My Five Favorite Egyptian Tombs

October 30, 2026October 28, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 34 Comments

At this time of year when folks are celebrating Halloween, let’s take a few minutes to look at a few decorated tombs from ancient Egyptian times.

Below are my five favorite ancient Egyptian tombs.

We’ll start with the three pyramids, the most famous tombs in the world–it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We are in Giza, a city right next to the sprawling megacity of Cairo.

Camel with The Three Pyramids, Giza, Egypt

The Giza Pyramid Complex.

There are three main pyramids, built as royal tombs for ancient Egyptian pharaohs in the Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty, approximately 4,500 years ago. In addition to the three main pyramids, there are many other tombs, cemeteries, and gravesites…and the excavations continue.

The three pyramids were originally built as the resting places for three kings: Pharaoh Khufu (the Great Pyramid), Pharaoh Khafre (son of Khufu), and Pharaoh Menkaure (grandson of Khufu). There were never, however, any intact royal mummies ever found here, only fragmented bones, wrappings, and minor remains. This is common from over 4,000 years of grave robbing, political unrest and natural decay processes.

In today’s world it is the pyramids that are the treasure of which we marvel.

The immensity of the Great Pyramid is astonishing; it is the largest of the three pyramids and the oldest. The pyramids are the only surviving structure of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The two photographs below demonstrate the immensity of the Great Pyramid.

Despite the activities of thousands of years of humans, the ever-shifting sand, and the vanishing of the changing Nile River, the pyramids still stand tall and mighty.

Khafre Pyramid and Sphinx, Pyramid Complex, Giza, Egypt

2. Tomb of Meresankh III.

This tomb literally rests in the shadow of the Great Pyramid and is relatively unknown. It has only one sign and is surrounded by mounds of debris, rock and loose sand. Few people visit it and even our Egyptologist guide was not very familiar with it.

Entrance of Tomb Meresankh III, Pyramid Complex, Giza, Egypt

In what looked like sand dunes, there were huge blocks of sandstone tossed every which way including some upside-down blocks bearing hieroglyphs. Visitors walk down a few sand-obscured steps to find a dusty old blanket on a sandy step near the entrance, where a “guard” takes your ticket.

Once you cross the hieroglyphic threshold, seen below, you enter into the beautiful and sacred tomb of Queen Meresankh III.

Tomb Entrance of Queen Meresankh III, Giza, Egypt

She was the granddaughter of Khufu (builder of the Great Pyramid) and the wife of Pharaoh Khafre. She lived c. 2578 BC – 2520 BC, roughly 4,500 years ago.

She was one of the most famous queens in the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt.

Tomb of Queen Meresankh III, Giza, Egypt

This tomb is a mastaba, from the Arabic for “bench,” named for its low, flat shape. As a result, the chambers inside have low ceilings and intimacy.

It has some of the best-preserved wall reliefs in the Eastern Cemetery, and every hushed moment here is fascinating.

In the tomb’s chapel section, seen below, is a series of ten large statues of women carved out of the northern wall. It is believed they represent Queen Meresankh, her mother and daughter.

We will leave the pyramids now and travel a short distance, about 15 miles (24 km), to the oldest confirmed stone pyramid in the world.

3. Saqqara.

Saqqara is a vast ancient necropolis (burial ground) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is the Saqqara Step Pyramid, below, built for the Pharaoh Djoser, a ruler of Egypt’s Third Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period, approximately 4,700 years ago.

You can see its gargantuan size by the tiny people in the center front.

There are thousands of individual tombs, shafts, and mastabas spanning more than 3,000 years of Egyptian history. It once served as the primary cemetery for Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt.

Important excavations done by archaeologists from around the world continue to this day, uncovering bones from kings, military officials, even the wet-nurse of King Tut, as well as eight million mummified animals and approximately 60 Apis bulls.

Below is a reconstructed wall of what once was a monumental enclosure wall, over 33 feet tall (10 m), covered with fine Tura limestone. In the back of the photo is the Djoser Step Pyramid.

Enclosure Wall and Djoser Step Pyramid, Saqqara, Egypt

Among the many tombs here, some are open to the public, one is shown below.

These two photos below are relief drawings inside the Tomb of Kagemni, a high official who lived over 4,000 years ago.

Relief Drawing, Tomb of Kagemni, Saqqara, Egypt

It is one of the most well-preserved tombs with elaborate drawings and carvings, and we were within inches of them. They tell stories about life in these ancient times.

This is a boat scene on the Nile highlighting boatsmen, hieroglyphs, a cattle crossing, and an underwater crocodile.

Now we will leave the pyramids and head to the Valley of the Kings, where the tombs lie hidden, underground.

Also a UNESCO Heritage site, the Valley of the Kings is near the city of Luxor, Egypt.

In ancient times, grave robbing and looting had become so common that kings of the New Kingdom stopped building pyramids and decided to dig deeper, and without above-ground evidence.

You can see in the photo below, that the Valley of the Kings looks like unassuming mountains of sand and dust. There’s just a road or two and a small village.

But below ground it is the primary royal burial ground for many pharaohs during the New Kingdom (18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties), roughly 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.

Pharaohs as well as royal family members and high-ranking nobles and officials are buried here.

There are approximately 65 tombs, we will visit two.

For visitors today, due to heavy visitor traffic, there is a rotation schedule of only about a dozen tombs open at one time, to protect the fragile paintings from humidity and carbon dioxide.

4. King Tutankhamun.

This is the tomb of a young man who died suddenly, so there weren’t as many chambers, passageways or art as one would see in the pre-planned tombs of other royalty who lived long and made significant contributions to society.

Of all the ancient Egyptian kings, today many of us are probably most familiar with King Tut due to the celebrated and relatively recent discovery of his tomb. But in his day, approximately 3,368 years ago, he was not a famous or major king.

Tut became a king at age 9 and died at around age 19. His reign was short and his impact was minor.

Nonetheless, his tomb is elaborately decorated, and his mummy still rests here.

His mummified body lies inside a climate-controlled glass case, in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. It is wrapped in a linen sheet with only his head and feet showing. The body is small and delicate, his exposed head and feet are coal black.

These two photos below are decorated walls of King Tut’s tomb. This room is the burial chamber and is where the Boy King has always rested since his death. It is a remarkable feeling to be in the same room….

The baboons you see in the photos below are to protect and escort the king on his journey to the next life. There are 12 baboons, one for each hour of what they calculated was the time for his passing-over journey.

