So was I! I just finished recording the audiobook Romp! at Digital One Sound Studio in Portland, Oregon, with the funny and clever Josh Millman, the Senior Sound Engineer, and also the person who recorded the voice for Wii Sports! Directed byBeth Hicks and produced by Julianna Wilson through Penguin Random House Audio.
The director and the studio engineer are both in your ear as you record. So if I scratched my nose and you could hear it on the recording, Josh alerted me to reread. When I made a mistake like leaving out, mispronouncing, or adding a word that wasn’t there, Beth also asked me to reread. She also took “script notes,” so if I caught my own mistakes and I reread a section, she made a note for the editor of where that occurred.
I did my own pronunciation research on the Latin words I did not know, as well as Lingít (Tlingit) and Salishan words, using YouTube channel guides to help. My favorite is Dr. X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, an Associate Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast (my alma mater (BA, Social Sciences) for my gap year before graduate school, after completing my BS in Zoology at WSU). I wish I had found his website before the book was published. I have about a hundred questions. Dr. Twitchell has a great YouTube Channel to support Lingít language learning, hosted by Sealaska Heritage Institute. Lingít is a beautiful, DIFFICULT language. To learn more, go HERE.
Beth and Josh provided a lot of guidance on my Spanish. I referred to Caroline Leuchtenberger and her Projecto Ariranhas for Portuguese. I was diligent in trying to pronounce all the names and languages correctly to show respect for the Indigenous cultures referenced in the book, as well as the names and places. If I fell short, please know I made my best effort and forgive the failure.
Now that the first recording of the book is done, it will go to the editing studio. Where they have the unenviable task of weeding out all the repeated sentences, background noise, and quavers in my voice. I became a little emotional during a couple of chapters; you can hear it in the recording. Beth and I chose to keep that vulnerability in, but the hiccup in my voice and long breaths will be edited out.
Even after all of that, I may have to go back into the studio for a final read of the “pick-ups” areas, where even after editing, a sentence or two may sound wrong or contain an error. I am told those do not take more than an hour to fix. They play me the wrong sentence, and then I try to repeat it correctly in the same tone or cadence so it does not sound edited in the recorded book.
Here is a brief clip of the studio and process, the fun easy part….
The PDF of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 1948 (“Clean Water Act,” 1972) with Amendments up to 2018 and the PDF of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 1974, which “established protective drinking water standards for more than 90 contaminants, including drinking water regulations issued since the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act that strengthen public health protection.” Here is the weblink to the summary of the legislation.
PFAS chemicals, which is an umbrella term for PFOA, PFOS and other synthetica, industrial “forever chemicals,” and stand for “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.” A description of the differences and their health consequences can be found at the American Cancer Society, linked here to PFOA, PFOS, and Related PFAS Chemicals.
Some states are at greater PFAS contamination risk than others, the Environmental Working Group, is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, published a report in 2020 stating that an “estimated more than 200 million Americans are served by water systems where two of the most studied PFAS chemicals (umbrella category of these synethic chemicals): Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, pronounced: per-FLOOR-oh OCK-tan-OH-ick acid) and perfluorooctane sulfonate(PFOS) – were present in drinking water at a concentration of 1 part per trillion, or ppt, or higher.
Additionally, here is an interactive map developed in support of veterans, a population disproportionately affected by exposure (full disclosure: developed by a law firm that helps veterans navigate disability benefits) that shows contamination risks across U.S. military bases.
Plastics. As of the time of this post, global annual plastic production is approximately 450 million metric tons. Our World in Data, provides a breakdown. NOTE: I use this source a lot. It’s an organization that, through the collaborative efforts of researchers at the University of Oxford and the Global Change Data Lab, provides an up-to-date statistical record of meaningful statistics (like Pew Research).
The role of particular flora or fauna in ecology that are considered “Keystone,” “Indicator,” “Priority,” “Flagship, or “Umbrella” species are explained through the World Wildlife Fund (WWF, 1961) or World Wide Fund for Nature (name change in 1986) on their Global Species Programe webpage.
