This website is the companion to Birding Travels in North America.
Green Honeycreeper, Chlorophanes spiza
Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad
A journey is a wonderful concept. It can be far, it can be near, it can be physical, it can be mental, it can be expansive, it can be limiting…. This website describes some of the journeys of my life.
I am Bob Barnes, I currently live in a small town in the foothills of southern New Mexico in the United States. I can be reached at rabarnes@blackrange.org. I have seen a bit of the world in my life - not enough - but enough to give me a perspective about places and peoples which I enjoy sharing. I have accumulated a significant inventory of photographs and videos over the years and it is used extensively on this site.
Andean Cock-of-the-Rock on its nest - Ecuador
Although this site has a definite birding slant it also includes a significant amount of other natural history material and a bit of the human stuff as well.
I also maintain websites dedicated to my “home patch” of the Black Range of New Mexico (that website can be found at The Black Range); a website focused on sites of the ancient peoples of the world which I have visited; and a website focused on automotive and aeronautical vehicles.
Material which appears on this site is subject to a personal and commercial use restriction under the Creative Commons, you may not use it for your (or others) financial benefit without written permission. My material is available for your use under the terms of this Creative Commons License.
The map above depicts the content of this website, generally. The human figures represent where I have lived. The bird icons indicate where I have spent some time. The bird icons are very general in characterization, for instance, I have spent time in all of the states of the United States and in all but three of the provinces of Canada.
And look at those gaps, so many places I have not been.
Fernweh is German and is often translated into English as wanderlust. That translation does not quite qet there and most certainly was made by a person who does not suffer - or benefit - from the condition. It is a longing to experience places which you have not experienced before - it is a way of growing and learning, an attitude about life….