King Tut Tomb, Burial Chamber, Valley of the Kings, Egypt

Magnificently, the treasures that were buried with the king still exist today, due to a quirky construction event.

Although ancient grave robbers did open and reseal Tut’s tomb at least twice, it was not heavily plundered during ancient times. Then for years it lay hidden in the construction debris of a nearby king’s tomb until a team of excavators lead by British Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered it in 1922.

The gold items and jewels and 5,300 other artifacts recovered from the tomb are now, for the first time ever, housed and displayed in the newly built, secure, temperature-controlled Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.

Lastly, we will visit the extraordinary tomb of Seti I, my favorite of all the tombs.

5. King Seti I.

Here is one of the largest, deepest, and most decorated tombs in the valley. In an expansive array of chambers and hallways, the walls and ceilings are rich in cosmic drawings, religious depictions, a vaulted burial chamber, and much more.

This is the entrance, below–a long, steep staircase leading deep into the earth. The ceilings and walls are covered with paintings of symbolic vultures and hieroglyphs of sacred texts.

Seti I Tomb entrance, Valley of the Kings, Egypt

King Seti reigned for 11 years, from 1290 to 1279 BCE, about 3,300 years ago. He was the second pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty during the New Kingdom period. He had many successful military campaigns and led many major monument and building projects.

His serene and lavishly decorated tomb tells many stories.

Below are two photos from the burial chamber.

The ceiling is approximately 19 feet (6 m) high. It is painted a deep, celestial blue and filled with golden stars, constellations and deities.

Seti I Tomb, Burial Chamber, Valley of the Kings, Egypt

Our hallowed tour ends here, dear readers, but the human journey continues.

It is a good season to revere all the fine humans who have gone before us, and embrace all those who valiantly carry us forward.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

The Radiant Colors of Birds

October 16, 2026October 13, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 60 Comments

We are lucky on this earth to live among so many brilliantly colored birds. Let’s look at some of the world’s colorful avian gems while I point out a few of the scientific basics.

We’ll start with a bird that has both bright-colored and iridescent feathers, making it one of the most breathtaking birds I have ever seen in the world. It also has a long streamer tail that adds to its sublime beauty.

We hired a guide online months in advance, traveled to obscure mountains in Costa Rica, hiked in the still-dark dawn into the cloud forest to hopefully find a resplendent quetzal (below). We were amply rewarded. Pharomachrus mocinno.

Generally speaking, birds are colorful to survive, attract mates, and signal health.

There are two ways a bird gets color: pigmentation and/or structural coloration.

1. Pigments.

Pigments are natural chemical molecules inside the feathers. There are several kinds of pigments.

Many of us know about the pink of flamingos. They get their color from chemical molecules called carotenoids in their food. Phoenicopterus ruber.

They eat brine shrimp, blue-green algae, and small insects which all contain natural red-orange pigments, carotenoids.

Same with this roseate spoonbill, below. Platalea ajaja.

The spoonbill’s carotenoid diet is similar to the flamingo’s–shrimp, crabs, crayfish–and these crustaceans get carotenoids by consuming algae and plants. When the spoonbill digests this food, the body processes and deposits the pigments into its feathers.

In addition to carotenoids, a second type of pigment is melanin. Birds make these molecules themselves. The black, brown, gray and yellowish or reddish-brown colors in birds come from melanin.

An American robin has grayish-brown feathers, seen below on the bird’s head and mantle (back). These are created from melanin. Turdus migratorius.

You can see the robin also has an orange chest–these pigments come from carotenoids acquired from the berries she is eating.

Lastly, there is a third kind of pigment, specialized pigments called porphyrins and psittacofulvins.

They are specialized biological pigments related to amino acids synthesized by the bird, specifically parrots and turacos. These pigments produce bright pinks, reds and greens. They also help protect feathers.

The scarlet macaw, seen below, is an example of a parrot whose color is produced by psittacofulvins instead of dietary carotenoids. Ara macao.

In contrast, the scarlet tanager, below, not a parrot, gets its handsome scarlet colors from carotenoids. Piranga olivacea.

2. Structural Colors.

No pigments are involved in this kind of coloration. It is simply how light hits the physical structure of the feather.

Structural colors are a bit more complicated.

For example, even though there are blue birds, there are no blue pigments in birds.

This might be a difficult concept to understand, but as a birder, I have seen it so many times in observing blue birds.

On a sunny day, blue birds can appear bright and stunning, like looking at the sky sometimes. But other days, they appear gray or black.

The blue in a blue bird comes from the way light scatters the air pockets and keratin layers in the feathers and creates blue wavelengths.

Light is refracted in the feather by a microscopic structure called a barbule or barb. There are tiny air pockets in the barbules that capture and scatter incoming light.

This dapper mountain bluebird, below, has just caught a grasshopper in the prairies of South Dakota and landed on a barbed wire fence to partake. Sialia currucoides.

Fortunately for us, the sun was present that morning and all the air pockets, keratin layers and barbules were scattering wavelengths.

Finally, iridescent feathers are created by structural coloration, but with a different structure than blue birds.

Hummingbirds are the famous dazzlers of iridescent feathers, but there are numerous bird species that also have them like peacocks, common grackles, European starlings and mallards.

This ocellated turkey below, endemic to the Yucatan peninsula, shows iridescent feathers in the next two photos. Meleagris ocellata.

Here you see iridescent purple, copper, turquoise and other radiant colors in the bird’s feathers.

Close-up of ocellated turkey’s iridescent feathers

Iridescent feathers have differently shaped barbules that are flat, like pancakes, and stacked in multiple layers with microscopic air pockets. The different layers reflect light in various ways.

Of course I cannot talk about bird iridescence without giving you hummingbird photos.

There are two hummingbird photos below of the same species, the Anna’s Hummingbird. This is our native, year-round hummingbird in California, and we see it in all seasons. Calypte anna.

You can see in the first hummingbird photo, below, the throat or gorget feathers look mostly black. There’s just a tiny spark of fuchsia behind his eye. The sun was present on that snowy day, but the bird wasn’t facing into it, so the iridescent feathers look black, they didn’t light up.

But in this second hummingbird photo, below, the light is hitting the feathers just right to display brilliant iridescence.

In both blue- and iridescent-feathered birds, light is the determining factor for the color we see.