The late, great Dr. Robert (Bob) Paine’s 1966 Paper, “Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity” is available HERE, as well as a great biography about him and his work on the keystone predator concept through starfish research, HERE. A memorial article, penned by Jim Estes and his colleagues, is linked here, titled “A keystone ecologist: Robert Treat Paine, 1933–2016.”
Similarly, the late, great Dr. James (Jim) A. Estes (Researchgate link), the sea otter ecologist and one of the first Otter Specialist Group members through the IUCN, was the first to apply the keystone concept to sea otters and their importance in the trophic equilibrium of kelp forests. The keystone sea otter manages the herbivory of the sea urchins, preventing urchin barrens, places where kelp was once abundant, but through urchin overgrazing, transform into barren deserts. Estes’ original 1974 paper, “Sea Otters: Their Role in Structuring Nearshore Communities,” can be found HERE.
There are also two wonderful tributes to his work, one through the Elakha Alliance (Oregon) and Sea Otter Savvy (California).
PBS Nature, has a great documentary, called “The Serengeti Rule,” a film that highlights the careers of these two accomplished ecologists, Bob Paine and Jim Estes. The film is linked HERE. Bob discusses his work in understanding the role of sea star predators in the ecological system, as well as Jim Estes and the importance of trophic cascades. The latter is illustrated through the collapse of some populations of Northern sea otters in Alaska. Their collapse was the result of a ripple effect triggered by decades of whaling. The removal of the gray whales caused a dramatic decline in a primary food source for mammal-eating killer whales, who took to eating harbor seals, then Stellar sea lions, and sea otters, such that by the end of the 1980s, there were places where sea otter populations had been wholly wiped out from orca predation. This resulted, then, in the collapse of the kelp forests around areas that were once flourishing.
This advocacy organization offers suggestions for key considerations in identifying and promoting ethical animal photographs. The reason this matters is that there are a number of species, many endangered like the Asian small-clawed otter, that are targets of the illegal and exotic pet trades. Many of the videos and photos that are popular on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram are not from reputable sources and are of wild animals that have been adopted as pets. This is an area of concern covered in my upcoming book, “Romp! A natural history of otters and why they matter.” Release date: May 2026.
These photos are the “best of” wildlife trail cameras from our last density and distribution survey. Our cougar, black bear, and owls did not make it in this round. The cougar will likely be back over winter, as well as our elk. But the bear, such a fluke from last survey, has probably moved on.
Species Represented:
Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura)
Red tailed hawk – I think (Buteo Jamaicensis)
Coyote (Canis latrans)
Bobcat (Lynx rufous)
**Note:
A number of you have inquired about the hens (and rooster, sweet Giovani, see photo below) since I survey for predators and their conservation on our extended property. Well, rest assured, there is a camera at the aviary and I have not caught any interest from the raccoon or coyotes that make their way over to the camera. So I think the hops we planted last year and has now vined up the entirely of the 16 foot walls of hardware wire and over the top, has been a good deterrent.
All the wildlife photos are from unbaited, Bushnell Trail Cameras on Tom and my farm property, that overlaps with Baker Creek in McMinnville, Oregon.
…and our outside aviary with the hops, I need a new photo with the growth
Unrelated photo of my boy, Giovani as a teenager. He is the sweetest, best Roo ever! #leaders_eat_last
As I write this, my heart is breaking for Hawaii, for the people, their families, the importance and sacredness of the land in Polynesian culture – the 200 year old banyan tree in the middle of Lahaina that is no more. Just prior to the loss of life on Maui, the burning of historic downtown, and all important farmland, rainforest, and cane fields, Juneau, Alaska was underwater, with families losing homes to flooding. This summer has been tragic for a lot of people. It has also been a little weird.
For two months, sea otter 841 has focused public attention on Santa Cruz, California with her unusual surfboard snatching. Then earlier this week, three women in Montana during a leisurely float on the Jefferson River were attacked by a river otter, all resulting in hospitalizations. I gave an interview yesterday to a Daniel Ehrlick for the Daily Montanan to answer his questions and offer whatever insights I might have into what is going on with these behaviors. What isn’t in that article, is the fact that I think both instances are indirect examples of climate change as well, Here is the article interview with the Daily Montanan.
