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American Pika

The lake wasn’t frozen, that was just the name of it. At Sunrise, the alpine portal on the northeast side of Mount Rainier, these pikas seemed to be everywhere – collecting grass for their winter stores. This one just sat there giving its signature shreek of dismay to warn everyone else of me, the intruder.

Red-footed Booby

Red-footed Booby in Port Townsend.

Our local celebrity for the past month, a red-footed booby. How did this exotic bird get here? It’s believed the juvenile booby arrived in Port Townsend by hitching a ride on a cargo ship after becoming separated from its flock. It’s hanging out with some Herrmann’s gulls. Will the booby join them on their migration […]

Northern Pygmy Owl

I rarely see these small and unobtrusive owls and when I do they’re generally sweeping in to pick off a small songbird in our yard. Sometimes they win, sometimes the songbird wins. On this particular occasion I was alerted by quite a commotion of Stellar’s Jays circling a tree. I grabbed the binoculars for a […]