Nature Blog Network

The scenic pacific northwest of the United States in widely considered to be one of the most spectacular places in the world, much less the nation, with a natural history pedigree few places can similarly claim. The region, a wonderland of snow-capped peaks and ancient moss-covered trees, practically begs for the naturalist’s sensibilities, for photos and drawings and words to document and describe the green and blue and gray. That sounds like the just the workfor a nature blogger to me, and fortunately for us the NBN offers an array of bloggers from the Puget Basin and parts beyond.

Nature knows no political boundaries, and though I’ll focus specifically on the states of Washington and Oregon here, it would be wrong of me to forget the similarly beautiful and equally rich coasts, forests and mountains of British Columbia just across our northern border.  For that, I would encourage you all to check out an old post on Canadian blogs where many of them can be found.  The scenes and species found there are rather similar to those featured here, equally beautiful and equally blog-worthy.

Though I’ve never visited this part of the country it’s on my short list.  Let’s find out why…

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- The Northwest Nature Nut is about as pure an expression of this theme as any blog out there.  Stories of life in Oregon, often accompanied by big beautiful photos, can be found here.  It’s really lovely stuff.

- The lush greenery is a big part of the Pacific Northwest, but it comes at a price.  The region’s rain is as storied as its beauty, and Brambleberries in the Rain seeks to capture this yin to the otherwise scenic yang, with a gardening bent.

- Some of the area’s most dramatic residents can be found just off the coast.  North America’s Pacific coast is one of the most diverse temperate marine ecosystems on the planet, and for most people that means whales.  Fortunately, Orca Watcher is covering that beat with aplomb.

- Birding guide and author John Rakestraw has the sort of blog you’d expect from someone of those vocations, namely, a good one with nice photos and great insight.  You’d likely not find a better authority on birding Oregon either, since he, quite literally, wrote the book on it.

- Toandos Peninsula appears to be the sort of place where you can certainly get Back to the Land, and life there, surrounded by the beauty of Washington’s coast, seems like the sort of thing you’d want to get back to as often as possible.

- One of my favorite things about visiting a new part of the country, or world for that matter, is discovering what birds people have coming to their feeders.  Often times, there are a few lifers in that bunch folks consider the “regulars”.  If Portland Oregon Backyard Birds is any indication, I’d have a few ticks to add if I ever visited.

- Though he calls himself the Pacific NW Backyard Birder, I suspect Greg Gillson has a rather liberal definition of backyard, since he seems to get photos of birds from all over the region.  I’ll let it slide this time, but only because the photos are so great.

- Laura Goes Birding is a pretty straight ahead name for a blog about, well, Laura going birding.  That she finds so much and documents it so well is a bonus for all of us readers.

- If you’ve been following the Nature Blog Network for any length of time, you know our former colleague John, known around nature blogging circles as the Born Again Bird Watcher.  His Portland area blog draws deep from the nature and culture of the region, and is as good a place to wrap up this region’s offerings as any.  Excellent stuff here, as you all likely well know.

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Next week is Labor Day weekend here in the US, and as far as I’m concerned that goes for bloggers too.  I’ll have something up anyway, if not a full Networking post.  I hope I can pick your brains out there for some future topics you’d like to see, but more on that next week.

Til then!