If nothing else, we’ve gone through a year when challenging truth seemed like an Olympic sport. I’ve grown tremendously weary of it. You see, hypotheses are meant to be questioned, […]
Vince Pinto
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Nature Journeys: Rowdy Roadrunners
Photo by Claudia Pinto If you think that all dinosaurs became extinct with a massive asteroid strike approximately 65 million years ago, you might just be wrong. Birds are often […]
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Nature Journeys: March of the Winds
If there is a singular force of nature that defines March in the Sky Islands, then it must be wind. Anyone who has literally weathered the local vagaries of March’s […]
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Nature Journeys: Rock Solid!
Photo by Vince Pinto In the dead center of a dry, desiccated, and somewhat desolate winter there is always one thing we can rely upon to pique the naturalist in […]
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Nature Journeys: Migrating Mountaineers
The author took this photo of an elegant trogon at Raven’s Nest Nature Sanctuary. Winter arrived December 21 on an unseasonably balmy day. Even with a warmer and drier projection for […]
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Nature Journeys: Deadly Desertification
The word desert may conjure images of the Sahara’s seemingly endless dunes or perhaps a Lawrence of Arabia-like, otherworldly landscape. Here in Arizona we boast parts of four deserts, winning […]
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Nature Journeys: Sensational Succulents
Last night I dreamt of rain, suspecting upon awakening that I was not alone in this fruitless endeavor. We are in an exceptional drought. Clouds, let alone rain, seem like […]
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Nature Journeys: Ecological Decay
My scientific observations in Arizona date back to 1987 when I was a wildlife researcher for New Mexico State University. Based in the Peloncillo Mountains of New Mexico and Arizona, […]
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Nature Journeys: Bizarre, Beautiful and Bountiful Beetles
A metallic wood-boring beetle. Photo by Vince Pinto The insect order Coleoptera, the beetles, dominates Earth’s biodiversity. Approximately one out of every three animal species is a beetle and about […]
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Nature’s Journeys: Tropical Travelers
A blackened bluewing butterfly was a winter visitor near Lake Patagonia. Photo by Vince Pinto Sitting at approximately 32 degrees north latitude, the Patagonia area lies at the verge of […]