“Forceps,” I called, and Therese placed the metal tool in my outstretched hand.  I pinched the sharp ends together and lowered it into the narrow opening, keeping my eyes trained on Continue reading →

I’m the self-appointed inspector of the alley behind our house. A mop rests end-up on my neighbor’s chain-link fence, its teardrop loops of purple string drying in the heat. Wisteria, I Continue reading →

One afternoon, my two-year-old daughter and I idled around our apartment complex in Bangalore, watching a dragonfly hover over a thorn, when suddenly she began pointing toward the fringe of lawn Continue reading →

We had sailed Indonesia’s shattered archipelago before arriving at the uninhabited island chain of Wayag — a gumdrop cluster of limestone peaks cloaked in an aura of brilliant, turquoise lagoons. Our Continue reading →

I’m speeding down a dark Vermont road, hurtling through a star-studded October night on an urgent quest: to witness the banding of one of the world’s smallest owls, the northern saw-whet. Continue reading →