5/22 Nighthawk, neoplasia, Tokitae, BC spill response, climate protest, opossums, L. Washington bottom

Common nighthawk [Tony Angell]

Sky Cutter
The common nighthawk winters as far as the Amazon Basin and returns to this area to nest in summer. Ironically and contrary to its name, the common nighthawk's numbers are diminishing. Tony Angell writes. (Salish Current)

Researchers rush to find cause of contagious cancer in PNW clams
As Michael Metzger pressed his thumb against a ridged shell, the clam split in two. It was dead. Metzger and his research team in late April scoured the mucky sand for living basket cockles, a type of mollusk native to the Northwest, as wind whipped through Penn Cove. At Salish Sea beaches like this they’re collecting dozens of the shellfish, a traditional food for many Coast Salish people, studying a concerning increase of disease: a leukemia-like contagious cancer called disseminated neoplasia. The cancer, found in dozens of shellfish species around the globe, was first discovered in Salish Sea cockles during a 2018 health screening as the Suquamish Tribe began rolling out a hatchery program. Isabella Breda reports. (Seattle Times)

'She will become a symbol': Inside the fight to bring Tokitae home
Miami locals, the Lummi Nation and many other advocates have fought for years to return the orca to the Salish Sea. PJ Randhawa reports. (KING)

Inside Canada’s first spill response organization on the west coast
The Western Canada Marine Response Corporation has been responding to oil spill emergencies for almost 50 years. James MacDonald reports. (Capital Daily)

UW students chain themselves to power plant, seeking climate action
As the temperature dropped overnight and ushered in a chilled, gray morning, four University of Washington students awoke chained to the campus’s power plant. Sunday marked nearly 36 hours and counting that a small group of student activists have used their bodies to protest the university’s continued use of fossil fuels. The demonstration followed a rally and march through the campus Friday evening. (Seattle Times)

Hornby Island's opossum problem persists but population on decline
Locals say they’re not seeing as many of the adorable chicken-killing, trash-can rummaging, garden eating invasive species as they once did. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

What's On The Bottom Of Lake Washington? Planes, Trains And …
Captain Mike Racine said, “What would you see?” You would see an underwater museum, a place where you can’t go more than a few feet without discovering something. And the thing you’d discover out here, just off the boat launch, is big. Really big. Sarah Waller reports. (KUOW)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  242 AM PDT Mon May 22 2023   
TODAY  W wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 6 ft  at 9 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SW 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft subsiding to 1 to 3 ft after  midnight. W swell 7 ft at 10 seconds.

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