Tacoma Nature Center

05/30/2026

Thank you for your support! We are proud to announce that we have been awarded reader's choice for Favorite Local Day Camp/Class: Outdoor/Nature. We are glad so many people find value in the fun and nature-based learning we provide for children through these camps.
Find all the winners here: https://www.seattleschild.com/seattles-child-family-favorites/

05/28/2026

We’re excited for the Point Defiance Flower & Garden Festival on June 6-7. You can find Nature Center staff in the Children's Garden area. We hope to see you there for some nature-based activities! It’ll be a weekend of blooming delights with hands-on workshops, garden tours, food trucks, shopping, lectures, live music, a beer and wine-tasting garden and more. We are happy to share that this year the festival even has workshops, tours and activities designed just for kids! Visit

Enjoy a showcase of gardening in the Pacific Northwest with hands-on programming, garden tours, food trucks, shopping, lectures, live music and more.

05/27/2026

Wonder Wednesdays...Did you ever wonder how far migrating hummingbirds fly?
Hummingbirds go the farthest of any bird in proportion to body length. For a 2.5-inch hummingbird, the few thousand miles traveled between breeding grounds and winter habitats is positively huge. The rufous hummingbird (pictured) has the longest migration of any hummingbird species. Their annual trek covers more than 3,000 miles from Alaska and Canada to southern Mexico.

05/26/2026

Nest cams are a great way to learn more about how birds raise their young. This one is a nice insight into the life of hatchling red-tailed hawks. Content warning: small mammal and bird carcasses in plain view and being torn up and fed to little ones. If you can get past that content though, it is worth watching this fascinating behavior up close in this non-invasive format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tveeiZRM8r4 Watch Big Red serve up a meal to her three nestlings on May 11. Big news for Big Red and her family! The Red-tailed Hawks nesting above Cornell University’s main campus welcomed three fluffy hatchlings on May 3, 4, and 8. Despite persistent rain during

05/25/2026

Memorial Day is a federal holiday for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is also considered to be the unofficial beginning of summer.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we get to experience a unique weather pattern characterized by mild temperatures, low humidity, and an abundance of sunshine. The region's proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding mountain ranges create a microclimate that moderates temperatures, with average highs ranging from 75°F to 85°F. This results in a pleasant and comfortable atmosphere, perfect for spending time outdoors. The low humidity also reduces the risk of heat exhaustion, making summer an excellent time to discover the region's natural beauty. We hope you have many lovely adventures this summer!

05/24/2026

Bird of the Week: Dark-eyed juncos are one of the most common birds in our area, often spotted hopping and flitting around yards, especially if there are bird feeders there. A recent estimate set the continents junco total population at approximately 630 million individuals. There can be some variety in the colors, but some traits are the same across every part of their range - a pale bill, white belly and white outer tail feathers. The males generally have a very dark black hood and the females usually present with a more faded looking hood.

05/23/2026

Content warning - you probably shouldn't be eating when you read this. We know diapers and potty training are a huge chore for human parents, but did you know bird parents manage waste by creating what's called a 'f***l sac'? A f***l sac is a tough, flexible bag enclosing the f***s of most passerine nestlings; it allows the parents to remove and dispose of the f***s more easily - parents sometimes grab the f***l sacs as they emerge from a nestling’s cloaca. Many parents carry the sacs some distance from the nest and drop them, but others eat them. Diaper duty isn't looking so bad suddenly is it?

05/22/2026

Most of us love to see wildlife, but sometimes they can become a bit of a problem in your home or yard. Here is an example of that and some good information about the protection of wildlife and how you can get help if needed.

We’ve seen some unusual situations with wild animals over the years so have learned to never say never. However, when a caller reported that a marmot was living in her attic, we were a little skeptical. But here’s the evidence- this marmot had the audacity to not only chew a hole in the roof and stick her head out like she pays the mortgage, but also chew through wildlife screen placed over the hole, then chewed a second hole in the roof when the first was covered with metal!

While this is extreme, it isn’t out of the ordinary for small mammals this time of year to find their way under your deck, into crawlspaces, or garages and sheds to make nests and have babies. If you find yourself with a wildlife roommate, check out WDFW’s web page on Evicting animals from buildings at https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/living/nuisance-wildlife/evicting. Or you can hire a wildlife control operator (WCO) to do the work for you. We have a list of WCOs at https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/living/nuisance-wildlife/wildlife-control-operators.

It was a WCO that finally evicted the stubborn marmot roommate. It managed to avoid three traps in the attic but eventually wandered out and into a trap with a one-way door that had been secured to the roof. End of story? No. Apparently this marmot didn’t know the meaning of “one way” because it somehow got out of the trap. The homeowner and WCO were equally stubborn though and the marmot was finally confined to a trap it couldn’t get out of. The attic was checked to make sure the marmot hadn’t left any babies behind and nothing was found.

Photo: A marmot sticks its' head out the hole in the roof of a Spokane-area home. Photo courtesy Trevor Smith.

05/21/2026

Well, hello there! This close up view of a gosling peering through the grass was taken 5 years ago and recently shared again by Mike on his page. We love his beaver stuff but enjoy that there are other species photographed on his adventures as well!