Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.
-William Cullen Bryant
Hello from The Evergreen State College Natural History Museum! Welcome to a new year at Evergreen. As the year gets underway don’t forget to come by and see us in the museum. Open hours are Wednesdays from 1 pm to 5 pm or by appointment.
The fall is an exciting time in the Pacific Northwest and here in Olympia we are lucky to have many spots to witness the changing of the seasons. On campus we are surrounded by more than 1,000 acres of trail filled forest where you can watch the leaves of the big leaf maples (Acer macrophyllum) and red alders (Alnus rubra) as they change in preparation for the winter. Or closer to downtown, Priest Point Park offers 314 acres of wooded trails for your exploration. Priest Point park is located at 2600 East Bay Drive.
If you are in the mood for birding, the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge will soon be inundated with returning waterfowl, such as Canada geese (Branta canadensis), cackling geese (Branta hutchinsii), gadwall (Anas strepera), American wigeon (Anas americana), mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), northern shoveler (Anas clypeata), northern pintail (Anas acuta), bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) and ring-necked ducks (Aythya collaris). For more information on the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge go here: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/billy_frank_jr_nisqually/ For a comprehensive list of bird species presence by month go here: https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_1/NWRS/Zone_2/Nisqually_Complex/Nisqually/Documents/trifold%20checklist%281%29.pdf. The Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is open during daylight hours and is located at 100 Brown Farm Rd. NE.
The Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail offers a great chance to catch chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) as they return to their natal stream to spawn and court. The 1/2 mile trail at Kennedy Creek is open every weekend in November from 10 am to 4 pm and there are plenty of docents and interpretive signs to answer any questions you may have about the life cycle of salmon. For directions and more information on The Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail click here.
Here at the museum, we have over 300 dry specimens for viewing and you will find many examples of the birds who are returning this fall and winter. Come to the museum and get a jump on your bird identification skills before heading out into the field. We also have many wet specimens of salmon for your viewing pleasure! Here’s to a productive new academic year and the wonder of the changing seasons!
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