In my previous post, I mentioned a Western Gull I managed to rescue … by true luck. Here’s that story. We were in Los Angeles all of January and part of February, and in the context of a chaotic month, I stole an hour to go strolling on the beach. On my walk over, through…
The Wildlife Conservation Stamp of the Future
I’m cross-posting from Larry Jordan’s blog, The Birders Report, and from the Wildlife Conservation Stamp website. Both pieces are about a project in which Larry and I and other conservation-minded individuals are involved. Here are links to full posts, with excerpts below: Imagine What a Wildlife Conservation Stamp Could Do! “… figures show that less…
Support a New Wildlife Conservation Stamp
WildlifeConservationStamp.org is a collaborative effort to promote a new wildlife stamp and funding stream for our National Wildlife Refuges. We are birders, photographers, conservationists, wildlife rehabilitators, scientists, teachers and artists … joined by a common passion and concern for our nation’s wildlife and wild habitats. We propose the Wildlife Conservation Stamp to provide a consistent source of income…
Best Behavior Beach Pledge + Other Signs
I love seeing signs like this … Two such signs were posted at Point Robinson Lighthouse on Vashon Island in Washington, one of the few public-access beaches in the area. It’s the same spot where I photographed the large flock of Brant Geese foraging along the shoreline earlier this year. On a crystal day, this…
A Closer Look … for Birds in Trouble
This post contains one image of a long-deceased gull, just FYI. You’d think I would have learned my lesson last year, with the dead gull I found wrapped around a deterrent wire on a nearby warehouse … or the gulls we untangled last fall from a fish-pen net. But, in fairness, this location was difficult…
Photographer-Bird Disturbance in Perspective
Today, I came upon a contentious thread about bird banding on my local birding listserv. This thread made me think of the emails I got in response to my Snowy Owl post — the post which criticized the photography field ethics we witnessed up at Boundary Bay. On today’s listserv, a member birder had concerns…
If You Build It, the Eagles Will Come
We barely saw this sub-adult Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), hunkered down and camouflaged, in a tree above the trail at Union Bay Natural Area. I shot a few frames right before the sun fell below Husky Stadium to the south. At full extension, the eagle was still quite small in the frame, and the aggressive…
The Orca-Scat Tracking Dog
Tucker isn’t really interested in the water. But, he spends his working days on a boat, sniffing out orca scat in the breezes of the Salish Sea. He’s a labrador mix, trained as part of the Conservation Canine program — at the University of Washington’s Center For Conservation Biology. Tucker’s ambivalence about water actually makes…
If Orcas Could Buy Sofas …
Orcas can’t, of course, pick out sofas. But if they could, they would tell you that their survival may depend on the product and furniture choices we make — and the industries we support in the process. The orcas of the Salish Sea, who regularly cross the international boundary between Washington State and British Columbia,…
Give Wildlife a Break: Plum Solutions
On a recent morning, nursing my perfect cup of coffee as brewed by my perfect host of a friend, I heard a sound from the kitchen. A shout, actually …