Aspen joined the Whidbey Island Research Station (WIRS) as part of the Murdock Grant and the Pacific Research Institute in Science and Mathematics (PRISM) in May of 2021. There, she provided field support in collecting samples, data collection, entry, and logistics toward the project, “Seasonal Variability in Glucocorticoids Among Latrining River Otters (Lontra canadensis) of Whidbey Island, Washington,” a project to be presented at the PRISM Conference in November of 2021 and at the Western Psychological Association Conference in April of 2022. Congratulations Aspen!
This May concluded with river otter specimen collection on Whidbey Island. Aspen Shirley, a post-Bacc Pacific University student joined me at the Whidbey Island Research Station (WIRS) for a week, thanks to the Pacific University Murdock Grant.
We collected marine foraging river otter fecal and jelly samples from around the Island, charted behavioral movements and presence and met up with wildlife photographer, Ty Kent at Port Townsend. Ty has had an excellent run of otter activity near Fort Warden at low tide this spring. Since our behavioral data collection and photographic luck on Whidbey was a lot of verbal exchanges like this one,
Heide (at Admiralty Bay), “The female just entered the culvert to Admirals Lake with a flat fish, if you go over there, perhaps you can capture her with your camera. I will stay at the Bay to see if she comes back.”
Then texts like this,
Aspen (at Admirals’ Lake), “Did the otter come back to you on the bayside? I videoed her for a minute before she disappeared in the bulrushes.”
Ty Kent graciously gave permission to share some our favorite, choice photographs from his otter encounters the week we were at Whidbey. You can find these and others (check out the mating otters on his Wildlife Photography page) at his website, Earthrootz Imagery. Also check out his other photos, they are remarkable. I’m especially partial to the romantically, stylized photos of his fiancé, Kelly.
Ty described this series of photos as a romp of three, when a interloper tried to join them and was chased away. Likely this was a kin group with a female and her three female pups, the interloper is also a juvenile, likely a previously weaned male. You can really feel the speed with which the little male was dispatched in these photos.
Thank you Ty for sharing your otter spot and the otter photos!
We were fortunate to also have a number of other wildlife encounters during our week-long stay at WIRS. A small group from the more than 3,000 black-tailed deer on Whidbey decided to forage among the poppies right in front of the cabin.
We also had a couple visits with California sea lions (one visit was concurrent with otters in the bay), harbor seals, harbor porpoise, short eared owls, northern harriers, bald eagles, whimbrels (Port Townsend), coyotes, and beaver.
One morning we awoke to find an otter had hauled a staghorn sculpin on the stairs of WIRS and finished off everything but the spines and gills.
The infrared cameras also caught an interesting predatory encounter with a mallard duckling and a river otter.
Note in the video at about one minute, a hen and a drake are disturbed lakeside. They’re upset because below waterline, a river otter is attacking their brood of ducklings. They attempted to scare it away, but as you will see, they were unsuccessful. That little, yellow fluff hanging from the otter’s mouth is a duckling.
A total of 59 fecal specimens were submitted to the Oregon Zoo, Wildlife Endocrinology Lab the following week. Many of the samples were from earlier visits, citizen scientist collections, and represent 2 years of otter activity on Whidbey. The otter specimens are part of the second round of research involving the marine foraging river otters in Island County, as well as a comparative sample of rescued, captive North American River Otters from Oregon: Tilly, Buttercup (now deceased, but whose data will still be used for comparison), Flora and Hobson at the Oregon Zoo. We are interested in better understanding otter wellness as measured through glucocorticoids, specifically cortisol as well as steroid hormonal values across the two different populations. Steroid hormones, specifically testosterone, can be moderated by parasite load, diet, and contaminant exposure. These factors can further diminish the efficacy of healthy immune systems. This will be the first comparative study of captive and native North American River Otters, although both populations are wild born, from similar geographic regions, the Pacific northwest. Below are photos of Candace Scarlata, the Director of the Oregon Zoo Wildlife Endocrine Lab and where our data samples will be residing.
