Welcome to Curio Bay

There is a stretch of land along the southernmost coast of the Southern Island of New Zealand known as Curio Bay. I visited about five years ago in search of the Hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin (seen above). And here, at long last, is a story that emerged from that visit, published in Kelp Journal. Thanks … Read more

Where Oceans Hide Their Dead: Now on Audible.com

At last, it’s ready… on Audible.com.https://adbl.co/2ZINs6j You can listen to a sample here: Ashland Creek Press · Where Oceans Hide Their Dead (sample) Read by yours truly, warts and all. The end result is 8 hours and change long but I lost count of how many hours I spent recording and re-recording these chapters. Partly … Read more

“Penguins are in trouble”

This from a sobering research report published last week by some of the world’s leading experts on penguins. The report notes that “more than half of the world’s 18 penguin species are declining.” The three species most in danger are: African penguin Galápagos penguin Yellow-eyed penguin (seen below in New Zealand) The report notes that … Read more

The Tourist Trail is now an audiobook

Let me just that I have newfound respect for those who create audiobooks, because after a month of starts and stops and re-recordings I’m happy to announce the audiobook for The Tourist Trail. It’s available on Audible and comes in at just over 7 hours, which by no means reflects how many hours went into … Read more

Did you happen to notice the new Tourist Trail cover?

The cover of the first edition of The Tourist Trail features a landscape photograph of the Magellanic penguin colony along the shores of Argentina, the precise location where the book begins. It was a photograph I had taken and I thought it would make a nice cover. And it did, but it didn’t make a … Read more

And now some good news about penguins

The Adélie penguin has long been viewed as in rapid decline, largely because of the number of shrinking and abandoned penguin colonies around the Antarctic peninsula. But it appears that the penguin may not be declining so much as changing address. According to this WSJ article, the penguin has actually increased in numbers globally: The … Read more

Penguins vs. climate change

We all know or should know by now that polar bears are suffering from reduced ice up north. But few people know about what’s happening to penguins down south. If you have a spare 10 minutes, listen to this interview with Dee Boersma on her recent study about Magellanic Penguins  in Punta Tombo, Argentina. I … Read more

Bycatch is destroying seabird populations — and that includes penguins

A recent study reported on in the New York Times found that 400,000 seabirds are getting killed each year by gillnets — those long nets used by fishing vessels. And you can add roughly 160,000 additional seabirds that are hooked by longlines. In short, modern fishing practices are destroying the oceans and its creatures. From … Read more