Bird photographers and birders are acutely aware of this distinction and are always trying to get the “perfect” light to highlight the bird’s fullest coloring.

The mystery and wonder of a bird’s beauty starts with its colors and feathers, and I hope this has given you a better understanding of how birds get their color.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

2026 Summer at Pt. Reyes

October 2, 2026October 1, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 59 Comments

Before we all get settled into autumn, I’d like to share with you some of the highlights of this past summer at nearby Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California.

June.

In California’s milder climates, by June the earth has been warming up for about two months already and the winter rains have ended.

This male quail below, our state bird, is standing sentry to protect his new family. The wild radish flowers (Raphanus sativus), seen below, were boisterously blanketing the fields and trails.

California Quail and Wild Radish Flowers, CA

It was mid-June at Abbotts Lagoon and new life abounded.

California Quail (*Callipepla californica*), CA

Black-tailed Deer (*Odocoileus hemionus columbianus*), CA

July.

The next month we visited the park twice.

In mid-July the Abbotts Lagoon footbridge, below, was lively with swooping barn swallows nesting underneath. Many birds surrounded us including a great blue heron (Ardea herodias), below, and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) on nearby dunes.

By July there had not been rain for about three months and much of the vegetation had browned. This is typical. The rains will come in October and November and last for about six months.

Fortunately, here on the coast there is some moisture respite with the frequent fog and misty mornings, as you can see in the photo below.

On another July visit a few weeks later, we hiked part of the Tomales Point trail.

On a long trail traversing ocean bluff ridges, we were rewarded with the spectacular views that make this trail a favorite.

There was a quiet herd of tule elk resting far away on a hill, seen below. An adult male and his harem. Cervus canadensis nannodes.

That day was gusty up on the ocean ridges, so we hunkered down into the tall, straw-like grass beside some rocks and ate our sandwiches, watched the elk.

By late July, the ubiquitous yellow bush lupines were transitioning. The flowers of early summer were turning into legume pea pods.

This photo below displays both stages: flowers and fuzzy pea-like seed pods.

We watched a trio of coyotes cooperatively hunting and then headed back.

August.

We had the pleasure of returning to Pt. Reyes in late August. On this visit we went to Abbotts Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean beach beyond the lagoon.

That was an early morning and there were few people around, probably due to the cold temperatures and thick fog. It was wonderful.

For lunch we sat on a large log, feet dangling, watched the waves. Occasional terns and pelicans flew by, and an osprey, too.

Completely content to eat our barbecued chicken and gaze out to sea, we didn’t think it could get much better than this….

Until we had an extraordinary experience with a mother coyote. Canis latrans.

We first saw her in the distance, about a half mile away. In our decades of visits to this beach, we’d never seen coyotes here before.

She had a steady pace and a healthy trot, stopped often to examine what the ocean had washed up.

She continued to get closer and closer to us. We were done with our lunch but we stayed on the log and waited. We sat silent and stock-still, binoculars and cameras at the ready.

Even though she clearly knew we were there, she never veered off course and just kept getting closer. We remained motionless to encourage her advancement.

Then she walked right in front of us–about 30 feet away.

She continued past us and disappeared behind a dune for about three minutes, so we didn’t see what happened next.

Soon we could see she had turned around and was headed toward us again! Only this time she had something locked in her jaws.

As she neared, we could see it was a sea bird that lay dead in her jaws.

Being birders, we identified the dead bird: a common murre.

We continued to watch as she resolutely passed by and retreated up to the dunes with her prandial provisions, then vanished (below, in center).

She must have had a den full of pups hungrily waiting, and this beefy bird was just what she needed to feed her family.

September.

Lastly, for our visit in mid-September, we went to Drakes Beach.

In about two or three months, this beach will be off-limits to humans to make way for the hundreds of migrating elephant seals who will arrive and spend the winter here resting, breeding, and raising young pups.

We decided to hike here before the beach’s winter closure.

That September day, we thought it would be chilly and windy, like it often is, but just as we arrived the sun peeked out of the fog and it was surprisingly warm.

There was a large flock of terns, gulls, and other sea birds who entertained us.

We don’t often see elegant terns here, but on this day we were joined by dozens of them in varying stages. They were raucous and active, lifting and circling and landing. Thalasseus elegans.

Their conservation status is listed as “Near Threatened” so we were happy to see them. They’re here for a short time and soon will fly south to Mexico.

They had young juveniles, the most vocal of the flock, demanding to be fed.

In the photo below the bird on the far left is an adult elegant tern, and the next bird to the right is her juvenile–mouth open, insistently demanding more food.

A solo Brandt’s Cormorant, below, stayed on the outskirts of the party. Urile penicillatus.

Soon the temperatures will cool, and the cold coastal waters will get colder. The elephant seals will arrive and the winter rains will grace the earth on this magnificent peninsula.

Of course, I’ll share those days with you, too.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

California’s Birthday

September 11, 2026September 10, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 53 Comments

This week we are celebrating the day California was officially admitted to the Union. California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. We’re off on a whirlwind tour of Northern and Southern California.

California was largely founded upon the discovery of gold in 1848. With this discovery was a huge influx of opportunists who flocked to the area from all over the world.

History overview from California State Parks

California Quail, California’s State Bird

The red section, on the map below, is what is loosely defined as Southern California; above the red section is Northern California. (California Map courtesy Wikipedia.)

Northern California.

Northern California generally spans 48 of the state’s 58 counties. It is noted for being a world leader in high-tech industry. Other significant industries include tourism, shipping, manufacturing, and agriculture. It is home to the state capital as well as the western branches of federal agencies and courts.

It has a population of 14-15.8 million people, depending on the definition of the region.

Northern California Wikipedia.

Mountain ranges in Northern California include the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Northern Coast Ranges.

Northern California’s mountains are popular with residents and visitors for skiing, hiking, backpacking and many other forms of recreation throughout the year.

Another grand natural feature of Northern California is the coastal redwood and giant sequoia trees.

Vast vineyards are also a fundamental element of Northern California, known for its premier wine growing.

Our state capital moved several times during the early years of statehood before settling in Sacramento in 1854.

Calif. State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA

In 1849 the delegates of the California State Constitutional Convention adopted the phrase “Eureka” that reflects the excitement of the Gold Rush. It is the Greek translation of “I found it!” from ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes.

It is the state motto and seal.

