Into the Wild (and Away from the Screen)

I now get to go outside and play — er, I mean work. My field season, as a consulting biologist and educator, launches like migrating warblers this week, which means you’ll find me less often here on the blog.

I’m off to the famed Eagle Hill Institute in Steuben, Maine, where I’ll be teaching a seminar on advanced birdwatching (and where our group might bump into a Spruce Grouse like that one above). Then back to Vermont, where I’ll have the honor of joining writer, lepidopterist and conservationist Robert Michael Pyle in hot pursuit of Early Hairstreak (that prized mint-and-orange gem lower left), among other butterflies. Then it’s back to Eagle Hill to co-teach the moth and butterfly seminar with my pal Hugh McGuiness. I’ll wrap up in Maine before Independence Day after teaching the dragonfly seminar at Eagle Hill, which should include that green Maine Snaketail (upper left).

Some of you I’ll see in the field. Many others I’ll see on June 11, when I’ll deliver the keynote address at the Green Mountain Club’s annual meeting. The rest of you can find me here, but only from time to time, with updates from the wild of Maine and Vermont.

Three years ago, I wrote an essay about retreating from the gravitational force of the growing screen. My essay resonated with many readers. I’ve come far on that journey — but not far enough. If you’d like to join the adventure (or at least read about it), here’s the post, titled Diapause: The Retreat of an eNaturalist.

Onward!