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Thank you, I was very pleased with the photograph myself... I was also surprised to see the frilly "hairs" off the wing edge. Your reply has stimulated me to dive further into what they are (said by a non-entomoligist). On further research, I believe that the hairs off the trailing edge are...

No, it alighted on the bed-liner of my truck's tailgate. Steve

White-headed woodpecker. My wife joined me for a few days of camping along the banks of the Yakima. We did a birding loop from Lmuma to Yakima, Naches, North Wenas Lake Rd., Umptanum Rd., Ellensburg, and back to Lmuma. My wife really wanted to see a white-headed woodpecker. After crossing the...

Texas may be a beneficiary of the expanded 12-team playoff system. Selection is based entirely on rankings this year. A downside of the NIL era is that the core of a team may consist entirely of new players, quality players that have never played with each other. This inexperience and lack of...

BWOs on the Yakima. BWOs are one of my favorite hatches and the Yakima is a great place to experience it. As part of a week-long shakedown trip with a new-to-us A-frame trailer, a friend and I fished for several days on the Yakima. Early on our first float, we encountered what I was hoping...

The story of Vanderbilt's success in football this year is one of most striking examples of the changed world of NIL and paid college players. Vandy has been a perennial Southeastern Conference cellar-dweller. They haven't been above 0.500 in the conference since 2012 and the last time before...

With neither the Mariners or Red Sox (hometown team) in it, I don't have a hard rooting interest in the World Series, well maybe a slight LA bias due to listening to the incomparable Vince Scully ("Farmer John sausages"...) in gradual school at U.C.S.B. while writing my Ph.D. thesis. But I...

Excellent report. If I had to give an id, I would say that these are three-spined sticklebacks. The body shape is right and you can see the stiff pelvic fin spines (clear on the top individual) and the two prominent anterior dorsal spines (see here and here). In Washington this species is...

Much respect for those prominently displaying American flags in the triangular cases. My brother, who was a Marine himself, has the flag given in tribute to the service of our father, a Korean War Marine. Semper Fi... Steve

McLane Creek 5 October 2025. I would have thought that it was late in the season for adult birds feeding fledglings. So, I was surprised to find a pied-billed grebe chick begging incessantly to its parent to be fed. The adult has the typical vertical black stripe on its bill of the breeding...

McLane Creek 5 October 2025. Now that fall is here, the ducks have molted into their Sunday best. In one of the most dramatic changes, the drab wood duck drakes in eclipse plumage (note the red eyes) have molted into their gaudy breeding plumage. The hens have spruced themselves up too from...

Fall shorebirds at Nisqually NWR. The return of shorebirds from their northern breeding grounds is a sure sign of fall at Billie Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR. All are taking advantage of the abundant food resources at the refuge, especially the mud flats. For some species this is a pit stop to fuel...

The introduction of the American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) from eastern North America to the West Coast have been a catastrophe for many native aquatic species. As opportunistic predators, adults will consume almost any animals that can fit in their mouth. While the biologists at...

Great blue herons – silent assassins. For such a large bird, great blue herons are such effective, stealthy hunters. They are lethal when stalking small rodents in grasslands and they are major threats to nearshore fishes. I observed the latter on a recent visit to the Billie Frank Jr...

You were fortunate. There are poison glands at the base of the serrated dorsal spine. The venom has been reported to be painful in humans, but not deadly. But there were several deceased harbor seals that had eaten spotted ratfish; the hypothesis is that the sharp spine penetrated their...

On my last visit to Nisqually NWR, a dead spotted ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei, was washed up on the mudflat. I have no idea of the cause of death. While other ratfish species are more typically found in deep water, I have encountered spotted ratfish several times while diving in the San Juan...

Birds of the Salish Sea: Part 3: Gulls. One might encounter up to 23 gull species (family Laridae which also includes terns, noddies, and skimmers) in Washington state. While often easy photographic subjects, confident identification can be challenging. I just don’t even bother with...