This tile floor mosaic (below) and many other historical relics are part of the California State Capitol Museum building in Sacramento, now under renovation.

Northern California is one of eleven U.S. economic megaregions. It includes the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Sacramento, much of the San Joaquin Valley, and the Monterey Bay Area.

Scenes from San Francisco, the San Joaquin Valley and Monterey Bay area are shown below.

South of the Bay Area is the San Jose Metropolitan Area, including the Silicon Valley.

San Jose is the largest city in Northern California and one of the wealthiest major metropolitan areas in the world.

The Silicon Valley is centered around San Jose and Santa Clara County and other parts of neighboring regions. Its name is derived from the silicon used in transistors and computer chips pioneered in the region in the 20th century. Today it is on the forefront of Artificial Intelligence.

This humble garage (photographed below) in Palo Alto is said to be the birthplace of Silicon Valley, where Stanford University graduates Bill Hewlett and David Packard started their business in 1939. They built an audio oscillator here and their first customer was Walt Disney.

Today it is a private residence and we snapped this photo through the fence.

More of Silicon Valley in the next two photos: Google’s main headquarters, known as the Googleplex; and Cupertino, the home of Apple.

Google Headquarters, Mtn. View, CA. Photo: Athena Alexander.

Throughout Cupertino are enclaves of Apple’s work buildings and other signs of its presence like this seating structure in an outdoor shopping plaza, below.

The Central Valley of California spans Northern and Central California. It is a broad, elongated, flat valley bounded by the Coast Ranges to the west and the Sierra Nevada Range to the east. It is 40-60 miles wide (60-100 km) and runs approximately 450 miles long (720 km). It encompasses all or part of 18 counties.

Agriculture is a massive and vital part of this state. California is the top agricultural producer in the U.S. and ranks as the fifth-largest supplier of food and agricultural products in the entire world. It is one of the most productive farming regions on Earth.

Here there are acres and acres of seemingly endless agricultural fields like this one, below.

Two natural features that span the entire state are the California Coastline and the Pacific Flyway.

The California Coastline.

California’s coastline is a long one at 840 miles (1,350 km) reaching from the Oregon border down to the Mexican border. Humans, other mammals, birds and wildlife–we love our California coast.

California Sea Lions on Central Coast, CA

The Northern California coast is primarily rocky with cold waters whereas Southern California’s coastline has more expansive flat, sandy stretches and warmer waters.

These elephant seals (below) found a handsome stretch of beach on the Central Coast.

Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, San Simeon, CA (Central Coast)

The Pacific Flyway.

This is a natural corridor that bejewels both the Northern and Southern landscapes of California. It is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in the Americas and extends from Alaska to Patagonia.

Every year migratory birds travel long distances in both spring and fall. The birds follow food sources and head to breeding grounds; or travel here to overwinter in the relatively mild climate.

This is a Northern California moment on the Pacific Flyway, below…

…and this is a Southern California moment on the Flyway, below.

Southern California.

This region generally covers 10 of California’s 58 counties. Although geographically smaller than Northern California and home to several deserts, Southern California has a higher population with 23.76 million people (2020 census).

Southern California Wikipedia

Los Angeles is the largest city in all of California with a population of roughly 18.3 million people in the Greater Los Angeles area. It is the second largest city in the U.S. (NYC is first).

Additionally, there are many large cities in Southern California including San Diego, Long Beach, and dozens more.

The Los Angeles Area is home to the motion picture, television and music industry. This includes headquarters for major companies such as the Walt Disney company, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, MGM and more.

These folks, below, are visiting Grauman’s Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.

Grauman’s Theatre, aka TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, CA

Southern California is also home to a large surf and skateboard culture, action sports events, and premier yachting events.

Outside the Los Angeles sprawl are cities like Palm Springs, seen below.

Despite the busy streets and populated communities, there are also parks of all sizes in this desert region.

Below is Indian Canyons Nature Preserve near Palm Springs, the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

Historically, California’s Indigenous peoples spoke over 100 distinct languages and lived across varied coastal, desert, and mountain regions. Today California has the largest Native American population in the United States with roughly 110 federally recognized tribes.

There are three main deserts in Southern California: the Mojave, the Colorado and the Great Basin.

Joshua trees and roadrunners are characteristic of the desert, shown below.

In addition to the nine national parks in California, there are many other parks, preserves, monuments, recreational areas, and more.

Yosemite is California’s most popular national park, seen below.

Across mountains, valleys, coastlines and deserts, from the discovery of gold and modern technology to the actors who light up our TVs, there’s a history here in California of celebrating humans, nature, and life.

Happy Birthday California!

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Cows, Wildflowers, Carrizo Plains, CA. Photo: Athena Alexander.

Vashon Island, Puget Sound

August 21, 2026August 21, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 49 Comments

I had the pleasure of spending five days recently on Vashon Island in Washington State. It is one of many islands in the Puget Sound. Here are a few of my favorite spots.

The Puget Sound (aerial photo above), in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, is a paradise of tiny islands, deep water, vast fir tree forests and a plethora of sea life.

It stretches about 100 miles (160 km) from north to south and features roughly 1,332 miles (2,144 km) of shoreline. Water depth ranges from 450 to 930 feet (137-283 m).

It is the second-largest estuary in the contiguous United States by surface area and volume (after the Chesapeake Bay).

In a seascape dotted with hundreds of islands, the major ones are Whidbey (largest and longest), Bainbridge, Vashon, Camano and Blake Islands.

Today we’re heading to Vashon Island. Let’s not miss that next ferry!

Accessible strictly by ferry, Vashon Island is a humble, quiet, and mellow place. Residents attribute the quiet nature of the island to the absence of any bridge connecting it to the mainland, they are adamant about keeping it bridgeless and sparsely visited.

This is the ferry, below.

Vashon Island Wikipedia

Technically, Vashon Island is two islands: Vashon and Maury, as you can see in the above drawing. They are connected by a narrow, man-made isthmus. For simplicity here, we’ll call all of this single landmass Vashon Island.

It covers approximately 37 square miles (96 km2).

My favorite part of Vashon is all the surrounding water. Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, there are coves, beaches, harbors, and boats. This naturally extends to the marine life–harbor seals, whales, river otters, invertebrates, seaweeds, bivalves, loads of fish, sea birds and the glorious unending mysteries of the tides.

There are numerous parks and marinas, too–I’ll just tell you about two.

