Photo by Lachlan Pope

Pigeon Guillemot pair.

Whidbey Audubon Society members are no strangers to Pigeon Guillemots. Since 2003, these lively, charming seabirds have gained a wide and devoted following on the island as the focal species of the Salish Sea Guillemot Network. There are now 250 volunteer community scientists in this ever-expanding network of “guillemoteers” and Maria Mudd Ruth is one of them. Though her first encounters with the guillemots on Puget Sound were centered on data collection, Maria’s hour-long surveys led to a curiosity-fueled, multi-year exploration of the guillemots and the lives they live beyond the data sheets. Maria’s new book, The Bird with the Flaming Red Feet, is informed by her thirteen years among the guillemots on an inlet near her home in Olympia. Her slide presentation is a celebration of the Pigeon Guillemot, the Salish Sea Network, community science and the joys of “one-bird birding.”

Maria Mudd Ruth is the author of more than a dozen books on natural history topics for general audiences, young readers, birders and non-birders alike. Her recent books include critically acclaimed Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet and award-winning A Sideways Look at Clouds. Since 2013, she has been a volunteer community scientist with the Salish Sea Guillemot Network and is the team lead at a raucous guillemot colony on Eld Inlet. To learn more about Maria, visit her website.

Join us for this in-person meeting on Thursday, May 14 at the Coupeville Recreation Hall, 901 NW Alexander Street. Doors open at 7 p.m. for refreshments and socializing. The annual membership meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. and the program begins at about 7:30. The public is welcome to this free program.