Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven — Dispaches — Destination: Wildlife™

Catching Up to the Birds in Warm and Wonderful, Northern Baja

The beautiful Sea of Cortez, barely a 90-minute car-drive from the United States border south on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, is a warm world away from most of North America’s December freeze. The Sea of Cortez, earth’s youngest Sea, is a long, thin strip framed by Mexico on three sides and home to a fantastic array of marine life and birds. Uninhabited islands, perfect for breeding shorebirds, dot the Sea, initially and sometimes still called The Gulf of California. We explored the coastline and estuaries in Baja’s northern half finding a few still-secret places with good birdwatching and photography opportunities. We especially recommend two, San Carlos on Baja’s Pacific coast side and Bahia de Los Angeles on the shores of the Sea of Cortez.

Adorable but Harmful. What To Do With Nutria ?

The Big Bend National Park in Texas is a place of many surprises. Along its southern-most border, where the Chihuahuan Desert meets the Rio Grande, a myriad of plant and animal, bird and fish species can be found, including some that are threatened or endangered. But there is one species doing especially well, and although it may be adorable, it is not welcome. Nutria were brought to this country for use in the fur trade, and abandoned to the wild when fashion taste changed. Today, they are a ravenous invasive species, chomping away at vegetation, destroying habitat and further stressing threatened and endangered native species. What to do with this new neighbor is becoming a nation-wide challenge.

The Best Place on Earth to See Monarch Butterflies

A high mountain forest outside of Mexico City, Mexico is the site of one of the most amazing and beautiful migrations on earth, monarch butterflies. Each year millions of the orange and black butterflies find their way to the fir trees of Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage Site.) It will take 5 or more butterfly generations to complete one round-trip journey from their summer to their winter homes and back. Not a single butterfly will have a moment of previous experience. How is it possible? Team member Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven made the journey find out.