#pacific western

[backwoodspriestess]

Southwest Oregon, a favorite old house of mine.

[pickleweed2]

Intricate cascading roots on a Western Hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla.

Olympic National Park| 11-30-2023

[pnwander]

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Today is apparently ANGRY STABBY BIRB DAY.

I was taking a walk on the boardwalk out near Bolstadt in Long Beach, when I came across this western grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) stranded on the path ahead of me. It looked alert and uninjured, so chances were just that it couldn't take flight off of the hard surface, but I called Peninsula Wild Care anyway to see if they wanted to bring it in for a checkup.

They quickly coordinated a couple of volunteers to meet me nearby, and I needed to get the grebe out of the way since a lot of people walk their dogs there and not all of them are on leashes. I figured okay, this is a relatively small bird, not as big as the muscovies I've carted around on the farm, and it seems calm, right?

NOPE. As I tried to gently reach for the grebe it turned from a calm, if confused pile of feathers on the decking to Stabby McStabberson, and I very nearly got jabbed and nipped a few times by a long, pointy beak attached to a surprisingly agile and very much NOT happy bird. I ended up having to take my hoodie off and dropping it over the entire grebe, and only when the lights were out could I bundle it up and carry it over to the meeting place.

Since it was pretty energetic, not obviously sick or injured, and its body condition felt decent (at least through the hoodie) I'm hoping it's going to get released soon enough after a checkup and a nice meal of fish. Many waterbirds have a lot of trouble taking off from hard surfaces because their feet are so far back on their bodies--which is great for swimming and water takeoffs, but not so helpful on land. If the bird had stayed stranded there they could have been injured or killed by another animal, or ended up dehydrated.

So let's hear it for Stabby the Angry Grebe, and wish them a good release back into the wild!

[orofeaiel]

Western Harebell

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

I Know The End, Phoebe Bridgers / Masters of The Air (2024) / SAS: Rogue Heroes, Season 1 (2022) / All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) / Generation Kill (2008) / Band of Brothers (2001) / The Pacific (2010) / Jojo Rabbit (2019) / Saving Private Ryan (1998) / 1917 (2019) / Dunkirk (2017) / War Horse (2011) / The Pianist (2002)

[rockpaperscissuhs]

“A hospital alone shows what war is.” - Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

[coolthingsguyslike]

[pamietniko]

beautiful details in a winter forest

Snoqualmie, Washington

[pretty-little-fools]

[backwoodspriestess]

Back home in the redwoods

[emaadsidiki]

Fort Baker Pier & The Golden Gate 🎣🎏

[pnwander]

western tanager

[seabeck]

Yellow bonnets, species unknown

[3liza]

I'm glad western streamers have been gettinto indie games from Russia and Asia, especially horror games since horror is such a communicative genre and says so much about cultural mores, but I wish these cavalier white dudes would have a little more curiosity about the foundations of the imagery and neuroses the games are communicating with. whenever I see or play games from outside my home culture I'm always desperately curious about what I'm MISSING as a white American and it's always so satisfying and educational when I am able to have it explained to me or if I can look it up, even though I know I can only perceive it as an outsider. just stuff I'm ignorant about, like for some recent examples I can remember, stuff like Buddhist funeral objects or symbolism, Japanese vowel order, Russian Orthodox convent history, apartment layouts and community organization in Soviet housing blocs, uhhh let's see what else. candle and food symbolism around death and traditional forms of ghosts in the Philippines. customs and uses of, and gender issues around, communal bath houses in rural Japan. that kind of thing. i really really miss the few years where you really could type any of those topics into the Google search bar and usually get some kind of factual information written by humans. it's not impossible to look stuff up anymore but I can't express how easy it used to be.

[todaysbird]

Today's bird is a Pacific Black Duck doing a perfect duckdive (and its buddy chilling on the log)