Dockton Park. From 1892-1910, this area was home to the west coast’s largest shipbuilding dry dock. Today it is a 23-acre park with a public boat launch, moorage, a playground, beach access and picnic facilities as well as 12 miles of multi-use trails.

We had a picnic here and watched a few folks brave the chilly waters for a brisk swim. Two or three private boats were launched, and sea jellies rhythmically pulsated among the marina’s moored boats.

Point Robinson Lighthouse Park. This is a ten-acre shoreline park and marine reserve featuring a historic 1914 working lighthouse that has provided service for vessels since 1884. Today visitors can walk the shoreline or trails, or picnic, there’s also a celebrated giant wooden troll sculpture.

My favorite part, in addition to the sea marvels, was the distinctive spiraling song of the summer Swainson thrushes hidden in the tall trees.

I also have a secret love for historic lenses in lighthouse lanterns, called the Fresnel Lens. And this lighthouse still has its original 5th Order Fresnel. Although it is no longer an active navigational tool, it is a precious antique.

Here there are also commanding views of the Cascade Range including Mount Rainier, the highest peak in the state of Washington.

Aside from the picturesque parks, Vashon has a modest commercial hub with stores, galleries, restaurants, bakeries and more. It is relatively small, and relaxed, and great food abounds.

Vashon is an art community, and The Vashon Center for the Arts hosts many events and highlights local artists.

They have a modern facility that is currently featuring a 29.5-foot gray whale skeleton suspended from the atrium ceiling. It is a kinetic sculpture featuring a moving tail, seen below, and most of the community was involved in finding, funding, preserving or creating this unusual masterpiece.

More about Singer the Gray Whale.

Backroads of the island reveal farms, orchards, vineyards and houses quietly nestled in emerald forests.

Along the road, we occasionally came upon a self-pay flower or egg stand and other homemade delicacies.

One day we stopped at this popsicle stand, below, and savored delicious berry popsicles.

Vashon has many other sights of interest–totem poles, tiny communities, old-fashioned grocery markets–and relics of former residents from Native Americans to ship builders. There is also a small monastery that is still operational. Every July, Vashon hosts the Strawberry Festival.

I especially enjoyed being outdoors on the rustic, rocky intertidal shoreline. There is so much lively sea life, in hundreds of various forms; and the briny air and quiet, lapping water soothed my soul.

Due to the four daily tides, every day was wildly different from the next.

Imagine yourself standing where Athena stood when she took the above photo. If you were to stand in this exact spot several hours later, you would be in chest-high water.

Tides are different in the Puget Sound due to the region’s complex geography, deep basins, narrow channels and underwater ridges.

One early morning we went for a walk as the water was receding and found these fresh prints in the sand, below.

Foraging river otters! We had seen them earlier. Paw prints on the right, tail prints toward the center.

We also came upon these curious white egg sacs, below. Female squid regularly deposit these egg clusters to spawn on the ocean floor, but sometimes the extreme low tides can tear these clusters loose from where they were anchored.

It is not easy to slow down in this electric, frenzied world…but some places still value peace and quiet. I hope you can find a few for yourself.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Burbank’s Gold Ridge Farm

July 31, 2026September 7, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 57 Comments

There’s a Northern California man from over a century ago we’re going to briefly touch down upon today. Chances are you have not heard of him, but you have almost certainly eaten food or tended plants he developed. We visited his farm last week.

Botanist and horticulturist Luther Burbank (1849-1926) had a deep understanding and passion for plants. He is widely considered one of the most famous and prolific plant breeders of all time.

Shasta Daisy, *Leucanthemum* × *superbum*

He moved from Massachusetts in 1875 to Santa Rosa, California. Once his career became established, he owned and operated a plant nursery, sold seeds. He had a home and garden in Santa Rosa, California that is still open to the public today.

Eventually he discovered his real passion: plant breeding. In 1885 he purchased 18 acres, Gold Ridge Experiment Farm, in nearby Sebastopol. He maintained and used this farm for large-scale plant hybridization and experiments for roughly 40 years, until his death.

Today we’re visiting his Gold Ridge Experiment Farm, protected and maintained by the Western Sonoma County Historical Society. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When you arrive at this humble farm, robust Shasta daisies cheerfully greet you. It is easy to see his beloved garden, now three acres, is still thriving.

It is well tended and loved by a substantial group of dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers.

There were newly built benches, botanical plant labels, budding and flowering plants, plants for sale, and maintained trails, trees and garden beds. There is also a renovated cottage mimicking Burbank’s original cottage; it houses vintage photographs, information and a few souvenirs.

The Shasta Daisy (first photo, above) was one of Burbank’s breeding successes and today it still graces his garden. It was introduced in 1901, named after the snowy mountaintop of Northern California’s Mount Shasta.

In his indefatigable effort to perfect this flower he collected seeds from England, Spain, Portugal, and New England. He spent over 17 years developing it, planting more than a million flowers before he came up with the hybrid that satisfied his discerning methods. Leucanthemum x superbum is known for its vigor.

He toiled over this daisy species for 17 years. Imagine that kind of tenacity and attention.

Then consider this: in his lifetime he created over 800 new plant species.

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soil. ~~ Luther Burbank

The Burbank Potato was his first success. He didn’t garner a lot of money from it, but it highlighted his genius as a pioneering plant breeder and launched his career.

It was in 1872 when he came upon a potato seed ball in his mother’s garden that captured his interest. He planted all of its 23 seeds out in a field.

These are his words:

“When I dug the potatoes in the fall I found that one had white eyes and the rest of the body was red, and another had red eyes and the rest of the body white. Another had prominent eyes and eyebrows, the eyes were clear to the center of the body. As quick as I dug I knew I had a prize.”

The next year he sent a sample and ultimately sold the rights to a seed dealer.

Its descendant, the Russet Burbank, became the most planted potato in North America. By 1900, the USDA estimated it contributed $17 million annually to the U.S. economy. Later it would become the preferred potato for McDonald’s French fries, and today it generates an estimated $1.4-1.5 billion in annual revenue in the U.S. alone.

Even the local grocery store highlights Luther Burbank’s russet potato success, photo below.

Plant breeding is a complicated business. Today it involves traditional cross-pollination with advanced genomics, DNA selection, gene editing tools and robotic data collection.

But in Burbank’s time, the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, breeding involved open pollination (relying on insects, birds, wind) or hand pollination using grafting, budding, cuttings for propagation and other techniques.

