Blog
Back to your senses, nature and the art of doing less
I open my inbox to a flood of emails about COVID-19. Helpful information spills out towards me and I am grateful for it: 50 things to do with kids, best movies to watch during quarantine, 20 arts and crafts projects, 10 meals to make with your hoard of groceries, best...
Odonate Fall Fest
I became fascinated by dragonflies by accident. I was swimming in a lake in Canada and the price due for the glory of floating weightless under an open sky was navigating the reeds along the water’s edge afterward. There is...
Local Wildlife Rescue Runs on Volunteer Power
I opened the box very slowly as I’d been instructed, mindful of the talons and beak within. As I loosened the last tab and opened the lid, I saw the bird for the first time. It struck me that the hawk was not much bigger than the robins and other passerines she preys...
Summer 2019: thank you community science volunteers!
By: Bianca Perla “Is it not possible that a place could have huge affection for those who dwell there? Perhaps your place loves having you there. It misses you when you are away and in its secret way rejoices when you return. Could it be possible that a landscape...
Howling Survey Part of Multi-Tiered Coyote Research Project
Humans usually rely on their eyes to observe nature, but one night each summer, a small group of islanders set out under cover of darkness to witness the wild in a different way. “At night, our island puts sight to sleep and awakens a symphony of sound—owl calls, bat...
Community Science Snapshot: Plucky Seabird is Canary for Health of Puget Sound
Vashon Nature Center (VNC) conducts a variety of community science projects around the island and islanders of all ages volunteer to gather data that contribute to our larger body of scientific knowledge about island plants and animals. VNC chooses projects that have...
The Bee’s Eye: A Photo Essay
Text by Kathryn True. Photos by Harsi Parker. Minutia. I’ve always loved that word. It’s a rather long term for wee things, and maybe it’s that paradox that I enjoy, or the rolling wave of the syllables as they pass through my mouth. This is the larval form of a...
New partnership lands VNC an artistic home base
By Kathryn True Since our first BioBlitz in 2012, Vashon Nature Center has been a virtual nature center—operating out of staff cars, garages, basements and freezers where we store research books, field equipment, teaching materials and coyote scat (for DNA analysis,...
Amphibians Get Amorous
This week it felt as if the earth yanked up the winter scenery and slammed down the spring backdrop with a dramatic flourish. Though hills of blackened snow still line the edges of parking lots and especially shady areas still feel frosty, the sun is persistent, and...
Header Photo: Bianca Perla