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Big storm offers big chance to follow new tracks

My 12-year-old has been teasing me about how I’m more wound up about the prospect of new snow than she is…and she might be right (I’m wide awake at 3 am writing this because I’m so excited for the onslaught that I can’t sleep). There’s something about how snow...

Cycles in nature and change in our lives

This article was re-published by permission in the Puget Sound Zen Center's blog. It was also re-published by permission in the Wilderness Center's blog. Thanks to both for your interest in our work! As the winter solstice passes and the New Year begins, I hear...

Island birding program receives national kudos

The Vashon-Maury Island Audubon Society’s fourth grade birding program has taught birding basics to thousands of children over the past 20 years. Through Vashon Artists in the Schools, Chautauqua teacher Jan Smith started integrating art into her bird lesson plans...

Snowy Owl Invasion

Long before Harry Potter’s Hedwig, Snowy Owls held a magical allure. Perhaps it’s their startling size (nearly two feet tall), unblinking yellow stare, or Arctic providence, but these circumpolar owls stir excitement among even the most distracted citizenry. Whether...

Tidal creatures of the night

Creatures of the Night This Friday, Nov. 25 at 10:45 p.m., the new-moon tide will ebb to a rare low of -3.4 feet. Taking this opportunity to explore an island community normally hidden from view, the Vashon Beach Naturalists will host a free Starlight Low-Tide Walk at...

Coyotes on Vashon

Vashon has always had an almost mythic connection to music. An inordinate number of musically inclined people find themselves drawn to these shores. Music surrounds children growing up here. As a child, I remember hearing flutes in the woods as I walked home from...

Beetle Mania!

I was on a walk last week and noticed two joggers stopping to ponder something on the ground at the edge of the pavement. I had just rescued a woolly bear caterpillar (the larval stage of the Isabella Moth) from a suicidal road-crossing and thought they’d found...

Fantastic fungi

While you have probably seen them exploding out of the ground for weeks now, it’s not too late to go on the best kind of treasure hunt—scouring the forest floor for mushrooms. Our dry September got the mushrooming season off to a slow start, but recent rains have...

Children’s books about nature

Stories, at their root, are a form of exploration. We use them to live vicariously. They teach not only through the intellect but by opening up our emotional channels. They make us receptive to their message by entertaining us. Stories integrate our emotions, our...

Header Photo: Bianca Perla