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Behind-the-Scenes Tour of The Burke Museum’s Herpetological Collection

March 19, 2013
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I was able to go on a tour of the Burke Museum’s Herpetological Collection the last time I was at the University of Washington in Seattle. Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians. I was excited to check out the collection because I’m a herp nerd and have studied these animals in my research. Natural History collections like this are indispensable for many types of biological research, from anatomy to ecology. A vast amount…

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Places I Went in My First Year as a Nature Blogger

September 5, 2011

Here’s a map of all the natural areas I visited in the Pacific Northwest during my first year of blogging. Click on the icons in the map to see the place name and, for many of the places, a link to my blog post about that place…

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1 Year Anniversary!

September 4, 2011
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Wild Pacific Northwest is one year old today! I’ve had so much fun in the last 12 months– creating this blog, writing posts for it, and interacting with my readers. I hope that my posts have been interesting, useful, or perhaps even inspiring to you. The blog has helped me focus my study of the Pacific Northwest’s natural history and has given me extra motivation to…

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Essential Gear for the Naturalist

August 9, 2011

Luckily, you don’t need a bunch of expensive, high-tech equipment to be a good naturalist. You can simply use your senses to pay attention to the natural world and use your brain to understand it all. That said, there are a few things that can enhance you experiences in nature and help you…

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A Quote from Jack Kerouac

June 3, 2011

Miraculously, the Sun is going to blaze forth from blue skies this weekend, over the vitamin-D deficient populace of the Pacific Northwest. It has been an exceptionally cold and wet spring and this weekend is what we have been waiting for. Warm and sunny. I am going backpacking…

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What I mean when I say, ‘Naturalist’

May 24, 2011
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If you enjoy reading the posts here at Wild Pacific Northwest, you might be a naturalist. If you like to get out to the mountains, the sea shore, or the desert– to get familiar with wild things– it’s highly probable that you are a naturalist of some kind. But maybe you aren’t sure what I mean when I say, “Naturalist.” So let me explain…

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Six Months of Blogging

March 7, 2011
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As of today, I have been blogging here at Wild Pacific Northwest for six months. Yay! (And there was much rejoicing). Half a year is a long time in some ways, and not so long in other ways. Though it feels like I have only just started to get warmed up, I’ve already learned a lot– [...]

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