Smoke and Cornell Lab of Ornithology email

 It’s a weird time in Seattle. Last Friday, the smoke arrived. Rarely do we wish for rain. But I am wishing for rain tomorrow; it’s in the forecast, but that's no guarantee around here. Swept in from winds to the south, we received smoke from NorCal and Oregon fires to add to our smoke from our own fires burning on the east side of the mountains. The smoke arrived Friday and caused a Fine Particle Mater reading of < 2.5 micrometers ( PPMs) to hover around 125. These size particles will enter the lungs and bloodstream and cause problems. Both long-term heart and lung damage, but more acute coughing and aggravated breathing too. A ppm of 125 is considered “unhealthy.” Sensitive groups should stay inside and nobody should be exercising outside. But then by Monday, the PPMs had risen to 225. A ppm of 225 is “very unhealthy” and recommended that nobody goes outside. Meanwhile Portland was experiencing PPMs from 300 to 500. Thankfully for our family, Byrne and Peggy are already up here. Mike and Myra came up for the weekend too and extended their stay some to avoid going home to the smoke.  So on Tuesday, Portland had the worst air quality of any city on the planet. On Wednesday, winds moved some smoke out of Portland, and we took over the harrowing award. The fires are real and terrible and are going to worsen each year as climate change continues to influence rainfall and heat patterns. It’s time to act, the climate fires--and hurricanes and flooding--are only going to get worse, causing massive economic and ecological damage. We need to get serious on a personal and legislative level to reduce our fossil fuel emissions. I’m writing to legislators and if I’m around to vote this year, will vote for our most climate progressive candidates.

It’s one thing to have Covid restricting our routines and social plans. Now with the fires, it’s like we can’t do anything. I’ve suspended my daily walks and yard work. But Alpen has it the toughest, he’s stuck indoors with us as we try to come up with fun activities to use up some energy and keep him happy.

Interestingly, despite having to stay cooped-up, things in other sectors of life are going well. Briana has decided to go half-time, which has given her some focus and purpose. My health is continuing to go well. I’m receiving good platelet bumps, and my crit soared to 30 after the last infusion. Energy has been good too which has meant I can keep the house tidy, run some errands (never thought I’d say it but errands are a godsend in this smoke: nice just to get out and circulate in the car (safe) then in climate controlled buildings (safe).  I have the energy to continue to TCB at night.

Then for a nice surprise, things are getting done at the house. With this time off, we’ve been able to get to our long-list.  Byrne (Briana’s dad) has taken on the laundry room and has laid new vinyl tile, patched drywall, painted the walls, and added floor trim. It looks great. Peggy has taken on the lawn and has spread new grass seed and been on top of watering. Mike, my brother-in-law, dismantled the shed and built new timber stairs in the back. I have planted a few plants and added to our drip system. The plants are looking great. Then our contractor work is actually running on schedule! After having poor experiences sticking to a schedule with previous contractors, it’s hard to believe things are actually working. So far no delays, no no-shows, and no major unforeseen obstacles--knock on wood.. Looks like by early next week we’ll finally have a new back deck to replace our rotting one. New cedar planks, stained and sealed glisten everytime I walk by the back windows. Makes us happy everytime we see it. And I've splurged on some custom cabinetry as a gift to Briana and Alpen for the downstairs back wall by the fireplace. Half of the cabinets are going in today and they look awesome. We now will have somewhere to store the board games and Alpen toys, greatly enhancing that space!

In other news, and in a huge part thanks to you guys who have donated to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,. I received this amazing email this week from their Erin Pierce ,their donation manager.  I’ll copy it below. For the uninitiated, eBird is a massive citizen science program that allows anyone with a computer or smartphone to enter their birding data--mostly number of individuals of various species. It also allows for more in-depth data collection like breeding codes, images, and audio recordings. WIth thousands of different people submitting from all over the world, it’s important that Cornell keeps some regularity in reporting data. They request you to report certain ways, but they know not everyone reads it. But I think they also just rely on their huge data sets that the sheer number of datum points outweighs observer bias. However, I’ve always taken personal pride in the thoughtfulness I put into my eBird checklists.

It’s gonna get a little technical and birdy here so get ready. For the checklists, I don’t guess species, instead I identify to the level I do know. Sometimes I see a sparrow, but I don’t know which one. Rather than guess it was a Song Sparrow (as it would most likely be in Seattle) I record “sparrow sp.” meaning some species of sparrow, but I didn’t get a good enough look. I also do this for totally mystery birds, checklists usually contain a view “passerine sp.” and of course the “gull sp.” Gulls are so hard to identify--with their 3 year cycles of plumage and summer/winter molts--you have to be dedicated to memorize it. Heck , you have to be dedicated to figure it out using a field guide too. Uusally even then you can't come to a conclusive ID. I don’t leave out the really common species that you wonder what the point is to document. I record the number pigeons (“rock doves”) and crows encountered to the list for completeness. Then you have the hybrids and the species that look so much alike you can’t tell them apart in the field. A good example of this is our close friend the Canada goose, who recently broke off from the much smaller cackling goose. Size is hard to discern in the field sometimes, and without a good anchor to make an assessment (like a nearby Mallard duckindividuals have a range.  “Canada/cackling goose.” On the flipside, sometimes a plumage or call lets you identify past species to subspecies. This is good information too to track. So taking the though to log in an “Oregon junco” instead of just “Dark-eyed junco” adds depth to the data. I enjoy adding breeding codes too to sightings: was it singing in an appropriate habitat, was it carrying food or nest material, was it feeding recently fledged young? This information adds breeding data so we know which birds are breeding where and in what habitats. Finally, I sometimes take an audio recording to match with a bird. The audio can over further proof that the species is the one I’m saying it is, but it also adds to Cornell’s Macaulay Library. The largest vault of bird recordings on the planet. This data set is open to use for scientific research. Bird songs can be used for evolutionary, phenology, and neurobiology questions.  Contributing to this bird data has been one of my most satisfying aspects of my life. A proper scientific process brings me more joy than I ever thought it would.  I become happier everytime I submit a checklist, no matter how small. This all gets recorded in my checklists, and It felt amazing that someone else acknowledged it. Especially a team from the Cornell Lab!