Another process, mass selection, involved planting large crops and then meticulously inspecting and removing weak or undesirable plants and saving the seeds of the top performers.

All of these methods were utilized by Burbank on the Gold Ridge Farm. This photo below from the late 1800s demonstrates the commercial nature of his 18-acre farm. He had rows and rows of plants, some 700 feet long.

Year after year and decade after decade, he walked through the rows selecting the outstanding species. He ran up to 3,000 experiments concurrently, involving millions of plants. His assistants performed the manual labor of grafting and caring for the plants, but Burbank continually walked the rows to evaluate the output.

Working primarily in fruits, nuts and perennials, Burbank grew acres and acres of daisies, lilies, roses, gladioli, zinnias, dahlias, lilacs and many other flowers. Rhubarb, plumcots, orange, apple, and cherry trees, grains, grasses, vegetables, cacti and so much more.

He also made a significant contribution to berries and worked tirelessly with stone fruits. He worked more with plums than anything else. Eventually he would develop the Santa Rosa Plum, a classic, highly popular Japanese plum variety known for its sweet, juicy flesh and tart skin.

This trail on the farm is lined with plums of all colors.

Wickson Plum on Luther Burbank Experiment Farm

I was also delighted to see a grove of chestnut trees at Gold Ridge Farm.

Chestnut trees were tragically wiped out in America in the first half of the 1900s by a devastating fungal blight. But here in this magical garden were several chestnut trees towering over us (photo below). This was another specimen, like the potato, that he strived to improve and combat blight.

Chestnut tree, Luther Burbank Experiment Farm

He was one of the first plant breeders to work with the American Walnut species. This walnut tree, photo below, is one of many historic specimens (1893) on the farm. Burbank grafted it. The left trunk is a Paradox Walnut while the right trunk is a Persian English Walnut. He grafted them to combine fast growth, hardiness and disease resistance.

During Burbank’s life, plants were not patented. That would occur after his death, in 1930, when President Herbert Hoover signed the Plant Patent Act into law. Therefore, all of Burbank’s work and results, nearly a half-century of tireless dedication and scientific plant development, were recorded in codes for proprietary protection.

Burbank had his share of professional controversies and troubles, but his deep love for nature, his love for humans and extending the universe of edible successes to feed them, as well as his gift for plant breeding carried him far.

It has been 100 years since this earnest, clever man died, and yet we still have his plants in our gardens and kitchens.

This summer while you’re wolfing down hot, salty fries or walking past a patch of smiling daisies, give a salute to the man who made it all possible.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander (seen below).

Websites:

Luther Burbank Experiment Farm

Luther Burbank Home & Gardens

Luther Burbank Wikipedia

Summer Grazing

July 10, 2026July 10, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 57 Comments

There is a fairly common sight in the Bay Area during the summer–the grass-grazing sheep and goats. They come to our Northern California region every summer where open fields, vineyards and oak woodlands have tall, golden grass that require cutting.

The winter rains typically end around April and do not start again until November, so there’s about a half-year period when we have no rains and plenty of sunshine. It is so dry right now that grass is crunchy and soil is powder.

The livestock eat the grass to reduce highly flammable brush.

Toward the beginning of the livestock visit, the grass is still high and plentiful, and the herd is very busy in their unending consumption. Two photos, below.

This year the flock is 300-400 sheep and goats. It is about one-fourth goats and three-fourths sheep.

Both species eat voraciously, but the goats have additional skills in standing on their two hind legs and eating high vegetation.

Sheep typically consume about 2-4% of their body weight per day, about 10-15 pounds (4.5-7 kg) of grass.

They stopped occasionally to rest in the shade and sometimes one or two would lie down while their heavy eyelids closed for a nap. But mostly they ate constantly.

In this photo below, you can see they have eaten a lot of the grass but there is still more grazing to be done.

When one paddock is completely grazed and there’s nothing left but nubs, the animals start to get a little rowdy, they’re ready to move on. Bleating gets louder and one by one they all stand up, pace a bit, and clump together.

The Round-up.

For this event, the urban shepherd and his border collie squeeze the animals together in a tighter, more manageable flock. The shepherd guides them with the percussive crack of a flag he carries and the dog races and circles and circles around them.

In the photo below, the shepherd and black border collie can be seen on the hill just above the flock.

They’re getting ready to move on and you can see why: the grass in their paddock (foreground) has been eaten all the way down whereas grass in the upper photograph is still long, awaits their arrival.

There’s a lot of excitement in the round-up event. The sheep are bleating and baaing and staggering into each other as they get pressed closer together, and the powdery soil is being kicked up into clouds of dust by 300 sets of stumbling hooves.

In the process, the sheep voice their baaadddd moods, and the dog lets loose, running so fast her ears are pinned back, circling and circling the livestock until they cannot smush together any closer.

The dog loves it.

When the dog tires out in the heat, she trots over to the shade and plops down for about three minutes while the sheep remain befuddled and pressed together.

Then the shepherd opens the fence and leads the flock, and they all trot happily into the next paddock, starting all over again on a new pasture.

The sheep and goats are in our neighborhood for about a month. A livestock trucking crew assist at the beginning and end, but the rest of the month the work crew, day and night, is this one shepherd and dog.

They’re quite a team. The dog is the shepherd’s happy, loyal buddy and then she earnestly fulfills her sheep-gathering duties when called upon.

The dog could often be seen riding on the shepherd’s moving ATV, and when it stopped, the dog dismounted and relaxed under a nearby tree’s shade.

These are hot days in the 80s and sometimes 90s and the sheep and goats drink copious amounts of water. The shepherd keeps the water troughs full and clean, puts up and takes down flexible fences almost daily, weed-whacks the grass before installing the fence. He also removes errant branches that get stuck in the sheep’s wool…literally tends his flock.

Some sheep arrived completely sheared, while others were partially sheared.

This particular flock of sheep was almost all ewes. I saw one ram. And one lamb, whose high-pitched bleating could often be heard. Some ewes looked pregnant, like this one below.

The goats got along fine with the sheep. They had more distinct markings than the sheep and I thought they were beautiful. Many had chocolate-brown or black heads, there were two or three “oreo” goats, and one who wore dalmatian spots. They all had horns.

The Load-up.

We were fortunate to see the load-up this year and it was very entertaining.

