Strange Townhall

I live in the PNW, Washington State. One of the things the state is known for is cryptids, like Sasquatch. I'm always a bit surprised when folks tell me they think Sasquatch is a creature of imaginary folklore, such as fairies and non-internet trolls. Everyone can believe if they wish, and I admit, ignorance is bliss.

So when squandering time on YouTube I ran across an advertisement for Strange Town Hall, a 'lets talk about all things scary' meet up - soon to be held in Port Angeles, barely 20 mins from my house. . So I was counting the days up to the event! 

I was kindly greeted at the door by the host Tobe. I touched and wondered about the casts of Sasquatch tracks were at the entrance. Just below on the left you can see a Sasquatch foot print cast. To the left is a branch twisted into a circle. It is the believed to be the handiwork of a Sasquatch. On the right I have my hand on a Sasquatch handprint. 

My paw on a Sasquatch hand

The bottom footprint is an original cast

Show and Tell Table
 

This on the left, is a bit of fun artwork (CUTE!) at the doorway, crafted by one of the event hosts. The blue skinned being is an Icelandic Elf. I bragged a bit, telling the artist I've seen the colorful little elf houses many Icelandic folk have in their gardens for the elves.

The hosts of the event started off the presentations, followed by several other presenters that all had intriguing stories to share. It was fun actually meeting several folk I've watched on YouTube for years. 

So! The Strange Town Hall had a group called A Flash of Beauty on hand with camera equipment for filming all those present whom following the meeting, had experiences to share. Sadly, or more likely luckily, I have no Sasquatch experience to share. Those with experiences were invited to be filmed after the Town Hall. 

I feel the need to preface the following video, in 2 parts.

First, I believe most people do not believe in the paranormal, UFOs/UAPs, Sasquatch and other things 'off the norm'. When people have an experience with any of the above, it is so far from what they were taught to believe, that it opens their minds to 'uh.. what if I haven't been told everything?' In my case it was seeing a UFO in broad daylight, in the Bronx, when I was about 11 or 12 years old. Also in addition to the UFO, my previous home of 23 years was 'somewhat haunted'. Once you've had a paranormal experience & you come to grips with the fact that it really happened, your mind opens up quite a bit. 

Pictograph of Hopi Ant People

Secondly, think on this. I grew up most of my life reading, and being told through the media, text books, even National Geographic specials on TV, that the Indigenous peoples around the world are wrong.
That. Indigenous lore has long been excused as nothing more than mythological tales at best, or ignorance at worst. The Hopi and the Navajo of the southwest spoke of the 'Ant People' that came down from the sky, saved the Hopi people, after which the ant people retreated to live underground. The Dogon tribe of Africa had advanced astronomical knowledge including presence of stars you can not see with the naked eye, and they knew the star location before modern European scientists did - where did that knowledge come from? lastly, on almost every continent on earth, indigenous tell of 'hairy men', that go by names: Sasquatch, Skunk Ape (North America), Yeti (Nepal), Amas (Russia), Orang Pendek (Indonesia). For ages, Indigenous people around the world, shared their knowledge only to have it thrown back in their faces, ignored because: Modern science. 

What I'm getting at is that there is a world wide game going on where Indigenous people, as well as ordinary people myself, don't know what they're talking about. Saw a UFO in Viet Nam in the 60s? No, you saw swamp gas or weird light reflections. Saw a 12 ft tall, man/ape covered in shaggy 'hair' in Minnesota? Naw, you saw a bear on its hind legs, and hey, you been drinking or smoking the funny weed, right? The first time I actually believed there are Sasquatch was... let me explain. I used to watch that gawd awful TV series Finding Bigfoot. Those guys would hold town meetings all over the States. They'd ask people who saw Bigfoot to raise their hands. There'd be maybe 20 to 50 folk in the room and about 25 to 40% of the hands would shoot upward. I'm sorry, but no way in hell all of those raised hands were attached to folk who all saw 'bears on their hind legs'. If even a mere 1% of those folk's stories could not be explained away, there MUST be something out there. 

So here's the YouTube shot by A Flash of Beauty (one of my favorite YouTube Channels) featuring the folk at Strange Townhall telling their strange - very strange - tales. Lol, at the start of the vid, there is a brief view inside the meeting house during a presentation, a bald pated gentlemen & his long-haired lady sit in the 2nd row, with me in the first row, as difficult to view as a Sasquatch. 

Nest Box Wars

 Huzzah! The third time (year) is the charm - the Violet-green Swallows are nesting in the nesting box just outside my bedroom doors. Previously they nested at least 5 years in a row in a ventilator opening 15 feet over my bedroom balcony. not a great place for them to nest, not a great place for me as I couldn't use the room ventilation system. Someone did volunteer to somehow climb up there to seal it shut, but I vetoed the idea - don't want anyone to fall to their death on my watch. 

One of 'my' Violet-green Swallows

Last year, after the swallows moved into the vent. building their feathery nest, the new comer EFFING House Sparrows evicted my swallows from the vent! I was angrier than a wet hen, but I couldn't climb up 15 ft to evict the damn House Sparrows from the not-a-legit-nesting hole. 

So in 2024 I had a nest box installed on my bedroom balcony. It was ignored by all things feathered until this year. I was delighted to see a lovely pair of Violet-greens - seen above perched on the left side of the railing, and its mate is peeking out of the bird box. Every day I see them I am stunned they are finally using the box. And more exciting, the House Sparrows have not hijacked the box. HALLEJULAH! 

