Curious About … Liking Shrub-steppe?
Plan to visit the CDLT Jacbson Preserve in the Wenatchee Foothills to experience a shrub-steppe ecosystem Continue Reading →
Curious About … Plant Recovery After Fire?
Plants are closely attuned to the places they live, their habitat. Plant species differ in their ecological amplitude to respond to changes to their habitat. They grow successfully in places within their tolerance levels for environmental factors such as cold, shade, or drought combined with abiotic factors such as soil type and geographic locale. In addition to usual fluctuations in the growing conditions habitat can be altered, at times dramatically, by disturbances such as fire or flood. Continue Reading →
Curious About … More Endemics, Still Happily Not Pandemics?
Botanists call our region “The Wenatchee Mountains,” that has the highest concentration of endemic plants in Washington. 35 are state-classified as rare plants and 30 more are “just” endemics. Many rare plants are endemic, but not all endemics are rare! Continue Reading →
Curious About … Birding Close to Home?
Right now, dozens of long-distant migrating songbirds are setting up shop in our shrubby canyons, leafy aspen groves, and riverside cottonwood forests. I invite you to visit one of these nearby habitats to hear and see colorful songbirds who have arrived from Mexico and Central America to nest and raise young in our valley. Continue Reading →
Curious About … Osprey?
Osprey are large fish-eating bird-of-prey found not just in Wenatchee, but all around the world. Today’s blog serves to introduce this species, using spectacular shots by local photographer, Frank Cone. T Continue Reading →
Curious About … Liking Snakes?
Herpetologist Torsten Watkins explains how to tell rattlesnakes and gopher snakes apart. Continue Reading →
Curious About … Antelope bitterbrush?
Antelope bitterbrush is blooming in the Wenatchee Foothill’s shrub-steppe. Fragrant yellow blossoms cover each shrub. Rodents and ants cache seeds. Continue Reading →
Curious About … American Goldfinch?
The American goldfinch are small social resident songbirds active in our neighborhoods. Watch for the lemon yellow male with a black cap and groups of birds flying together, calling “potato chip.” Continue Reading →
Curious About … Bird-friendly Coffee?
When you drink Bird Friendly® certified coffee, you brew a more biodiverse, sustainable world. Using Smithsonian conservation science, the Bird Friendly gold standard does more than other eco-friendly seals to protect habitat, which is often destroyed to make way for coffee growing. Bird Friendly coffees come from farms using a combination of foliage cover, tree height and biodiversity to provide quality habitat for birds and other wildlife. Continue Reading →
Curious About … Going Native In Your Yard?
Using native plants as home landscaping gardens can result in easy-care, beautiful displays that support native pollinators and use little water. Continue Reading →