coast.  I don't remember where I shot the juvenile, but it was probably in one of the two locations mentioned.  They are found year-round along the coastal waters of Mexico, Texas, and Florida, as well as the other Gulf Coast states.  Rarely, they have been found in eastern Canada.  There is a Facebook post about one found this year in Cape Breton in Nova Scotia ( click here ). They feed primarily on insects or crustaceans, although small vertebrates such as frogs, newts, and even small rodents may be taken if available.  They prefer their food clean, so anything caked in mud gets a good washing before being swallowed.  For the most part, the food i...

Main:  Wood stork flying near Fort Lauderdale.  Inset:  Sydney, Australia (zoo). You know the image - a bundle of joy, wrapped in a white cloth with a knot, being carried by a stork.  The wood stork is the only stork native to North America, so it would be this one showing up at the expectant couple's door with the crying infant here.  That would be quite a sight.   With a bald head, a five foot wingspan, and a long, recurved bill, the wood stork is an image from prehistoric times.  Although it is not a carrion feeder like other bald-headed birds (vultures), it certainly presents that way in mind.  I can imagine a terrified mother attempting to retrieve her newly-delivered baby from the maw of this foreboding creature.  "No thanks", she says.  "I think I'll have my baby the other way."  That's how maternity wards were invented. In all seriousness, wood storks are not carrion feeders, but rather eat invertebrates and small verte...

Frangipani Caterpillar, also called tetrio sphinx hornworm or rasta caterpillar. When looking at this caterpillar, what's the first thing you think about?  Probably its unusual colour, which often acts as a warning sign.  It signals DANGER, meaning that you risk possible death should you mess with it.  Sometimes colours are used as a faint, a ruse, a trick - where no danger really exists, but even the thought may prevent an attack.  That's not the case here.  The danger is real.  You can, however, pick them up.  Large ones are longer and bigger around than your middle finger ( click here for image).  Impressive. The caterpillars can grow very large, and they are voracious.  They feed on members of the dogbane family, poisonous plants that carry the same poisons as found in milkweed plants - cardiac glycosides.  These are highly poisonous to many vertebrates and may cause death or severe illness.  There is an exception to this, thou...

The Dominican ground lizard lives on the ground and forages for insects and fruit. I photographed this  Pholidoscelis fuscatus , more commonly called the Dominican ground lizard, while visiting the the island of Dominica on a cruise to the Caribbean in 2016.  These lizards are aptly named, as they spend all of their life on the ground searching through leaf litter and ground debris for sustenance.  They eat insects and some vegetable matter, being fond of fruits.  They can grow to modest sizes, having a snout-to-vent (nose to cloaca) length of 20 cm (males), slightly smaller for females.  Including their tail, they could be up to 40 cm. I found this one trudging through the bush, on the ground, surrounded by forest debris and rocks.  I couldn't get a good photo of it, as there was plenty of foreground foliage to prevent me from getting a clear photo.  If I had time, I could have patiently waited it out, but I was part of a group, and there was no desir...

Nature, when left alone, will amaze us.  Inset:  original photo. The island of Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the Caribbean.  At just over 75,000 square km, it is about 2 ½ times larger than Vancouver Island.  The Dominican Republic has the eastern two-thirds of the Island, the western third being occupied by the nation of Haiti. If you ever want to see a contrast in how politics and choice affect the land, you need to look no further than Hispaniola.  The western half is an impoverished nation with a fractured economy, largely run by criminal gangs, and whose ecology has been decimated by foraging for firewood.  Only 4% of Haiti's original forests remain, and none of them are protected.  The eastern half is a tropical paradise where almost 40% of the original forests remain.  The difference is because of foresight, planning, and education. To compare the socioeconomic status of both nations, click here .  It turns out that it isn...