“Pigeon Guillemots: Red-footed, Charming, and Well-Connected”

During their summer breeding season, Pigeon Guillemots seem so completely absorbed with each other that you’d never suspect their social circles might also include kingfisher, puffins, rhinoceros auklets, eagles, cormorants, mergansers, octopus, orcas, dozens of species of fish and invertebrates, and even sea lions. In this one-hour class, I will share personal observations, stories from fellow volunteer community scientists with the Salish Sea Guillemot Network, and documented-but-buried accounts of the guillemot’s fascinating and often unorthodox relationships with other animals in the natural world. These stories—and more!—are the subject of newest book, The Bird with Flaming Red Feet, coming from Mountaineers Books in April 2026.

Sound Waters University is an annual one-day community-centered educational event. (My class is from 10:50-11:50 a.m.). The goal of SWU is to inspire individual action by increasing awareness of our local waters, beaches, bluffs, and upland habitats to sustain a healthy Salish Sea. The event draws 350 attendees and features presentations by marine educators, scientists and naturalists from around the region. For more information and to order tickets, please click here.