Shows / Street Smart Naturalist
Street Smart Naturalist
A free newsletter oriented toward building stronger connections to place through stories of human and natural history in the Pacific Northwest
streetsmartnaturalist.substack.com
Episodes
Street Smart NaturalistMr. Bun in Seattle
For many years, I have referred to every rabbit I see as Mr. Bun. I have no idea why but do know that this year I have been seeing more Mr. Buns around my fair…
Street Smart NaturalistGlobal Warming: A Screed
“We’re not doing that climate change, you know, crud, anymore.” Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture - 5/8/2025 ‘Do you believe in climate change?’ is not…
Street Smart NaturalistPurple Flowers of Hope
I went for a run the other day and nearly got thwacked to bits. Nothing terribly serious, mind you, but a good reminder of the exuberant abundance of one of…
Street Smart NaturalistFollow the Red Brick Road
One of life’s simple pleasure is bumping along. I was able to do this the other day, on an unusual road, bumping over brick on my bike. About 200 yards long…
Street Smart NaturalistLost Seal? No, Just Hungry.
Apparently not all pinnipeds read guide books. At least that’s my conclusion after seeing a harbor seal on Saturday on my weekly ride with my pal Scott on the…
Street Smart NaturalistA Naturalist at a Museum
As I have been regularly writing, nature is all around us. All one has to do is slow down and pay attention, and the natural world will show her beauty. During…
Street Smart NaturalistMemory Lane
We recently spent some time in Boston, where Marjorie and I lived between 1996 and 1998. It was a trying time then. We had moved from Moab, Utah, a geological…
Street Smart NaturalistBirders Gone Bad
What is it with birders and birding in fictional TV and movies? They seem to go out of their way to make poor observations and incorrect identifications. I…
Street Smart NaturalistTime and Tide Waits for No One
The narrow band between high and low tide is Puget Sound’s most protean ecosystem, where the rhythms of existence fluctuate with the twice-daily expansion and…
Street Smart NaturalistWe All Live in a Watershed
Seeps. Springs. Rills. Brooks. Creeks. Streams. Rivers. A web of water tendrils entwines the landscape and provides habitat, transfers nutrients and sediments…
Street Smart NaturalistSnow Flakes of Cotton
Tis that time of year when cotton starts to snow the landscape. I always enjoy this annual falling of little white clusters out of the sky, particularly since…
Street Smart NaturalistToo Hot! Goats to the Rescue
Yesterday the temperature peaked at 82 degrees in Seattle. That ain’t right. Our normal high for May 28 is 68 degrees. So, like any good Seattleite in such a…
Street Smart NaturalistTwelve Ways of Seeing Blackbirds
Today, I’d like to highlight a local favorite of mine: the Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus. * First Name: Red-winged would be a wonderful…
Street Smart NaturalistFlying Fish
My story last week about the herring caught by the Osprey reminded me of another flying fish tale. This one is even nuttier, with longer lasting consequences…
Street Smart NaturalistTop Wild Sights of Seattle
The other day at one of my talks for my new book, Wild in Seattle, someone asked me what was the wildest thing I had seen in the city. I thought it was a great…
Street Smart NaturalistBird's Eye Seattle: 1884
On July 14, 1884, a short article appeared in the Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer. It noted that artist H. Wellge had just completed “the finest view of…
Street Smart NaturalistSlug Fest
This past weekend, Marjorie and I and friends went walking in a splendid, wooded area, Taylor Mountain. Like other forested spots near Seattle that have been…
Street Smart NaturalistRejoicing in an Orwellian Spring
Alas, it’s back to me after last week’s lovely interlude by Marjorie. “The point is that the pleasures of spring are available to everybody, and cost nothing…
Street Smart NaturalistOde to My Naturalist
Hello from Marjorie, the wife often referred to in David’s writing. In honor of David’s birthday week, I offered to write a newsletter and give readers some…
Street Smart Naturalist"Wild in Seattle" is Published!
I am excited to announce that Wild in Seattle: Stories at the Crossroads of People and Nature is now on sale in bookstores. My first thanks goes to…
Street Smart NaturalistBird's Eye Seattle: 1878
In early January, I wrote about one my favorite images of Seattle, August Koch’s 1891 Bird’s Eye View. I’d now like to return to another similar map: Eli…
Street Smart NaturalistCSI: Critter Scene Investigation
We ventured down to Arizona last week to attend the amazing Tucson Book Festival: 130,000 attendees and 320 authors. It’s a book dork’s idea of heaven. While…
Street Smart NaturalistPaths of Least Resistance
Over the weekend, I went out for a quick walk around our neighborhood, which I have done thousands of times. So it was rather exciting to discover something…
Street Smart NaturalistFreezing and Heaving
Recently on a walk at Dungeness Spit on the Olympic Peninsula, my wife and I saw a curious phenomenon. If you haven’t been out to this five-mile finger of sand…
Street Smart NaturalistKeepers of the Land
Many, many years ago, I was a national park ranger at Arches National Park and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. As a ranger, I led tours…
Street Smart NaturalistSeattle Walks
I hope you’ll put up with a bit of self-indulgence and promotion. I am excited to announce that the new, updated edition of Seattle Walks is now available in…
Street Smart NaturalistWritten on Snow
Few natural story tellers are better than snow. Or more ephemeral. I was lucky enough to read some of the stories told by snow in Seattle’s recent…
Street Smart NaturalistWaterfront Clam Garden
Last week I had the privilege of touring Seattle’s new waterfront park with my friend Owen Oliver. A writer and artist, he has been a key consultant to park…
Street Smart NaturalistHow Not to Name a Mountain
Since election day, the president has issued a vast and horrible horde of executive orders. Most have been short-sighted and narrow-minded. Many have been…
Street Smart NaturalistHow Not to Read a Map
I like to think I am pretty good at reading maps. I understand topo lines and can tell a valley from a ridge from a summit. I know to look for scale and that…
Street Smart NaturalistSlime Molds
2025 began with a burst of color in our yard. Along the wall in our backyard, I spotted a patch of brilliance, the astonishing yellow-gold of a slime mold. It…
Street Smart NaturalistA Bird's Eye View of Seattle: 1891
I have long been enamored with maps so I thought I’d begin 2025 by exploring one of my favorite’s. In 1891, Augustus Koch produced his Bird’s Eye View of…
Street Smart NaturalistGhost Lakes
Happy Holidays to all. A couple of weeks ago I explored the world of ghost creeks in Seattle. Now, I’d like to turn to ghost lakes. Like ghost creeks, these…
Street Smart NaturalistTwo Roads Diverged
As a map and geography dork, one of my little pleasures is being a gnomon. This is particularly true when my shadow is directly in front of me as I walk north…
Street Smart NaturalistOf Hair Ice and Woodpecker Holes
One of my joys of discovery is heading down an absorbing path of seeking out more information in newspapers and scientific journals, reaching out to friends…
Street Smart NaturalistGhost Rivers: Newsletter and Podcast
Greetings all. Several people suggested that they would prefer the podcast and newsletter packaged in one email, so here it is. Again, any thoughts on this…
Street Smart NaturalistPodcast 1 - Thankful for Salmon and Beaver
Greetings readers of the Street Smart Newsletter. I am trying something new and am creating a podcast based on my newsletter. As you will hear, it’s pretty…