Meanwhile, one of my 2 orchard bird boxes has been taken for a 2nd year by a happy pair of Northern House Wrens. Last year I heard them, and was all 'who is that singing?' and was flabbergasted to see cute pair of House Wrens making themselves at home. I felt guilty as I hadn't emptied the nesting material from the previous year's nesting by chickadees.

The House Wrens love to sit on their house
and proclaim ownership of their box

The box is so weathered it looks 
like it's decades old, not 4 years old

But when I went to the box and opened it - the old nesting material was not there. Turns out the House Wrens, somehow, managed to empty the box all by themselves. The nest material was on the ground where the Wrens dumped it. Smart little tweeties they are. So this year they are back, singing and raising their family. Joy! 

Westport Washington Pelagic

On Dock 10 at 5AM

 When I relocated to Washington state, something kinda weird happened. I stopped doing as much local, in state exploring as I had in California. I didn't stop enjoying roaming about, but when I moved here almost 7 years ago, there was SO MUCH needed doing it got me out of  my nomadic ways. I hereby declare my stationary days are over, damn it! 

Decided to go on an all day Pelagic Birding trip with Westport Seabirds in Gray's Harbor County. It's 3 hours south and It was fun viewing the local folk... some with red glowing eyes....

I arrived in Westport, WA early Friday afternoon, stymied when GPS insisted my motel was in the center of a cluster of Industrial buildings. Called the hotel, and they kindly told me where they were hidden. After setting up my hotel room, I scouted out where the boat pier was so I would not freak out at 5 AM, searching for where one boards the birding boat. 

The boat wasn't gigantic (kind of a plus!) and there were maybe 16 co-birders plus the crew, captain and more importantly, 3 pelagic guides. The Guides' jobs were to spot the cool oceanic birds and get us 'onto them', i.e., point out where the birds were so we could get our binoculars onto them. 

It was a beautiful day, lots of sun, although the waters seemed gray much of the day. I hoped to see two new lifer birds - Parakeet Auklet, and Manx Shearwater. 

A Manx Shearwater, unseen by 'moi'

No Parakeet Auklets showed up. Where the EFF are they hiding? We weren't a half hour out of port and a Manx Shearwater, 2 of them were seen... sadly, not seen by me.  

One thing learned in birding is you can neither make birds show up because you want to see them, and even if they show up, you personally may not manage to see them. I stared where the guides pointed as they called out 'ABOVE THE HORIZON AT 1 O'CLOCK!' and BELOW THE HORIZON AT 3 O'CLOCK!" Despite the helpful shouts I could not 'get on the bird' with my binoculars to save my life. Oh well. Some times the magic works, and sometimes the magic doesn't work. *sigh* 

Here's a few birdies I managed to see and photograph.

Herring Gulls

Black-footed Albatross

Black-footed on the lam

Sabine's Gulls

Common Murres

Flotilla of Common Murres

Common Murre

Yes, even more Common Murres

Any pelagic birding outing can turn into a Whale watching opportunity. Early in the trip Gray Whales were seen, and *sigh* I missed seeing them. But the gods were with me for two other species. 

HUMPBACKS!  This one is headed into a dive...

That means it's TAIL UP! 

This Humpback has mostly dark flukes, with slight white markings at the ends. Betcha if this photo were sent out on line, there's a registry of individual  humpbacks based on their fluke patterns.

Bye bye!

YAY! A small pod of Dall's Porpoises popped up. I bet it's been 20 years since the last time I saw any. Used to see them on various pelagic trips to the Farallon Islands out of San Francisco. Dall's are shaped like big fatties and are slightly faster than the speed of light. Ok, almost that fast, lol. 

Dall's Porpoise (headed left)

Hoped they'd 'ride the bow' but they did not. One did swim past quite close and was able to look to see one of these speed demons zip by about 15 feet below me. 

Dall's Porpoise

Fun has to end at some point, and mid afternoon, the good ship Blitz headed back towards dock ten. First we passed buoys loaded down with boys & girls of the Steller's Sea Lion persuasion. 

Headed dock-ward, Double-crested Cormorants were on hand. Note the Double-crested have orange skin on their faces. On the right top is a Brant's Cormorant on its nest - it has blue skin on its face. 

Cormorants sunning and nesting on harbor marker

The cormorant below is a Pelagic Cormorant. They have skinny necks and long thin-ish bills. Some of the year they have white flank patches (normally how I identify them). If you can see it, this species has a little red skin around the eyes and bill. Can't see that on this one. 

Pelagic Cormorant

Now here's a weird thing. There are no Brown Pelicans where I live and I'm not very far from the Pacific Ocean, and am smack on the San Juan Straits. Still, no pelicans and wow, do I miss them. Thought they would be common here, but not so. They show up maybe one at a time, once in a bit. But they are totally common around Westport, south to Mexico. Such graceful and greedy giants. 

Brants Cormorant on the wing

Double-crested Cormorant, and you can see the double-crest on its noggin

Heading back into port, as we neared the dock, folks lined the pier because today is officially CRAB DERBY day! 

And as the Blitz headed into its pier, bubbles floated over the bow. You can see the bubbly source in the short vid below.