As cranberry sauce makes its way to our Thanksgiving tables, consider a native cranberry for your garden. Highbush cranberry, also called squashberry or mooseberry (Viburnum edule), is not a true cranberry.

November is probably nobody’s favorite month. Already, the increasing darkness and cold days foreshadow the long nights to come. Appropriately, our two autumn holidays remind us of the more precarious nature of survival in winter.

On the October 21 OPAS meeting and program, Melissa Williams, Executive Director of the Olympic Coast Exploration Center (OCEC) shared exciting design plans for the OCEC in Port Angeles…

Recently I’ve seen American Crows carrying snails in their beaks, and I’ve watched them drop the snails onto pavement. They were dropping them from just the right height to shatter the shells and get to the delicacies inside, and they were having quite a feast.

When night falls on the Olympic Peninsula, you don't have to put your binoculars away. Ten native bat species quietly take over the air, hunting across the exact same habitats used by our iconic local birds.

The September 16 OPAS program, The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds, is now available to watch online.

The September 5 Backyard Birding program, Bird‑Friendly Communities, is now available to watch on YouTube. Presenters Katja Bridwell, Patty Giffin, and Dee Renee Ericks introduce the three OPAS conservation initiatives…

When you think of birds in Dungeness Bay during late August and early September, what species immediately comes to mind? California Gulls, of course. 

Most people—even children—can identify the tall, slate‑gray wading bird we call the Great Blue Heron, but few of us have ever been close to one—or wanted to be, perhaps.

The calendar might say summer, but August is shorebird migration season, when we focus on magical flocks of shorebirds returning from their nesting areas around North America.

This video shares Part I of our July 16 Purple Martin program—a classroom session filled with stories, science, and 26 years of local data from OPAS’s long‑running conservation project.

Have you ever stepped outside, heard a sweet bird song or a raspy croak, and wondered what on earth could be making that sound? So have I. Ida amazes me with how many birds she can identify by ear.

OPAS made the news in the June 17, 2026 issue of the Sequim Gazette, featuring a photo of Bob Boekelheide, who delivered the OPAS Natural Sciences Scholarship Award 2026 to two Sequim High School winners—Elaina Drennen and Laila Sundin.

The voice on the phone sounded perplexed. “You’re the bird lady, right? Well, I don’t know what kind of bird this is, but I think it must be hurt, because it’s just sitting there flat on the ground, not standing up at all.”

On June 17, OPAS recorded the “Partners in Birding” program on Zoom, where the Conservation Award, Career Achievement in Conservation Award, and Harlequin Award were presented…

Ken Wiersema’s June 6 Backyard Birding program is a warm, lively look back at more than five decades of learning, teaching, and hands‑on conservation.