by Kathryn True | Jan 11, 2024 | blog
Before I went dock fouling, I’d never heard of a hammerhead doto. These minute nudibranchs (only 11 millimeters long) are adorned with stalks of waving “pom poms” that make them look like exotic confections. The stalks are technically cerata, which sea slugs use for...
by Kathryn True | Feb 2, 2023 | blog
The headwaters of Christensen Creek, Christensen Pond. Credit: Bianca Perla Just before winter solstice, Vashon Nature Center co-director Bianca Perla visited her salmon-watch reach to both look for fish and find her calm center amid the holiday bustle. As she walked...
by Kathryn True | Nov 26, 2022 | blog, Wildlife Sightings
The visiting Acorn Woodpecker. Photo credit: Jim Diers An acorn woodpecker has been hanging around the old Misty Isle Farms airstrip at SW 232nd Street since Nov. 2. For the nonbirder, this information might result in a shrug, but to the birding community on Vashon...
by Kathryn True | Oct 7, 2022 | blog
The blue frog is out there…somewhere. Photo credit: Jim Diers The blue frog is my holy grail. Ever since learning that the Northern Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla) can on the rarest of occasions turn up sky blue in color, I have been on the lookout for this...
by Kathryn True | Jul 22, 2022 | blog
BioBlitz mushroom survey leaders Hannah Morosoff and Wren Hudgins examine the details of a specimen in a photo. Credit: Susie Fitzhugh Two days after Vashon Nature Center’s 2022 BioBlitz, NASA released the first breathtaking images from the James Webb Space Telescope....