Welcome to Jennie of the Jungle!

Photo by Marcos Guerra, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute In a world that's more than ready for businesses to start reducing their carbon footprints and making the move toward being green, one office coffee company is doing just that. UK-based  Office Coffee Company  offers a wide variety of organic, fair-trade, Rainforest Alliance certified coffees, teas and hot chocolates, as well as eco-friendly cups, sustainably harvested wooden coffee stirrers, and environmentally friendly office coffee machines. The Office Coffee Company has won the Eden Project and Planet First's   Planet Mark for Business certification , which means they are making a real and quantifiable effort to help the environment. They are committed to reducing their carbon emissions every year. Should you wish to become a client, they will even sit down with you and provide a unique carbon assessment that will explain the amount of rainforest trees you will save and carbon dioxide retained by dri...

If you've never been to Antelope Island State Park in Syracuse, Utah, then you are missing out on a wonderful wildlife and nature viewing experience. Antelope Island is a preserve made up of a desert shrub and grassland island surrounded by the scenic Great Salt Lake. Standing on the shore of the Great Salt Lake is like standing on the coast of an ocean. Tiny islands dot the view and the lake goes on as far as the eye can see. Lone Pronghorn On the island you can see all kinds of wildlife, including pronghorn, bighorn sheep, American bison, porcupines, badgers, coyotes, bobcats, owls, and millions of waterfowl. The Great Salt Lake is an important rest and nesting stop for birds migrating through the Western United States. Looking to the North from the rocky cliffs at my favorite sunset spot This all adds up to a beautiful and scenic day at the "beach". Although camping is allowed at a campground on the island so you can extend your stay. The entran...

A few months ago I had the pleasure of performing Flammulated Owl nest surveys with Hawkwatch International. Biologists with Hawkwatch International have been creating artificial owl nests for quite a few years now, in order to increase flammulated owl presence in Utah and to decrease predation on fledged chicks. Karri Smith and I, representing Great Salt Lake Audubon, were able to spend a day with the biologists and chicks. Together we performed nest checks in order to inventory young. This involved taking each owlet from the nest, cuddling it, weighing it, and measuring its wing length. Tiny owl puffballs so trustingly slept in our hands while we worked. me with baby flammy! Biologist William hard at work, Karri Smith snapping shots, and me cuddling all the owls Flammy owl chick (aka cotton ball with eyes) Biologist Toby taking wing measurements Inside a nest mom observing We checked over 20 nests, hiking to each site, sneaking up to the nest and bl...

Gunnison Island is a protected pelican nesting island in the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake. I was recently asked to help band juvenile pelicans this July with Utah's Department of Natural Resources and a few other non-profit groups. Here's how it went... "Hug a Pelican?! Of COURSE I want to hug a pelican! Oh, er...BAND a pelican. Yes, that's what I meant." As I hung up the phone I was still picturing the opportunity to hug one, of course. Seeing pelicans on Gunnison Island, a protected island upon which few feet have trodden, is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I was definitely going to take advantage of that by doing all the hugging I could. My alarm went off at 3:30 am, and after a 10-minute period of groggy confusion, I remembered that today was pelican-banding day! The morning dawned bright as Karri Smith and I (both representing Great Salt Lake Audubon) pulled up to the meeting spot to meet the other banders and biologists workin...

Step aside, Honey Badger. There's a new hilarious sheriff in town! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeFxdkaFzRA

The breathtaking view of Machu Picchu On my recent 4-month volunteer trip to Peru I decided to spend 6 days backpacking the country's beautiful Sacred Valley . The Sacred Valley lies in the mists of the Andes mountains, starts from the Incan capital of Cusco and includes everything between Calca and Lamay, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo. The ancient ruins of Machu Picchu top off the valley and keep a watchful eye over the sacred land. Surprisingly, I had never been backpacking before. I camp, hike, get lost in the jungle, etc, but have never taken my 10 most essential items, stuck them in a bag, and walked off into the mountains with only ideas to guide me. Well, that's exactly what I did, because I figured, what the hey, I'm in Peru and I tend to be braver in South America than I am in the states. That doesn't make a lot of sense but it's worked for me so far. Into a tiny school-grade backpack (hey, big ones are expensive), I packed a too...