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As a birder and wildlife photographer I am keenly aware of the impact climate change is having on our wild neighbors. Still, when I saw Natalie Niblack's extraordinary exhibit "66 Birds/3 degrees," a part of "Surge: Mapping Transition, Displacement and Agency in Times of Climate Change" exhibition curated by Chloe Dye Sherpe at the Museum of Northwest Art, I did not expect the emotional response I had to Niblack's work. As I walked the room, viewing her bird paintings, their individual songs...
Dec. 9 was a wretched, cold day with sideways rain and bone-chilling wind. The annual La Conner lighted boat parade, put on by the Swinomish Yacht Club, was scheduled for 6 p.m. and all day long people were speculating whether it would happen due to the inclement weather. I was not looking forward to my assignment to get some photos for the Weekly News. I have shot this parade for years and tried just about every possible angle and I always return to the Rainbow Bridge. Despite the weather,...
This Saturday, October 14, millions of viewers across the United States will be treated to an unusual sight. An annular solar “ring of fire” eclipse will occur across a narrow path from Oregon to Brazil. We may be able to see it in Western Washington, weather permitting. The event will start about 8:00 a.m PDT and will peak about an hour later. The event will last for about four minutes. There won’t be another annular eclipse until 2046, although you may be aware of the total solar eclipse coming on April 8, 2024. The difference between a tot...
La Conner showed its colors Saturday with a joyous celebration of famed local author Tom Robbins, named King for a Day and hailed by fans as he and wife Alexa led a parade down First Street perched atop the vintage La Conner fire truck. In a nod to his bestselling novels, fans showed up in outrageous costumes, the most popular of which were nods to Sissy, the hitchhiking model of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" The day was a celebration of imagination and creativity in all its forms. Favorite...
"I didn't realize Master Gardeners did so many things!" Skagit County Commissioner Lisa Janicki said as she addressed the standing-room only crowd in the Sakuma Auditorium at the Washington State University Extension Northwest Education and Research Center on Memorial Highway last Thursday. The audience chuckled knowingly, as Janicki listed some of the many community outreach programs handled by the volunteers. She had been reading the 50th Anniversary commemorative Master Gardener magazine...
Looking at the photos and reading the stories in Jeanne Hansen's book, "Alternative Voices: 1980s Punk San Francisco," one thing is clear to me. We lived in different worlds during the 1980s. I was the editor of a windsurfing magazine and spent my time traveling to beaches around the world, interacting with sun-kissed athletes, while she immersed herself in documenting the punk rock alternative scene in San Francisco. I did visit San Francisco in the '80s, but I spent my time down at the beach...
Every year, twice a year, the sun sets directly beneath the Deception Pass bridge – on the Spring equinox and the Autumnal equinox. For years it has been a kind of ritual for photographers to gather at this spot on Cornet Bay to line up their cameras and shoot the phenomenon. Some do timelapse. Some set up on the beach when the tide is low. Some stay up above the beach at a specific spot where there is an ideal opening. Every year is different. Sometimes clouds cover the sun, sometimes the cloud...
Our local seahawks (aka ospreys) return annually to nest on this pole on the westside of the Swinomish Channel near the Swinomish offices and raise their young. Once endangered due to the impact of pesticides, ospreys are a comeback success story and have rebounded enough since their population plummeted in the '70s to now be a bird of low concern for conservation. Their nests are usually found near shallow water with abundant fish as they eat fish almost exclusively. In addition to the ospreys...
Thank you to the voice of reason presented by the arts and parks commissions regarding the placement of a giant “Love La Conner” sign in Gilkey Square! I am baffled that anyone would want to change the character of our charming square by installing an oversized ad in the space. My initial objection arose when I saw the photo in the paper. I reached out to town council with my concerns and was contacted by a member of council who told me the story in the paper was misleading and inaccurate. However, it was confirmed that the proposed ad/...
Gary Bletsch was at March’s Point Dec. 5, 2021, doing what he does most days – looking at birds. When he spotted a pair of rare emperor geese among the brants and other waterfowl in the area, he sent a quick note to a bird research listserv run out of the University of Washington to alert other birders to his find. Then he went back to watching and saw something no birder ever wants to see; hunters in a blind on one of the islands offshore started shooting. He then saw a lone brant g...
Amy Moe and Byron Betts are bringing an old crop back to new life in the Skagit Valley. They are the first hop growers to surface in the valley in years. While most people think of eastern Washington as the hops capital of the state, Moe says hops were actually grown quite widely in Skagit Valley – before Prohibition. Fir Island was once filled with hops. No longer. But now, thanks to Moe and Betts, there’s Hop Skagit. Moe is a fourth-generation farmer using the land where she grew up. O...
Do you know the origins of Memorial Highway’s name in Mount Vernon? It honors the 50 Skagit County men who died in World War I. To commemorate them, the road was originally lined with 50 elm trees. Most of the trees planted for them in 1933 had been cut down by the State Highway Department in 1952. The two that shaded the popular drive-in The Net were removed last summer when it was discovered they were diseased. Three years ago, the Skagit County Master Gardener Foundation started a project t...
Local Coldwell Banker Bain real estate brokers Don Elliott and George Roth formed a unique partnership with the Skagit County Historical Museum and have recently made a donation in an effort to help raise money for the organization. The $1,515 check was presented by longtime La Conner resident Bob Skeele, along with Don and George, Museum Director Jo Wolfe and Museum Board President Sara Patton. “This donation – and the partnership Don and George created with us – goes a long way i...
Above everything, Paul Bannick is a good storyteller. It’s a skill the noted naturalist and photographer has been honing since childhood. As a boy in Bellevue, Bannick loved exploring the fields and woods near his home. But when development began to overtake the wild spaces he enjoyed, Bannick was deeply moved by the loss of wildlife and diversity of animals in his neighborhood. He witnessed firsthand how development was impacting the place he called home. It triggered a desire in him to tell o...
Local color – You have probably heard the repetitive booming cannons and the recorded distress calls emanating from fields in the Skagit Valley during growing season. Those artificial warnings are designed to keep birds away from berries. Unfortunately, most birds get accustomed to the sounds after a few days and quickly realize there’s no real danger preventing them from gorging on the current crop. That’s where Brad Felger comes in. His business, Airstrike Bird Control, Inc., is a natura...
UPDATE: A horse was killed. Owner George Dill, of the La Conner La Conner Polo Club, said it was his "best horse, worth thirty grand." Reached in Australia, Dill said he was told "the side of the horse's neck was eaten off." - Ken Stern, October 28. A rumor started circulating last week on Facebook that a large male cougar had attacked and killed a horse on La Conner Whitney road. The rumor suggested the cougar also returned the following night. In trying to track down the facts of this rumor, calls were made to various sources close to the...
The world’s wheat and barley enthusiasts, professionals and hobbyists alike, flocked to the 2017 Grain Gathering at Washington State University’s Bread Lab food campus last week. Over 300 people from 23 states and seven countries spent three days at the Port of Skagit to hear, see and taste the progress researchers and scientists are making turning Skagit Valley grains into feedstock for artisanal producers. They also sampled freshly made breads, beers, bagels and more. The significance of the 7th annual Grain Gathering, held this year in the...