The task was to separate the goats from the sheep for safer transport. But many of them were inseparable so there was a lot of chaos while the handlers had to keep rounding up the wayward souls. They needed about ten humans and two border collies for this.

You can see in this photo below, most of the goats (in front) have been separated from the sheep (in back). Except there are six or eight goat rebels, identifiable by their black heads, still in the sheep group.

The load-up took about 2.5 hours. Eventually the goats and sheep walked a narrow plank into their respective trucks with a cacophony of clacking hooves on the aluminum ramp.

We bid them adieu as their trucks lumbered away.

This herd has tidily eaten all our grass and without even knowing it they have fortified our standing with the fire insurers. They have kept us safe from potential wildfires, fertilized our hills, broken up the hard earth, and they’ve done it all serenely. Not too baaaaddd.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Colorful Songbirds in the Americas

June 5, 2026June 4, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 70 Comments

With the butterflies, colorful flowers and blooming trees starting up this summer, here is a gallery of stunning, rainbow-colored songbirds who grace the Americas.

There are over 10,000 bird species on earth, so I have narrowed down today’s colorful bird celebration to the western hemisphere and songbirds. All birds seen here are in the order Passeriformes.

Birds are evolutionarily colorful for many reasons–mate preference, display of strength, protection from predators, intimidation and more.

All of their showy colors, except blue, are achieved through pigmentation in the foods they eat and light refraction.

Interestingly, many birds see a lot more colors than humans do; they can see ultraviolet light due to more cone cells in their eyes. It varies among bird species, and new research continues to discover more information.

North America.

The iconic bird of color in North America, one that is loved by many, is the northern cardinal. It is the most common state bird in the U.S. (seven states)–that’s how adored this scarlet bird is. Cardinalis cardinalis.

This painted bunting, below, is another dazzler, seen in much of the southern U.S. This male paraded his colors for us in the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in southwest Florida. Passerina ciris.

Native to South America, saffron finches, below, live in only one U.S. state: Hawaii. He was posing for us under the shade of a mango tree on the Big Island. Sicalis flaveola.

Many of the birds highlighted here on specific continents are also seen on other western hemisphere continents, due to migration. All of them are males, the gender that in general is the showiest.

Central America.

This photo, below, is a good illustration of the toes on a songbird, a feature that classifies it as a songbird or passerine. As mentioned earlier, all the birds shown in this essay are passerines, in the order Passeriformes.

Called an anisodactyl arrangement, the honeycreeper’s bright red feet display three toes facing forward and one toe facing backward. This helps them to perch.

Take a second to look at his other remarkable markings.

The U.S. and Canada host a plethora of warbler species in the warmer months, but most warbler species spend their winters in Central and South America.

This blackburnian warbler, below, is a male in breeding plumage and has a fiery head of many different orange and golden shades. We spotted him in Belize. Setophaga fusca.

It is said that birders never forget their first blackburnian warbler in breeding, and I know that is true for me. Mine was in Costa Rica in 2008.

The colors on this species are like nothing else you see in nature. That goes for so many of the colors seen on the birds here. Sometimes we have one second to admire…and then the bird is gone. Birds teach us attentiveness.

Tanagers–oh how I could go on about them. There are 393 species of tanagers in the family Thraupidae, and they provide a breathtaking kaleidoscope of colors. There are taxonomic details about tanagers, but I’m not addressing them here.

They are medium-sized birds and eat insects, spiders and fruit; we see them in trees as they hunt. They perch longer than hummingbirds or warblers, too.

There are five tanager species in the U.S. and many more south of the U.S.

While birding in the Belizean forests, a summer tanager, below, would occasionally brighten up a branch. Piranga rubra.

Other vividly decorated birds were the scarlet tanager (below) and violaceous euphonia (below that).

South America.

We had the joy of observing this pensive blue-gray tanager, seen below, in the Andes Mountains in Peru. Thraupis episcopus.

While most bird color is due to pigmentation and light refraction, the birds wearing blue are different because blue in feathers is structural and not due to pigmentation. Those tones of blue colors in a bird come from the physical way light interacts with the microscopic structure of the feather.

More info: “When is a Blue Bird not Blue?” from Smithsonian.

We see the sunny yellow warbler species throughout the U.S., parts of Canada, Central America and parts of South America. I like this photo of the male, below, for its striking contrast with the black lava on the Galapagos Islands.

Last year there was a taxonomical split in this species so technically this is a Mangrove Yellow Warbler, below. Setophaga petechia.

We complete our colorful songbird series with a very unusual bird. Although you can clearly see the eyes in the photo below, when I first set my eyes on this species I wondered if it had eyes, they were so obscure and the neck and head shape, so different. Admittedly, it was quite dark outside.

Seen in Peru, the Andean Cock-of-the-rock is native to South America and the national bird of Peru. Rupicola peruvianus.

We really had to work to see this bird. After a frigid, sleepless night with monkeys tromping on our thatched roof, we trekked through the Andean cloud forest at 5:00am before the light of dawn and waited silently under shrubbery for the males to gather to perform their breeding dance.

Then at least a dozen males gathered and competed for females. Ordinarily they are rare and extremely shy, but in this pocket of the forest, their lek, they squealed and shrieked, bowed, flapped their wings and displayed their brilliance for about 15 minutes before they vanished. We never saw a single one again.

Songbirds can see a more lively spectrum of colors than we can, they fly hundreds of miles across the western hemisphere and display their resplendence year after year.

I’m glad you could join me and the indefatigable photographer Athena to see a few of these beauties.

Written by Jet Eliot, fourth from left in photo below, hatless.

All photos (except as noted) in the wild by Athena Alexander, fifth from left.

Spring Birds at Pt. Reyes and More

May 22, 2026May 21, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 53 Comments

A great jaunt to Point Reyes in Northern California last week brought us a few spring birds, quail chicks, a bit of history and blustery winds. It was a fantastic day.

As birders, we were especially tuned in to newly arrived spring birds or those migrating through on their journey north, and on this lucky day we saw both. Well, I call it “luck” but really it comes down to knowing where to look, what to look for, and tenacity.

We were at Drake’s Beach and it was so windy that the beach was sparse with humans and birds.

We noticed a gull that is not usually here, the Bonaparte’s Gull. Chroicocephalus philadelphia.

In this photo, below, all the gulls are one species, even though only one has a black head.

The handsome black-headed gull in the center is wearing its breeding plumage. The other adults, who currently have a gray cheek patch, will acquire their breeding plumage, the black head, soon.