Now for my citizen science pitch: Doing science--which means the scientific method of purpose, research, hypothesis, experiment, analysis, then discussion--is a huge part of who I am. Since I I'm not in a career that exposes me to the scientific method, I have turned to citizen science to get my fill. And eBird isn’t the only citizen science program out there for me. I mostly do other bird projects like the Breeding Bird Survey from USGS, Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, and Cornell's Project Feederwatch. But I've dabbled in some non-bird citizen science too, especially when I was too ill to be active. Many citizen science projects can be done from a computer. I’ve identified animals in game pictures in Africa and helped locate kelp forests from satellite imagery. All from the comfort of the couch. But there are many projects I haven’t looked into yet. Here's a website with a good list of citizen science you can do from your computer: Then wikipedia also has a good list of more active projects. So get out there, contribute to science, help some researchers out, contribute to something bigger than yourselves, you will feel better. eBird has certainly done that for me.

OK, Here is the eBird email from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I'm reposting it in part to share the kind words and show the appreciation that your donations have brought me and the lab. But also to enlighten anyone who has been annoyed with me on a walk or hike and had to wait as I clicked around on my iPhone to update my eBird checklists. What was taking so long?

“Hi Derek,

I hope this note finds you spending the day safe from the heat and smoke I’ve been hearing about in Washington.

I wanted to let you know that a number of generous donations totaling over $2,000 have been made to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in honor of you and Briana. While you’ll receive a letter from the Lab with more details, I very much wanted to personally thank you. One of the donors (your “Friends in Seattle” as they simply wanted to be called) shared your blog and your kind tribute to the Cornell Lab and Point Blue. Thank you for thinking of the Lab. The gifts made in your names will help send our researchers out in the field, help us foster innovative technologies, and continue to advance the science of bird conservation. Thank you from all of us at Sapsucker Woods.

You mention in your writing that you’ve been focused on trying to gain peace from what you have done. Well, a bunch of us at the Lab took a peek in the eBird lists you’ve shared and I hope our observations can illustrate even one small part of the positive impact you have for birds and nature.

You’ve been reporting your eBird sightings with our scientists for over 10 years and in many ways you are an exemplary eBirder. You’ve reported 569 species on 1,263 checklists (which I’m sure has changed already as you continue to list) from 8 countries around the globe. Derek, that’s 8,980 individual bird observations - an eBirding effort that is equivalent to 540 hours in the field. I hope you take a moment and roll that number around a little bit. We did. It’s humbling. Your effort is a gift to science that is truly priceless, one we could never begin to replicate with traditional scientific staff at the global scale you’ve helped us achieve.

Your bird observations have already directly contributed to game-changing research and conservation. We ran the numbers and your observations were used in 179 of the 610 bird species analyzed for our groundbreaking status and trends maps (https://ebird.org/science/status-and-trends). These maps are allowing our partner orgs to pinpoint conservation actions and work smarter and faster for birds at risk.

Your bird data are also full of personality and I think a likely reflection of an adventurous spirit and effervescent enthusiasm for nature, as you’ve birded everywhere from Svalbard to Spain, Chile to New Zealand. You noted some “good birds”, like this offshore Glaucous Gull during a pelagic trip: https://ebird.org/pnw/checklist/S60481542. Yet, you clearly understand the value of everyday eBirding, with most of your lists coming from the parks and green spaces in your state of Washington. You are among the Top 100 all-time eBirders in King County.

You’ve uploaded 22 audio recordings to the Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library – that’s more than most staff members at the Lab. Our eBird Team reflects that your checklists are the model of eBird best practices: short, complete, with species comments and counts for all species reported. And they want to commended you for your use of “sp.”, slashes, and particularly subspecies. These are less widely recognized but very appreciated observations to include on checklists from a scientific standpoint!

Tonight, over 8,000 migrating birds will stream above your head in Seattle. Yep, that hyper-local forecast is another product of your eBird contributions and fuels life changing actions for birds like Lights Out campaigns across the country. I hope you get the chance to turn your eye to the sky tonight and marvel a bit at the amazing and mysterious things at work in the dark air above our heads.

o see your contributions in our scientific records is to clearly understand your love for birds and birding. The geese, songbirds, and gulls on your checklists show an attentive, passionate birder. We are grateful for your contributions to eBird, your membership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and your impact on the global birding community. Thank you. Know that you are in our thoughts each day and bird-filled night.

Warmly,

Erin

For this upcoming weekend, it’s looking like we’re heading up to Biz Pt. I’m getting platelets on Friday which should bump me through the weekend nicely. We will take our 4 year cake picture! I hope to get some birding in, and we should have some good family time. The smoke is expected to go down considerably tomorrow and through the weekend too. I look forward to being outside again.

View from front: barely make out Beacon Hill. It was worse yesterday. 

Alpie looking cute as hell in his "dipped fitter." Really don't know why he smiled so nicely for this photo.

New deck!

Building with Magnatiles.

With Covid and smoke days, we've had to loosen up some rules, like cereal on the couch

....and morning ice cream

Lake Washington from Seward Park

Dress up time