Man catches Humboldt Squid in West Seattle

Those ten-tentacled harbingers of ocean warming, the Humboldt Squid, are on the loose in Puget Sound. King 5 reports that a man caught an eight-foot-long one off West Seattle.

NOAA photo.

How dragonflies see

Living the Scientist has an amazing article on vision among dragonflies and damselflies.


Blue dasher, photographed at Green Lake.

Great Blue Heron, Montlake Fill

Caught a fish.


Down the hatch.

Yes, we have scorpions in these parts

Pacific Slope Blog describes an exciting (to a nature geek) encounter with a female Pacific Northwest scorpion.

Finding a nest

Laura Goes Birding has a step-by-step explanation of how to find a bird's nest, along with a video sample of the rewards a birder can find: cedar waxwing nestlings. I'm going to try and take her advice.

Forest fire without firefighters in the North Cascades

Chattermarks has a post about the Panther Creek fire, now burning on a roadless hillside in Ross Lake National Recreation Area. The terrain is steep, the fire is small, and the ecosystem is fire-adapted, so the National Park Service is letting it burn for now. They have, however, taken some precautions, such as wrapping a trail bridge in old fire shelters.

Pacific tailed frog

Huckleberry Days has this post about finding Pacific tailed frog tadpoles in a creek west of Hope, British Columbia.