Natural History Journal

This is it!  We have finally reached the last stop on our summer road trip through the Pacific Northwest: Crater Lake National Park.   Way back in June, Eric and I spent a couple of [largely rainy] weeks exploring the Pacific Northwest's forests, mountains, beaches, birds and historic sites.  As summer is rapidly fading away, I clearly need to get it together and finish this series of posts!   Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valley and Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park We reached Crater Lake National Park after a long and rather soggy sojourn through Olympic, North Cascades and Mount Rainier National Parks.  After being rained on for at least part of the day for something like eleven or twelve days in a row (which, by th...

Next stop on our summer roadtrip through the Pacific Northwest: Mount Rainier National Park! Catch up on our summer travels here: Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valley and Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park Way back in June, we spent a couple of nights camping in Mount Rainier National Park.  The perks of visiting the park early in the season were very light crowds, quiet trails, and the opportunity to catch birds early in their breeding season.  The pitfalls of visiting at this time, however, were significant: deep snow made hiking the iconic high-elevation trails around the mountain impossible, the wildflowers were not yet blooming, and... it rained.  A lot.   But we still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as we hiked in the atmosphe...

For even more staggering mountain beauty, we made our way northeast from Olympic National Park , to North Cascades National Park, via idyllic Whidbey Island and the Skagit River Valley.   Catch up on our entire trip here! Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part III:  Inland Valley and Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park Way back in June, we spent 3 nights camping (and birding) in the North Cascades: here is just a small peek at what we found along the way! The most common birds we encountered were American Robins, Western Tanagers, Pacific Wrens, Hammond's Flycatchers, White-crowned Sparrows, Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Sapsuckers, Violet-green Swallows, and Swainson's, Varied and Hermit Thrushes.   Probably the best bird photo from the entire trip: an or...

In Part III of our Pacific Northwest adventure, we'll explore the lush, green lowlands between the rugged coast of the Pacific Northwest and the mighty, snow-clad Cascades.   From prairies and wetlands to riparian and coniferous forests, the Pacific Northwest staggers the mind with its endless kaleidoscope of shades of living green!  Is there anything more lovely than the sun filtering through a lime green leafy canopy of delicate vine maples?  Or a meadow of grasses and daisies shining brightly in a forest clearing?  Or fog-drenched forests clothed in mosses and carpeted with ferns?  I think not!  Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part II:  Birding the Pacific Northwest Coast Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park Male Lazuli Bunting at William L. Finley NWR Traveling from place to place in a state of awe, we v...

This series on what makes California such a unique and special place began with an overview of the state's incredible biodiversity .  Then, a few days ago, we talked about California's climate.   (Actually, we did much more than that: we went through an entire crash course on atmospheric conditions and threw in a few laws of physics just for fun.  If you missed it, catch up here .) Today's post is broken into four sections that each realistically deserve not only their own article, but their own text book(s)!  Those sections are: California's Geomorphic Provinces Plate Tectonics and Geologic Processes Soils The Rain Shadow Effect Much like we trekked all the way to the source and recognized the sun, along with Earth's tilt and rotation, as the ultimate driving forces of California's climate, today we'll peel back several more layers of science to take a look not only at California's diverse topography, but the tectonic forces and geologic proc...