Have you ever seen a green-winged teal, or a teal green budding sea anemone?  Did you know that many of our local pollinators are colorful bees and wasps that nest in sand dunes and sandy beach bluffs? Would you like to learn how to build a salt marsh for shore birds? Have you heard fish sing?

Kwiaht and the local volunteers of the Fisherman Bay Marine Health Observatory invite you to discover the extraordinary seashore habitats, wildlife and plants of San Juan County’s largest estuary on Sunday July 26. Choose from a dozen hour-long walks, talks, and wildlife-watching activities around Fisherman Bay from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. hosted by Lopez scientists and naturalists, ranging from birds and botany to beetles, from marine biology and oceanography to climate change, seafood safety and managing erosion. All is free and family friendly.

For birders there will be morning, early afternoon and late afternoon walks to see seabirds, shore birds and raptors around the mud flats, salt marshes and the Spit, led by members of Kwiaht’s five-year-old seabird survey team, which uses bird diversity as an indicator of the health of the bay ecosystem as a whole.

Bring children to a special day for the bay station on the Islands Marine Center docks where they can peek beneath the floats at delicate, colorful sea slugs, giant sea anemones and spiny sea urchins. A decorator crab, pygmy rock crab, or spaghetti worm may also make an appearance.

If you have ever wondered how safe it is to eat crab from the bay, bring a crab leg to Kwiaht’s “Crab Clinic” at the IMC dock for testing, and learn about the latest research on water quality and bio-remediation. Stick around the docks for a plankton party using a microscope, sketchpad and camera to explore the world of diatoms and dinoflagellates in a drop of bay water. Later in the day a special hydrophone will be set up to eavesdrop on the love songs of fish in the bay.

Your tour guides include the Kwiaht researchers Madrona Murphy, Russel Barsh, Nathan Hodges, Joe Behnke and Anna Meyer; the Land Bank’s Lopez land steward Tim Clark; Lopez High School science teacher Jen Romo; wildlife artist Daphne Morris; and Odlin Park caretakers and naturalists Beth and David St. George.

A complete program of the day’s activities is available at the Kwiaht office in Lopez Plaza, from local businesses such as Blossom and the Lopez Bookshop and on Kwiaht’s Facebook page.