Photos by Mariah Baumgartle The sun is setting off the coast of Todos Santos, Baja California Sur and, even though we are in the tropics, we are bundled up in heavy, hooded sweatshirts and jeans to pr... read more

Rodrigo Orozco shares his Guadalajara, Mexico, home with thousands of tarantulas and tens of thousands of crickets. He's a man with a mission. "I want to end the illegal trade in Mexican tarantulas," h... read more

 Climbing Mexican mountains, volcanoes and caves. Climbing Mexico's volcanoes Pico de Orizaba (Citlateptl) 5700m 18,700ft Popocatepl 5452m 17,887ft Iztaccihuatl 5286m 17,342ft ... read more

Its an oddity that most people I've asked don't know the National Bird of Mexico, especially considering that everyone seems to know that the eagle is the US National Bird. Do you know what Mexico's National Bird is? I only found out yesterday. Mexico's National Bird is the crested caracara, a mix between an eagle and a vulture or buzzard, and cousin to the falcon. read more

Cockroaches, scorpions, earwigs, mosquitoes, termites, beetles, ants and even fleas, present different challenges to homeowners here in tropical Mexico. They are part of the dark side of our little paradise read more

The first detailed scientific account of Lake Chapala was written by Henri Guillaume Galeotti. It was based on a visit to Chapala in February-March 1837. The article was published first in French in 18... read more

Vultures (zopilotes in Spanish) are among the most conspicuous birds in many parts of Mexico. Commonly misidentified as eagles, these blackish scavengers can be seen almost anywhere, often in large flo... read more

Our two friends from AmSoc told Mary and me about going to see the Monarch butterflies. Every year the Monarchs migrate from Canada and the US to their winter home in central Mexico. As they migrate, s... read more

Morelia is a colonial city, capital of the Mexican state of Michoacan, which is well-known for its majestic buildings, squares (plazas), gardens, an aqueduct of wondrous proportions and all of this ... read more

Believe it or not, the introduction of sheep to Mexico had serious environmental consequences.   After the Conquest, Spanish settlers introduced numerous Old World species into the New World. The mo... read more

Monarch Butterfly excursions - Please note that Tony Burton is no longer organizing Monarch Butterfly excursions. The area is well described in Tony's book on the region, " Western Mexico - A T... read more

Who hasn’t been amazed by the acrobatic antics of hummingbirds? What stunt flyers! They are able to fly not only forwards, but backwards and even briefly upside-down. They can also hover for extended... read more

Tlacuaches (opossums) are short-lived but smarter than most people imagine... Imagine "a monstrous beast with a snout like a fox, a tail like a marmoset, ears like a bat, hands like a man, and feet li... read more

Thousands of dinosaur bones have been found in northern Mexico. Bones literally litter the ground. Here's a femur; there's a tibia; vertebrae, ribs, skulls... Dozens of dinosaurs, including the world... read more

    The Quetzal Dance is one of the most colorful folkloric dances anywhere in the country. It is also thought to be one of the most ancient. Both the dance and the spectacular headdresses worn b... read more

Every winter, more than one hundred million monarch butterflies fly into Mexico from the U.S. and Canada. On arrival they congregate in a dozen localities high in the temperate pine and fir forests of ... read more

A surprising percentage of Mexico's land area is protected in one form or another. A very large number of sites of archaeological or historical importance are managed by the National Institute of Anthr... read more

The American White Pelican is Mexico's largest bird, while its relative the Brown Pelican is one of the most fun to watch. White Pelicans on Lake Chapala; photo: John Mitchell, Earth Images Foundat... read more

When someone mentions "dogs" and "Mexico" in the same sentence, most people think immediately of the cute Chihuahua, small in proportions and large in personality but commonly dismissed by lovers of larger dogs as a small and unimportant "toy" breed. read more

Following the Monarch Butterfly to the Highlands of Mexico E. Pluribus Gehrlein. The other side of the coin   First published in the Adirondack Mountain Sun, Volume 10, Number 19, Februa... read more

  This month, Mexico celebrates her birthday, the anniversary of her independence from Spain. On the evening of September 15, the annual El Grito ceremony is held in town plazas all across the cou... read more

There's been a big U.S. flap over the fact that honeybees seem to have gone missing. North Americans are becoming alarmed that, without pollination, foods such as almonds, apples, blueberries, peaches,... read more

Those moments when you can spontaneously interact with a wild animal, one on one, in their environment - whether it's under the ocean, on a mountain, in the middle of the desert - are pretty special, life changing even. read more

Pets are a billion-dollar industry in the United States, but even for the U.S., homeless cats and dogs are a major problem. There is civic funding to established programs to help control the situation,... read more

Back in 1940, just before Pearl Harbour, John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed Rickets, chartered a fishing boat, the Western Flyer, in Monterey, California, and sailed down the coast around the Baja into the Sea of Cortez. Their six-week mission was to collect specimens of marine life in the area. They jointly wrote a book about the voyage, largely about marine biology, which was published in 1941. A decade later, Steinbeck himself wrote this more personal book. The result is a mixture of travel writing, journalism, diary-keeping, philosophy, meditation and, yes, there's a lot of stuff about the marine life of the area. After all, the author was something of an authority in that field. read more