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A female Bufflehead cruises in front of the orange reflecting sunrise early one morning.
Naturalist's Notebook
All this rain has flooded the nearby pastures. You know your pond has just about become a lake when the regular dabblers like mallards and wigeons are joined by diving … more
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On a Ramble, Raven-watching in the New Year
Let’s take a ramble. Let’s head through this soggy pasture and aim for the woods. Think of all we’ve seen in the last year on the KP, the encounters with deer and moths, the … more
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Naturalist's Notebook
A Beaver Poop Mystery The dam is deep in a thicket and quite small. To reach it I’m forced to crab-walk into the lively creek below it. Salmonberry canes extract the small blood offering … more
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The view from the shore of Filucy Bay Preserve.
Chasing Silence and Sound in Filucy Bay Preserve
As I work my way down a forested draw in Filucy Bay Preserve, tree frogs call. Ferns and logs guide me through a series of pinch points where deer have squeezed before me. more
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Wandering Bands of Berry Hunters
Fall again. Hea vy sunflower heads have fallen and the clouds of goldfinches that came for their seeds have scattered into the trees. Rain falls and rotting resumes. Down come the soggy stems of … more
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Naturalist's Notebook
Ask the KP Nature Guide: Moles more
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Naturalist Notebook
Snakes Eaten, Snakes Eating Recently a friend asked me if there are birds that eat garter snakes. A few, I told him. Red-tailed hawks are known for making off with snakes. It is always an odd … more
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Labrador Carpet Moth (Xanthorhoe labradorensis)
At Home with Moths, the Beautiful Bellwethers
The days are hot and the nights are warm. By day I’m lucky to see two or three butterfly species. By night the moths swarm, pale shapes like prisms around the edges of my house. At my black … more
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Anatomy of a Feeding Frenzy
A commotion has been building outside. It has been building for days now. Some sort of forage fish is massing along the shoreline, and it has drawn a feeding frenzy of gulls, mergansers, cormorants, seals and eagles from miles around. more
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Vaughn Girl’s Pet is an Alligator Lizard
By now, Grace Bennett is an old hand at lizard keeping. She is 5 years old, and her pet for the last year has been a northern alligator lizard named Baraka. Grace lives on a 5-acre farm near … more
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An echo azure moth stands out in a field of green.
Naturalist’s Notebook
On the first day of spring over 60 degrees, I find a currant decked out with pink pendant blooms. It radiates a fragrance of heat, sweat and pollen. more
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“I held my breath,” said 5-year-old Mira Bothwell of Longbranch.
The Land of Swamp Lanterns
On a slanting boardwalk over a forested swamp, I pause. It’s not just Pacific wrens singing these days. Song sparrows and towhees fire off their songs. Salmonberry thickets stand with their … more
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From the Naturalist's Notebook
Bald Eagle vs. Common Goldeneye The goldeneye duck, separated from its compadres, came to the surface to suck in some oxygen. The eagle swooped. The duck frantically dove. The eagle climbed to 10 … more
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A Townsend's Warbler
Naturalist Notebook
Wildlife of the Key Peninsula more
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Listening Like Deer
I sit in a stand of trees, screened by filbert leaves, on the edge of a field in the woods. The earth is damp and the air stirs restlessly. It’s that time of year when buck black-tailed deer, normally nocturnal, move recklessly, their necks swollen and their antlers crusted with the bark of saplings. I have come to watch them. more
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When the Silver Salmon Return
Last month the silver salmon came to Glen Cove. Each year their arrival roughly coincides with the first great rainfalls of autumn, when the Pacific Ocean reminds us of its presence by sending us waves of wind and fog and darkness — and salmon. more
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An unforgettable dolphin experience.
Dolphin Pays a Rare Visit to the KP
A dolphin has been putting on a show around the southern tip of the Key Peninsula. “The acrobatics I witnessed were incredible and unlike anything else outside of Sea World,” said … more
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The Bat’s Superpowers and COVID-19
Been thinking about bats. I’ve been going out on the beach after dusk to spend time with them. As a kid, I threw rocks and watched them pick up my projectiles with their echolocation. They … more
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A Gardener’s Guide to Slugs
Using science to limit slug damage. Slugs are different things to different people: a gardener’s nightmare, a forest worker breaking down decomposing forest vegetation, … more
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Living in a Coyote’s World
Coyotes are singing on the peninsula. They wake me in the wee hours. My mind needs a good minute or two to figure out if the eerie sounds more
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