This gull species is only passing through. They will forage in flocks on the Pt. Reyes coast for a few weeks and then be on their way northward to northern Canada, where they breed. By the time they get to Canada, all the adults will have black heads.

This photo, below, shows the gray cheek spot behind the eye on the white, not-yet-breeding gulls. It also demonstrates the size difference between a western gull juvenile (L) and the three smaller Bonaparte’s.

Many gulls were hunkered down due to the wind, and others were bathing and resting atop the water. There is red, tannic water on a runoff part of the beach. It was so windy that even the runoff water had waves. Driftwood has turned the runoff water red.

After our wind-thrashing beach walk, we decided to look for the Swainson’s thrush in the nearby willow thicket.

Over the years we have discovered, by close listening, four spots at Pt. Reyes where the Swainson’s thrushes gather. They’re only here for three or four months.

They are highly secretive birds and spend much of their time deeply hidden in leafy brush. It’s their nesting time, so they stay out of sight from predators.

A person would never know they are nearby except for their exquisite and distinctive fluty, upward-spiraling song.

Swainson’s Thrush song audio clip

Maybe, we wondered, they were in their willow tree hide-out. It was mid-May and they usually arrive in April, so there was a good chance they had arrived. They spent the winter in Mexico, travel here to breed.

The willow trees are 15-20′ high (5-6 m). In this photo, below, the willows are in the lower front of the photo, the only plant that goes entirely across the photo.

We knew there was little to no possibility of seeing them, but, ahhh, it’s their song that melts the heart.

We stood beside the willow thicket and waited. Even though the winds were raging, making it difficult to hear clearly, we stood and waited. And within minutes, out danced the fluty notes of this thrush.

We quietly walked all around the willow patch and heard several of them conversing.

In our melodious mesmerizing search, we found ourselves inside the willow thicket. Here was another surprise.

We had found a hidden trail, followed it. And there, inside the willows, was a large stone Celtic cross. It was about ten feet high (3 m).

We were so relieved to not find trash or scuzzy stuff or a homeless encampment. To find this rustic hidden statue was quite a joy.

The plaque said it was erected by the Sir Francis Drake Association in 1946. It must have once had an expansive view of the beach and Pacific Ocean. The beach is named after him.

There’s even a small replica of his ship; the Golden Hind. Sir Francis Drake and his crew landed here in the summer of 1579. Their ship was badly leaking. They were on a global circumnavigation to claim territory for Queen Elizabeth I when they had to anchor here to make repairs.

I later learned online that the Sir Francis Drake Association was a group of Bay Area residents who promoted Drake’s historical landing for most of the first half of the 20th century. In 1946 they had this cross erected to honor Drake’s visit and the first service of the Church of England in the New World.

We stood beside this commemorative cross, our heads in the willows, careful not to touch the stinging nettle; listened contentedly to the heartwarming chorus of Swainson’s thrushes.

This bird is in the same family as the America robin and is about the same size. Catharus ustulatus oedicus.

We never did see any thrushes that day, but last summer on the other side of the park, Athena was able to capture two quick photos in a fleeting moment, below.

After lunch it was time to move on.

On the road, we saw this coyote way up on the hillside blending into the grass. It was eyeing a herd of cows.

Later, we were driving through a small coastal town headed for home and pulled over to let the car behind us whiz by.

While stopped on the edge of the road, we spotted this family of California quail. The chicks are only a day or two old, and about a dozen of them endearingly scampered behind their protective parents.

The sweet, vibrant beauty of spring, the reverence for days gone by, and the glory of life on earth.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

David Attenborough’s 100th Birthday

May 8, 2026May 7, 2026 / Jet Eliot / 52 Comments

What an honor it is today to celebrate the 100th birthday of one of my biggest heroes, Sir David Attenborough. We’ll take a brief look at his life and his message.

Photo by Bill Robinson

Born one hundred years ago today, May 8, David Attenborough has spent his entire life reaching for the planet’s wild beauty and sharing it with the world. And now, after eight decades of exploring the planet and its inhabitants, his messages are stronger than ever before.

He has advocated for restoring planetary biodiversity, limiting population growth, switching to renewable energy, mitigating climate change, reducing meat consumption and setting aside more areas for natural preservation.

Included in this essay are quotes by David Attenborough and photos of wildlife species he has featured in his programs.

Hippo, Zambia, Africa

Alarmingly, all wildlife shown here are not just interesting or beautiful creatures–they are all currently listed as endangered or vulnerable species on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List.

The young Attenborough studied at Cambridge, served in the Royal Navy, worked as an editor and then joined the BBC in 1952 as a trainee producer.

In 1954 he launched a program called Zoo Quest. From 1954 to 1963 he traveled as a producer accompanying staff from the London Zoo to tropical countries to capture animals for the zoo and share them with TV audiences. He stepped in as presenter when the original host fell ill.

In the 1950s mass tourism did not yet exist, and the exotic places and wildlife where the Zoo Quest crew trekked had not been experienced by most people. This program was a massive success, opening the eyes of television viewers.

“No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”

There are many online video clips from his Zoo Quest days. Here is a two-minute BBC clip of David Attenborough in 1956, 30 years old, capturing a Burmese python in Java. I like this clip because it features both the young and the older David Attenborough.

Link: David Attenborough, Zoo Quest 1956

Attenborough brought two important innovations to early nature programs: he convinced BBC to change film from black and white to color; and to change the film size from the BBC’s preferred 35mm to 16mm, in order to bring more lightweight handheld cameras into the field.

Eventually in 1979 Attenborough accomplished his goal in making a large-scale natural history program using the latest technology, with the landmark 13-part series Life on Earth. Dozens of programs followed.

“The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.”

Baird’s Tapir, adult female, Belize, Central America

“The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?”

For more about David Attenborough’s accomplishments there are two links below. In addition, there are many television programs commemorating his centenary birthday and the internet is brimming with clips and videos.

Awards and published books: David Attenborough Wikipedia

Filmography: David Attenborough Filmography Wikipedia

“After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand that the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea.”

“Every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food that we take, comes from the natural world. And if we damage the natural world, we damage ourselves.”

David Attenborough has been sharing the world with us for decades for a reason–to educate us on how to keep the air breathable, the climate habitable, the sea and earth clean so it can continue providing us with sustenance. He is passing the torch to us.