This morning I strolled around Union Bay Natural Area in Seattle, including the Yesler Swamp area east of the Miller Library. I saw this Song Sparrow up close, and I'm glad to have gotten a good photo, as I'm preparing for a class I'm teaching in a couple of weeks on wildlife and birds in watercolor. It's a class I've offered several times before, and this time around I hope to work more with students on ways to integrate the surrounding landscapes. We'll paint birds in various habitats, including waterfowl.
This morning I also saw a Ring-necked Duck in the canal near the Husky crew center at Union Bay. At first I thought this duck was a Scaup, but the white on the bill is the clue.
I've spent hours roaming Union Bay Natural Area, the North Cascades and other places in Washington in search of wildlife, birds and landscapes to photograph and paint, and countless hours in my studio, and even more hours writing about my efforts on these pages; it's important to realize that these creatures upon whom we rely for inspiration in turn rely on adequate habitat for their survival. Climate change threatens those habitats, which is why I think it is crucial to support organizations and work to create legislation that will help species survive the change that is already occuring. The Sierra Club is conducting a Resilient Habitats campaign nationwide and in Washington state, including Puget Sound which you can join. There are seven steps to the campaign, which include:
1. science-based blueprints for building resilient habitats
and natural systems carbon sequestration;
2. adequate and appropriate core areas, buffer areas, and
connecting corridors to give species the space to adapt;
3. limitations on all non-climate stressors that exacerbate the
impact of climate change on natural areas;
4. climate-smart management and adaptation strategies;
5. strengthened natural systems to safeguard communities
from climate change;
6. restored natural areas to help sequester atmospheric carbon
dioxide pollution; and
7. reliable sources of funding to build resilient habitats and
natural systems carbon sequestration programs.
Get involved and stay tuned to the Puget Sound Resilient Habitats Campaign through the Sierra Club Facebook page.
Yesterday we visited the grebe nest again and hooray, the chick had hatched. It was so much fun watching the chick, first sitting atop his or her mother's back hidden by feathers and then hopping off now and then to swim alongside. And then begging for food!
Thanks to my friend Marilyn McGuire, and comments on my previous post from Ellen, I learned the name of this moth. It's the cinnabar moth, introduced from the UK decades ago, to control ragwort. Marilyn suggested I look at the online site
Bug Guide and there was all the information. I learned that this moth does not stray far from its home base, so I hope next time I am at Union Bay I'll see it again.
Yesterday we visited Union Bay Natural Area in honor of the summer solstice and witnessed a whirlwind of activity, including this beautiful red flying insect which I have not been able to identify.
We also saw a grebe swimming beside her nest--a friend had pointed it out to me a few days ago, and we learned from another visitor yesterday that she had to rebuild the nest after a storm destroyed the first one she built. Incidentally, yesterday in the New York Times there was a review of a new book on bird nest-building, and grebes have one of the simpler nests in the bird world--it's basically just a pile of debris!
For the first time yesterday we saw a barn swallow, near the bridge over the canal that runs from University Village to Union Bay.
