It’s a good sign for those who enjoy a romp in the snow. The state parks’ winter recreation program is under way. Sno-Park permits went on sale Nov. 1 and are available through various vendors and online.
Your permit allows you to park in specially cleared, designated parking lots around the state with access to a variety of fun, including skiing, skijoring, snowmobiling, dog sledding, snowshoeing, tubing and other creative snow-related pursuits.
Revenue from the permits is entirely dedicated to the winter program, and helps to pay for trail grooming, snow removal from lots and roads, on-site sanitation and enforcement.
The permits must be displayed on the permit holder’s windshield.
Since I do not have a degree in explaining the types and requirements of different permits (nor the space), I am referring you to www.parks.state.wa.us/winter.
What’s that bird? It’s not easy to identify marine birds on a gray day when they’re floating on a pewter sea, or identify those birds even on a bright day when “too much” light washes out the color, or all that you can see is a silhouette.
Help is on the way. Pilchuck Audubon Society is offering a class on identifying common marine birds of Washington on Nov. 8 from 6:30 to 9 p.m., plus a field trip either Nov. 10 or Nov. 11 at Fort Flagler and Point No Point.
The $50 class will drill down on plumage, shape and behavior to help you feel confident in your identifications. The class will cover alcids, grebes, diving ducks, loons, cormorants and phalaropes, with a few gulls and dabbling ducks thrown in.
It will be held at the PUD Building, 2320 California St., Everett. For registration information, go to www.pilchuckaudubon.org, or email execdirector@pilchuckaudubon.org.
If, by the time you read this, the class is full, don’t pack away your binoculars. Pilchuck often offers bird identification classes, lectures and field trips, so regularly check out the website.
Take a walk. Warm up on a chilly day with a Pilchuck Audubon Society outing close to home. A field trip leader will guide you through Smith and Spencer islands on Nov. 20. For more information, go to www.pilchuckaudubon.org.
Free! The state parks’ last free days of the year are Nov. 11 and Nov. 23. You will not need a Discover Pass.
Bird talk. Thanks to all the birders who report their recent sightings to one birding list or another, or email or call me. I’ve heard from readers how it’s an interesting round-up but also motivational.
With that in mind, on Halloween, a birder spotted a great egret at Ballard Locks. Then there’s the white-fronted goose in a flock of Canada geese and a northern shrike at the Edmonds marsh, and three crows harassing a northern harrier along the shoreline a little more than a mile north of the Edmonds ferry dock. The most unusual sighting might have been in Ballard. A birdwatcher saw a slightly bewildered juvenile snow goose wandering around the parking lot, then chased away “by an American crow with a bad attitude.”
On the bookshelf. When an author, while writing a book on bees (thus pollination) can include two still lifes by painter Claude Monet, you know you have something special. Thor Hanson connects art with science in his caption: “If Claude Monet has painted still lifes with their pollinators, the round sunflower inflorescences on the left would have required a range of insects … For the more specialized irises … he would have needed only bumblebees.”
That caption is the essence of his approach in “Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees.” Hanson, author of “The Triumph of Seeds,” “Feathers,” and “The Impenetrable Forest,” is an expert on writing books that educate and entertain, no degree required. He does it through not just science but through culture, history, art and a light heart.
And notes. Don’t miss the 22 pages of notes that flesh out a phrase (such as “synapses associated with disgust”) or the Chinese affection for crickets.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or songandword@rockisland.com.
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