I’m a native Texan from a multi-generational Texas family.  For about my last sixteen years of employment I worked in the HR field (as payroll manager) for one of the larger Texas State agencies which allowed me to hone my organizational and writing skills.  I was fortunate in that I was able to retire from Texas state government in 2000 at a relatively young age and move to Anacortes, WA, the following year.  Why move to the Pacific Northwest?  I just couldn’t tolerate the heat any longer!  I love the forests, trees, water and green… and even the inclement weather, including the rain.  (It might be of interest to you that we in Anacortes get significantly less annual rainfall than does the Austin, Texas area!)

 In the greater sense of things, we are located on Fidalgo Island, part of the San Juan archipelago and close to the confluence of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca now known as part of the Salish Sea.  As I mentioned, our home is in Anacortes, WA.  My wife and I live adjacent to city parkland which gives us an advantage in attracting birds.  Our location gives me the opportunity to photograph yard birds year-round and to make short jaunts to photograph waterfowl, shorebirds and raptors during the winter months.

When I arrived in Anacortes one of the people I met early on was at the time the president of the Skagit Audubon Society.  I had a rough outline for a beginning birding course and he invited me, with very short notice, to teach a class for the organization.  I had to scramble but within a short time I had produced a detailed curriculum and created many detailed handouts to use in beginning birding classes.  That began about a seven year period when I taught beginning birding classes under the auspices of Skagit Audubon.  In about 2009, through an agreement between the two organizations, I began teaching the birding courses at the Anacortes Senior College.  (I was to eventually create and teach a memoir-writing class and a beginning photography class, but I now consider myself retired… Professor Emeritus, so to speak!)  Over the years I’ve also made birding presentations to neighborhood groups, garden clubs, service organizations and environmental organizations.

While my early years in the Pacific Northwest were involved primarily in birding, I’ve also had a life-long interest in photography.  As improvements were made in digital cameras I steadily moved up the quality line.  My first serious digital camera was a Nikon 300S coupled with a Nikkor 2000-400 f4.0 zoom lens.    Beginning in April, 2013 I began using a Nikon D7100 instead of my Nikon D300S.  I used the Nikkor F4 200-400mm lens with both and process my photos using Adobe Lightroom.  At some point I began using a Nikon D500 with the aforementioned lens.  In mid-September, 2020, I purchased a Nikkor 500mm f5.6 prime lens to supplement the 200-400mm lens.  In early March, 2023, in a tragic and heartbreaking accident just before spring migration was due to start, my Nikon D500 camera was converted to a paperweight (!) and I replaced it with a Nikon D850.

My avocation with photography has grown beyond my interest in pure birding so I now find it difficult to participate in group birding field trips.  My heart is with those groups but my objectives and time are not.  However if you are patient and interested in wasting a little time I am usually up for having some company on my photo expeditions.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the many friends who have offered me feedback and encouragement, who have assisted me with difficult bird identifications and who have often alerted me to the location of unusual bird sightings.  I also want to thank my sister and her husband who live in Central Texas and haver hosted me for photo sessions in their wonderful birding habitat.  This site wouldn’t be what it is without their help.  And I especially want to thank my wife for participating in some of my activities and allowing me the considerable time it takes to indulge this hobby.

(This site is hosted by BlueHost.com and constructed using WordPress software, templates and apps.)