9/24 WA birding, UN climate summit, Vancouver climate strike, Rayonier cleanup, poop fairies, Bowen humpbacks

Tufted puffin [Timothy Rucci/Audubon]

Great Washington State Birding Trail
The great state of Washington is too diverse to be encompassed by one birding trail, which explains why Audubon Washington has established a series of looping trails and mapped them independently. Seven loops cover the entire state. The outer coast of Washington hosts a wide array of migrating shorebirds, including huge flocks of western sandpipers and lesser numbers of Pacific Coast exclusives like surfbirds and black turnstones. Fog-shrouded forests that cover the coastal slope and the Olympic Peninsula echo with the ethereal whistles of varied thrushes, while richly colored birds like red-breasted sapsuckers, Townsend’s warblers, and chestnut-backed chickadees hide in the shadows. Ascending toward the high peaks of the Cascades, you’ll find black-backed woodpeckers, gray jays, and many other birds of northern affinities lurking in the forest. East of the mountains, the landscape changes abruptly to drier settings, with different birds. Rock wrens bounce and chatter along the edges of craggy arroyos, while long-billed curlews stalk. Kenn Kaufman writes. (Audubon)

At U.N. Climate Summit, a Call for Action Yields Few Commitment
The United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday was meant to highlight concrete promises by presidents, prime ministers and corporate executives to wean the global economy from fossil fuels to avoid the worst effects of global warming. But despite the protests in the streets, China on Monday made no new promises to take stronger climate action. The United States, having vowed to pull out of the Paris Agreement, the pact among nations to jointly fight climate change, said nothing at all. A host of countries made only incremental promises. The contrast between the slow pace of action and the urgency of the problem was underscored by the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, who excoriated world leaders for their “business as usual” approach. “The eyes of all future generations are upon you,” she said, her voice quavering with rage. “If you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.” Somini Sengupta and Lisa Friedman report. (NY Times) See also: Oil Giants, Under Fire From Climate Activists and Investors, Mount a Defense  Hiroko Tabuchi reports. (NY Times)

Youth lead the charge as more than 15,000 expected to attend Friday’s climate strike at Vancouver City Hall
Close to 50 businesses will close their doors Friday in support of Friday's for Future movement's climate change rally in Vancouver. Cheryl Chan reports. (Vancouver Sun) See also: 'Watch us carefully and hold us accountable': Victoria mayor promises action at climate summit  (CBC)

Open house slated on $24 million cleanup of Rayonier site
The decades-old Rayonier pulp mill site cleanup is back on the public’s radar with an estimated $24 million cleanup plan. The state agency coordinating the effort to rid the parcel and adjacent waters of pollution is hosting an open house Wednesday on the most recent iteration of the industrial site’s future — and Rayonier officials will be in attendance. The 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. meeting is at Olympic Medical Center’s Linkletter Hall, 939 Caroline St., Port Angeles. Ecology will explore the agency’s newly devised cleanup options for the 75-acre upland area, a portion of which did not contain industrial buildings, and for the mill-stained waters of Port Angeles Harbor....The Cleanup Alternatives Evaluation Report, also called Volume 3 of a series of technical reports on the cleanup, will be the focus of Wednesday’s meeting. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

The poop fairies are gone — it’s time to bring a bag and clean up after your own dog
Whatcom Water Week, which celebrated local water resources across Whatcom County from Sept. 14-22, added something new to its calendar of events this year: the poop fairy. The poop fairy’s job was to visit a handful of parks around Whatcom County — including Hovander Homestead Park and VanderYacht Park in Ferndale — and educate the community on how picking up dog feces can help keep the community’s waterways clean. Lacey Young reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Humpback whales have a storied history in Howe Sound
We live in humpback habitat. Humpback whales were common in Howe Sound and the Salish Sea in the 1800s, but the advent of whaling steamships with explosive harpoons exterminated them by 1908. Whaling continued throughout the northeast Pacific until the 1960s, when the international community agreed to a moratorium. Since then, humpback and other whales have been slowly reclaiming their old territory along the B.C. Coast. In 2008, after a hundred year absence, a humpback whale was reported in Atl’ka7tsum –Howe Sound. Ever since, their visits have continued to grow. Bob Turner writes. (Bowen Island Undercurrent)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  310 AM PDT Tue Sep 24 2019   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 8 ft  at 11 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  8 ft at 13 seconds.



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