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Marty’s photo of the day #4695: Deb and I have occasionally talked about returning to Antarctica, but we recently learned that getting to Antarctica by crossing the Drake Passage (famous for the roughest seas in the world) has largely become a thing of the past. Instead, people fly down to Antarctica and then get on […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4567: This is a laughing kookaburra, photographed in Australia. Here’s what I wrote about these birds in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents: Though not as stunning as the kingfishers or cockatoos, laughing kookaburras are handsome gray and white birds with a very famous call: […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4501: I shot this photograph many years ago in New Orleans. I know nothing about this person, but statistically a child would be safer with someone who looks like this than with Christian clergy—a lot safer. So if Republicans really care about children, why are they so bent out of […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4470: AI technology amazes me. Yesterday, I finished the first draft of my eighth book, “Barry and Beth,” and in that novel, my characters are trying to produce a short video to stop barbaric alligator hunting practices in Florida. For a script idea, they try AI. Well, I did that […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4452: from the Borneo chapter of Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents: One creature that did follow a schedule was an insect called a “six o’clock cicada.” I was familiar with a variety of cicadas but had no idea an individual species could accurately tell time. According to […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4274: This is Annie, a black flying fox that I photographed in northern Queensland. She is a rescue animal, who once was a pet. Because of that, she doesn’t know how to fly. She now participates in a breeding program, where she gives birth to one pup a year. Researchers […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4258: I know some followers of my posts cringe whenever I post snakes or other animals that don’t fit into the “warm and cuddly” category. But I’m a college speaker and author largely because I’m a wildlife advocate. All animals have value, and that includes snakes. Snakes, for instance, are […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4228: One thing I’ve learned about visiting tropical rainforests is that for the first few days my pores will actually ache from sweating so much. Then, miraculously, my body will adjust to all the heat and humidity, and I’m just fine for the rest of my visit. Of course, if […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4222: I have photographed animals all over the world, and when it comes to reptiles and amphibians in remote rainforests, identifications can be sketchy. Generally, I ID animals I don’t already know by typing the location and physical characteristics into Google and going through the photos that come up. The […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4221: For today’s photo Deb and I go hiking on a rainy night in Costa Rica and find what we are searching for! (Well, at least me.) You’re looking at a fer-de-lance, the deadliest snake in the Western Hemisphere. The fer-de-lance doesn’t have the most potent venom in the Western […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4211: Without intending to do so, it seems that this has turned into a week of posting photos of Deb and me all over the world. Well, since I have momentum. . . . This photo from December 2018 shows the two of us at L’Arena di Verona in Verona, […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4195: Hanging out for a few hours with members of the Yagua tribe along a tributary of the Amazon River was a big event for both visitors and residents. Deb and I brought the children harmonicas, T-shirts, and bubbles, and in return we got to walk through their village and […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3763: In Montana, when people need a bridge, they often go to the railroad yard and buy a used flatbed car. In fact, on the dirt road leading to Deb’s and my house, we cross both a river and a stream on bridges made with railroad cars. When we first […]
Marty’s photos of the day #3725-3729: While visiting Montana’s American Prairie Reserve earlier this month, my wife, Deb, and I found two inactive one-room schoolhouses. One was restored, with an unlocked door that allowed us inside, and the other we could only view from the outside. Deb grew up on a farm, on the outskirts […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3692: This is been the summer of finding unusual owls and moths. So how about an owlet moth? Since my summer office is outside, I see wildlife every day. Consequently, after living in the same forest-surrounded Montana house for 25 years, when I see something for the first time I […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3676: This is a sweetheart underwing. Over the weekend, this moth was stuck in my garage before I convinced it to fly out the door. Then, last night, it showed up again. Sweetheart underwings are a type of sphinx moth, and, apparently, this particular species is rare in Montana. After […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3652: I took this photo while hiking in the rainforest of Malaysian Borneo. At the time, George W. Bush and the Republicans had led America into attacking Iraq without provocation, and only days earlier U.S. soldiers had ripped down Saddam Hussein’s statue. Back home, right-wingers were all over the media, […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3651: What makes a snake the “most deadly”? This is a fer-de-lance—a snake many consider the deadliest snake in the Western Hemisphere. Some snakes, such as a bushmaster, have more potent venom, but fer-de-lances are difficult to see in the rainforest and are easily stepped on. When that happens, their […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3548: This excerpt from the Australia chapter in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explains the shot: Earlier in this chapter, I promised to introduce you to a bizarre creature that would eliminate all reasonable doubts of evolution. I found such a creature—in fact, oodles […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3473: This is Alaska Highway, somewhere in British Columbia. Here’s what I wrote about the highway in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents: An hour or so later we reached the town of Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and the official start of the Alaska Highway. […]
