The Voice of the Key Peninsula

Chris Rurik, KP News

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The smallest of North American chickadees, this chestnut-backed chickadee is one of two species commonly sighted here.
What to Watch for This Month in the Skies, Trees and Waters
Venus has phases, like the moon. Our neighbor planet is putting on a show these days, high in the western sky, the first point of light to appear as sunset fades. On June 4 it will reach its greatest … more
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Jim Watts of Watts Solitary Bees places wooden blocks with predrilled holes inside totes for female mason bees to lay eggs.
Keeping the Bees
For Jim Watts, spring means time on the road with hundreds of thousands of bees in his truck. One by one he visits an ever-growing list of home orchards, hobby farms, clearcuts and gardens. At each, … more
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Early Looks at the New Pentheroudakis Preserve
The wren is basically a mouse. It weaves through ferns. Then it appears on a stump not 10 feet away. It glances at us and, without a second thought, goes about its inspection of the stump’s … more
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“The log on which I lie is the latest casualty.”
Where Trees Are Thrown by the Wind
If you want to feel like a shrimp in a kelp forest, a good place to start is in a real forest on a windy day, your back on a log, trees flexing like grasses above you, the sky crowded with clouds … more
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Eye to eye with a male Anna's hummingbird.
Hummingbirds Take It to the Limit; A Gallery of Hair Ice
Q: What’s with the hummingbirds in January? Are they dive-bombing? I thought the high-pitch chirp was a squirrel, but those are hummingbirds? — Megan Schowalter, Longbranch more
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This swarm of honeybees spotted in a tree near Home was safely recovered by experienced beekeepers last summer.
KP Beekeepers Keep Honeybees and the Art of Caring for Them Alive
On the Key Peninsula of old, you could hire a “beeliner” … more
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#15. Look closely to spot the brown creeper that all but disappears on the trunk of a Douglas fir.
The 15 Most Camouflaged Critters Around Puget Sound
Visitors pass through the Key Peninsula and notice only our impressive trees. Those who know the terrain well know how much can be concealed here.  Camouflaged critters exploit psychology as … more
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The barrier beach at McDermott Point Preserve.
Land Trusts Conserve 323 Key Peninsula Acres Through Community Donations, Partnerships
A shoreline summer camp, the former site of an iconic lighthouse, a working sheep farm and over 1,000 feet of mainstem Minter Creek are among seven properties that two local land trusts worked to … more
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Productive Infections and the Creation of Soil
A robin pulls a worm from the lawn. A brief tension, released, and with a few tosses of the robin’s head the worm is gone. Dawn on New Year’s Day. It’s my first bird of the year. … more
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Eagles and the Genius of Bird Flight
I’m not sure how I see them. It is the most turbulent day of winter yet. Wind tears through the firs that surround Key Center. I scuttle across the highway and aim for Capitol Lumber, eyes … more
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American Kestrel
Falcons and Stink Bugs Enliven, Entertain and Baffle the Key Peninsula
Last month, writing about what to anticipate in our natural world, I pointed to the return of rain as one of September’s most important events. Hold on. That was two months ago. … more
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“There’s so many factors that come into play. Maybe the native bees have been killed off by backyard folks spraying the previous summer for yellow jackets.”
Soggy Spring and Low Pollination Lead to Low Fall Fruit
The fruit harvest will be low in home orchards across the Key Peninsula this year. more
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Tracking the Lost Conifer, Western White Pine
“What pines? Where are these pines?” asked my birding friend after I mentioned I’d been getting to know western white pine, the forgotten conifer of our Key Peninsula forest. more
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Diseased Douglas fir trees are typically rotten inside.
Trees Come Down at Camp Seymour to Improve the Forest
In 2018 the top broke off a tall Douglas fir and fell into YMCA Camp Seymour’s amphitheater, smashing several rows of benches and destroying the fire pit ring. No campers were present at the … more
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There are more than 500 crayfish species in the world, with over 300 in the United States.
What to Watch for This Month
Welcome to September. Short and golden blaze the final days of summer. The atmosphere stirs. Chickadees, nuthatches, creepers and kinglets gather into acrobatic groups. Blackberries are again … more
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Jellyfish like this one lined the shores of Von Geldern Cove before turning brown like glass in the sun.
Jellyfish Stranded in Staggering Numbers
A mass stranding of lion’s mane jellyfish shocked Key Peninsula beach walkers during the second week of August — and made swimmers think twice about getting in the water. “I have never seen … more
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Anise swallowtail
Land of Parasitic Plants and Surprisingly Hidden Beauty
Ever seen a groundcone? This summer two people have sent me snapshots of this strange plant. A groundcone looks about how it sounds, like a pine cone growing out of the ground, translucent yellow and … more
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Under a downed tree, a footpath for deer and raccoons.
Where Eagles Gathered
This is a tale of two homes. They sit side by side above me, a low old house among big trees and a nearly finished new construction. I am here to watch the eagle show. The homes overlook one of … more
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Johnson South Sound Preserve
Around the Hidden Lagoon
The muddy easement passes two just-built houses and a fifth-wheel before plunging into the woods. Then the roadbed itself plunges down a ravine. A landslide has scooped away the hillside below, … more
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Longbranch Marina, circa 2003
New Longbranch Pumpout Station Delayed Indefinitely
Plans to build a pumpout station at the Longbranch Marina, designed to give boaters a way to empty their sewage tanks, was halted by an unexpected permitting roadblock because of a shared well that … more
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