Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Think about the hummers this time of year


Those who are hanging around, as well as those on their long journey to South America. Here is a great Seattle Times article on that point on bird feeders. (I always thought you needed the red color to attract them, but apparently not.

Photo from The Seattle Times.

Baldies and bats

Was working at my desk on the PLU campus Monday, and looked up and caught sight of a mature bald eagle flying overhead. Then I went back to work, but kept hearing something that sounded like baldie chatter, so I looked again, and lo' there was said baldie on top of a fir tree, talking away to its mate, I think, who was in another tree. Apparently they come to campus each winter to feed on our dumpster diving squirrels, and the pet hampsters that get dumped on campus grounds.

On to bats, I came across this video on msn, and thought you might like to see it. Bats!! Love those bats. And if you're not into bats, how about vampire moths?

History of Halloween: Bats
History of Halloween: Bats

Monday, October 27, 2008

Orcas take a hit


I was dismayed to see both of these stories Saturday morning, about how seven orcas, including the baby, are now assumed dead. And the reason, they probably starved to death because there were not enough salmon to eat.

Now before anyone uses this as an excuse to shoot the sealions again (which I believe orcas do hunt), think about why there aren't enough salmon in the food chain. And it's not because of the sealions.

Photo from the Seattle Times.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Hunt for a raccoon and a stray kitten


A New Tribune reporter was busy driving up and down five-mile drive this week in Tacoma, looking for a posse of raccoons that apparently has adopted a grey kitten. It's a great read, and you have to know this guy. Gruff on the outside, softy on the inside. Think grumpy santa claus.



I keep checking back to see if they found the kitten. However, it seems that someone keeps feeding these raccoons, because they are all approaching mike for a handout. Here are some interesting facts I found on raccoons while browsing google.


Update: Just checked the blog again, and apparently KOMO TV (where my hubby works) tracked down the story, the cat and its raccoon family. It's not been adopted.
Photo from KOMO TV

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Eagle above, grab the lizard


Was looking above our house on Scenic Hill in Kent yesterday, and up above was a baldie slowly circling around. It was great to see, but then I remembered who was sunning herself out on the back deck: Our lizard India. So I told Jennifer to go get her before we saw her flying off in the eagle's talons. She did, and wouldn't you know, it seemed the eagle lost interest in our house and glided off toward the cemetery, and rabbits.

Ph and whales sonar





It seems that aside from arguing over whether dropping bombs in the ocean would affect the whales' sonar system, there's another point to be made, the changing Ph of the ocean might make it harder for them to communicate

Check out this blog.

Monday, October 13, 2008

A man and his stream


My hubby is actually part of the local Trout Unlimited Chapter and know this guy, profiled today in the Seattle Times.

If we all just did our bit, persistently over the years, I think we would have salmon back in our streams again, and many other critters too. I think I might walk down to Mill Creek Park and take a look around this weekend.

Photo by the Seattle Times.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Giant , rare salamander spotted nearby

Take a look! This guy was spotted just about 20 minutes north in Newcastle. Very cool.

Rare giant salamander sighting
Rare giant salamander sighting

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Crow commute, it's still happening

Stopped by the Taco Time on Meeker and low and behold, I caught the last of the crow commute up the Kent Valley. At 5:43 pm to be exact.

Does anyone know where these hundreds of crows roost each night?

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Bird art



The New York Times has a great piece, and multi-media presentation on bird art today. It's worth the read.

Of course this parakeet comes from the galleys of Mr. Audubon.

Still time to catch the swifts


I plan to head up that way for my 30th class reunion (go Cascade High School, class of 78), but I will try to swing by Monroe while I'm up there this weekend, so see if there are any swifts left on the tail end of this migration.

This Seattle Times package is very nice.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Bats anyone? How about spiders?








On Monday the 20th, the Rainier Audubon Society will be having a speaker on birds, and bats. So plan to attend. I figure that most of the bats are sleeping right now, and I haven't seen any in the night sky in about 2 weeks, even with the warm weather going into late September. Oh well, that's gone now.




But was is out in full, besides the Canadian Geese flying this way and that, are the spiders. Our rose garden in Kent has turned into a spider condo, with every spare plane, where one could build a web, taken. In fact one of the uber spiders of the species (I'm still looking it up to find out which one), I think moved into one fo the webs, and ate the builder and plopped herself in the middle one sunny day. Rough neighborhood.
Actually, I think the spiders I'm seeing are not wolf spiders, but orb spiders, some of which can get quite big, and apparently wander indoors during the winter (good maybe they can eat some of the fruit flies that seem to spontaneously combust in my kitchen. Here's a cool spider site, courtesy of WSU.