2/10 Bird count, Puget Sound pollution, stormwater, nature at work, coal terminal, SO2

Northern cardinal (Jeff Rogerson/BirdNote)

Annual Great Backyard Bird Count
The annual Great Backyard Bird Count, February 13 - 15, 2015, is sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Birdwatchers across the country count birds and then report the numbers on-line. Although it may seem that crows are everywhere, the Northern Cardinal is reported on the most lists nearly every year, far above the crow. Well, if there's a male cardinal at your feeder, it is pretty hard to miss! Birds reported in the highest numbers in 2012 were the European Starling and the American Robin, and more recently Tree Swallows and Snow Geese! There's no cost, and you don't need to register. Learn more and sign up. (BirdNote)

Loving the Puget Sound to Death
Four decades after the passage of the Clean Water Act, regulators haven’t kept up with the pollution pressure that growing populations put on America’s shorelines. Madeline Ostrander reports. (The Nation)

Company developing way to filter out stormwater pollution upstream
Researchers at the Center for Urban Waters at the University of Washington Tacoma are working to “understand and quantify the sources, pathways and impacts of chemical pollutants in urban waterways.” Part of that research — which is funded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency — is analyzing new technologies, and one of the first options to be tested at the center is a “stormwater interceptor mechanism” developed by a new company in Kitsap County…. A growing awareness of the problem is spurring more work on finding solutions, and Buzz Holmes and Ken Perry, principals in Pure Stormwater, are developing a line of storm drain filtration basins they think will be highly effective. Tim Kelly reports. (Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal)

If you like to watch: Seal and octopus battle off Victoria's Ogden Point
A harbour seal wrestling a large octopus in its mouth treated a handful of Victorians to a rare glimpse of wildlife survival skills in the city on Family Day. Bob Ianson and his family were out for a stroll along the Ogden Point breakwater around 2 p.m. Monday when they spotted a seal with something in its mouth. “It was incredible. It looked like he was bringing it up to show it off,” said Ianson, a hobby nature photographer who started snapping as soon as he saw the seal. Sarah Petrescu reports. (Times Colonist) See also: Sea lion flash mobs prey on fishermen’s catch (with video) Sea lions feast on fishers' catch of herring. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Coal applicant’s latest statement doesn’t jibe with Corps’ position
There has been a lot of back-and-forth over the past five weeks among Lummi Nation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Gateway Pacific Terminal as the tribe asserts its rights to stop the coal terminal from being built…. The latest volley came today, Monday, Feb. 9, from Gateway Pacific Terminal, which made a curious statement about the subject of the most recent of the above stories, the one about a Corps letter asking the Lummis for more information…. Gateway Pacific Terminal spokesman Craig Cole wrote (that) the Corps won’t consider Lummis’ request to “take immediate action and deny the permit” until an environmental impact statement is finished. That could be a year from now…. “Our treaty trust responsibility (to protect tribal fishing rights) is distinct from our documentation requirement under NEPA (to prepare an EIS). To assess our trust responsibility, we needn’t have concluded NEPA documentation,” Corps spokeswoman Patricia Graesser said. Ralph Schwartz reports. (Bellingham Herald)

International law dramatically reduces sulphur dioxide emissions in Metro Vancouver
A new international law requiring virtual elimination of sulphur from bunker shipping fuel is having a dramatic impact on air pollution in Metro Vancouver. The amount of sulphur dioxide released into the atmosphere in the region in 2015 is expected to drop 79 per cent from a decade ago due in large part to new restrictions on shipping fuel within 200 nautical miles of the Canadian and U.S. coastlines. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST TUE FEB 10 2015
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 6 FT AT 13 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
E WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
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