The Seattle Times: Field Notes

Spring means time for a butterfly hike

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:16:05 PDT

If you like the outdoors, there are a lot of reasons to like spring. One that would be near the top of my list is the fact that spring hikes often coincides with emergence of the butterflies.

The Pacific Northwest has so many. Admittedly, I'm not so good at knowing them by name, so for our readers with butterfly expertise, please feel free to chime in in the comments with common names, accounts and the Latin names if you know them.

And while my identification skills might be lacking, I sure do like seeing them flutter by as I walk. We did our best to get photos but it takes a photographer with a better set of lenses and more patience than me to catch quality images. The ones in this post come from a recent hike near Cashmere.

In terms of descriptions, I might as well start with the butterfly that is almost always first on my list in terms of being seen, the Mourning Cloak butterfly.

With chocolate brown wings edged in white, the Mourning Cloaks make up for their lack of splashy color with motion.

Despite there somber common name, my wife calls them the flamenco dancer butterfly. Wary and quick, they alternate between flapping their wings with furious rhythm and gliding and quick dramatic circles. The barely passable picture on the right marks my best of countless attempts to get one to sit still long enough for a shot.

For roughly the first three miles of our hike there was constantly at least one Mourning Cloak in view along with numerous other butterflies.

There were big bright tiger swallowtails and all sorts of medium-sized brown spotted butterflies, and occasional hordes of the small blues that always seem to cluster where water and lupines can be found together.

One dramatic butterfly we kept seeing in multiple locations and never sat still long enough for us to photograph was what I think may have been the Stella Orangetip which has cream-colored wings that appear to have been dipped in bright orange on the tips where the wing widens at the top.

There were more that flitted away too quickly to be mentioned. In all, they were a wonderful addition to the hike. So if you get a chance to get out this weekend, keep an eye out for butterflies and, if you're lucky, maybe you can slow down long enough to just spend some time looking at them and their vast variety of color.

Biscuit: the scotch broom commando

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:21:37 PDT

Last week I wrote about Scotch Broom, those loathsome if lovely invasive plants glowing yellow as they peak in full bloom all over roadsides, vacant lots, and clearcuts all over Puget Sound Country and beyond right about now.

While land owners and volunteers are busily pulling, spraying, chopping down, and otherwise doing battle with this stuff to keep it from completely taking over, reader Mary Totten dropped me an email to let me know there is more than one way to manage the wiley Scotch broom. Enter Biscuit.

Her dog had a penchant for tug of war.

And that came in mighty handy when it came to battling Scotch broom, which he loved to pull on ... until it came right out of the ground. But Biscuit's joy in the task wasn't just tug of war play. A true companion, he knew Mary's love of yard work, and wanted to join in.

"He taught himself to be of help," Mary wrote in an email, "and only when I indicated which ones to pull out, by kicking the stump."

Normal

false

EN-US

X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Biscuit has since gone on to his great reward. But not before defending Washington's landscape from the ever-encroaching Scotch broom. Go, Biscuit.

How much is 34 million cubic yards?

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:46:04 PDT

Scientists now estimate that about 34 million cubic yards of sediment is going to be managed in the removal of two dams on the Elwha. Just how much, though, is that?

It's always been a hard thing for me to imagine. Seeing the rebuilding of the beach and delta at the river mouth can help. Just imagine, as you look at this amazing photo taken by Tom Roorda, below, that all that soft sandy material built up at the river mouth represents only a fraction of the sediment expected to be transported by the river as the dams come out.

Any way you look it it, that is a lot of mud. Ultimately, it will transform the structure and help restore the natural function of the Elwha and near shore.

But first, dam removal has to get back on track. Dam removal is still on hold while managers work to find a solution to the water plant that won't work. I wrote about that problem recently, in the Seattle Times.

Speaking of the Elwha, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture has given the green light to a major exhibit on the Elwha, opening in November, 2014, based on our national award wining special report on the Elwha in the Seattle Times and our book, Elwha a River Reborn just published by the Mountaineers. The exhibit will remain up through March, and then travel, bringing the Elwha story to people across the state and the nation.

Sunshine plus Puget Sound equals red algae

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:31:05 PDT

With the warm spring sunshine, a familiar sight is back in Puget Sound: red algae blooms.

While experts at the state Department of Ecology could not confirm it without testing, this bloom, spotted by photographer Mark Harrison off the Edmonds ferry dock Thursday morning, is probably Noctiluca, said Sandy Howard, spokeswoman for the state Department of Ecology.

Noctiluca is a harmless bloom, rather than the so-called red tide that refers to paralytic shell fish poisoning.

Look familiar?

Noctiluca is a harmless single-celled micro-organism that bioluminesces and occurs normally at this time of year. This kind of plankton does not photosynthesize, but gets its red color from the phytoplankton it eats.

This type of bloom shows up as large, red-brown, even orange tomato-soup-like streaks along current and tidal convergence lines, according to the state Department of Ecology.

The bloom can also accumulate along shores and beaches.

Noctiluca is often seen in Puget Sound as the sun warms the water, and the water stratifies, floating and holding the tiny plankton near the warmer surface water, where it flourishes.

If you see red, brown or orange water in Puget Sound, it is likely this bloom. However, Ecology staff urge caution: It could be a toxic algae bloom that is poisonous to humans and animals.