In Seattle, whales were spotted near shore, the WNBA may introduce million-dollar contracts for stars, and birds are using cigarette butts to protect nests from parasites.
Whales off West Seattle: orcas and a gray whale in the bay
Recently, residents of West Seattle witnessed a breathtaking sight — whales appearing in the nearshore waters. Observers first reported a group of orcas, and later a gray whale was seen in the bay, turning an ordinary day into a true nature adventure for city dwellers.
According to West Seattle Blog, the first report came at 1:58 p.m. from local expert Kirsti Mühl. She noted that the orcas, moving south along the Seattle ferry channel, were heading into the bay, so they would be best seen from the northern part of West Seattle. That sparked real excitement among residents, many of whom went to the shore hoping to see the majestic marine animals. Orcas, also known as killer whales, are actually the largest members of the dolphin family. They are known for their high intelligence, complex social structure, and distinctive black-and-white coloring. Their appearance in urban waters is always significant, as these predators typically prefer more open seas.
By 3:09 p.m. the situation became even more interesting. A comment on the post reported orcas seen near the downtown waterfront. Meanwhile, Kirsti Mühl reported that a gray whale was now being observed in the bay near Anchor/Luna Park in West Seattle. Gray whales are baleen whales known for their long migrations that can cover thousands of kilometers. They feed by filtering small crustaceans from the seafloor, and their presence in the bay may be linked to foraging or resting during migration. The simultaneous presence of two such different whale species near a city shoreline is fairly rare and indicates a rich local marine ecosystem.
These sightings underscore the importance of keeping Puget Sound waters clean and of acting responsibly around marine wildlife. Whales appearing so close to the city remind Seattle residents that they share space with remarkable wild animals and call for caution when boating and whale-watching. For many, it was a chance to briefly step away from daily cares and witness a piece of wildlife right at the city’s doorstep.
WNBA deal could make Seattle Storm stars millionaires by 2026
Historic changes are brewing in professional women’s basketball that would directly affect one of the most decorated teams in the league — the Seattle Storm. According to a tentative agreement currently being discussed in the WNBA, the league could introduce a fundamentally new salary-cap structure starting with the 2026 season, opening the way for the first players to earn annual contracts of $1 million. This would be a landmark moment in a sport that has long lagged behind its male counterparts in player pay.
KOMO News reports that a key element of the new system would be raising the team salary cap to $15 million. For context: the salary cap is the maximum total amount a club can spend on player contracts in a season. Raising it would directly allow teams to offer larger contracts to stars. Under the current league structure, this creates conditions for leading players — such as Storm standouts Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike, or Ezi Magbegor, whose postgame emotions were captured by photographer Steph Chambers — to potentially surpass the symbolic $1 million-a-year mark by 2026. That figure is not just symbolic; it signals growing commercial stability and popularity for the league. Negotiations on the deal are being held between WNBA leadership and the Board of Governors, which includes team owners, and final approval could dramatically change the financial landscape. Introducing such contracts would not only fairly compensate the league’s best players but also boost the WNBA’s competitiveness in the global sports market, helping retain talent in the league rather than losing players to overseas competitions in the offseason. For Storm fans, it’s also good news, as it increases the chances of keeping their star roster together and pursuing further wins. Thus, the tentative WNBA agreement is more than a financial maneuver; it’s a step toward long-awaited parity and recognition of women’s basketball.
Clever birds and their unusual habit: cigarette butts as parasite defense
In cities around the world — from the Galápagos Islands to Mexico City and Poland — birds are displaying surprising behavior: they collect cigarette butts and weave them into their nests. A new study published in Animal Behaviour sheds light on a possible reason for this odd habit: toxic substances in tobacco may protect birds and their chicks from blood-sucking parasites. This urban adaptation shows how inventive birds can be in the struggle to survive.
Researchers at the University of Lodz in Poland focused on blue tits — small, brightly colored birds common across Europe. These birds nest in tree cavities or nest boxes, which can also become ideal refuges for ticks, fleas, and blood-sucking flies that threaten both adults and helpless chicks. Scientists set out to test whether cigarette butts, which contain about 4,000 chemical compounds including nicotine, heavy metals, and aromatic hydrocarbons, could act as a natural repellent. They created three types of nests: ordinary nests (control group), nests with sterilized artificial moss and cotton, and nests containing two used cigarette butts. As evolutionary ecologist Michał Gładalski, who led the study, noted, the trickiest part of the experiment was mechanically “smoking” the cigarettes using bellows to avoid harming human lungs.
The results, obtained thirteen days after hatching, were striking: blood analyses showed that chicks in sterile nests and in nests with butts were healthier than those in ordinary nests. After the chicks fledged, researchers analyzed remaining nest material and found parasites were almost entirely absent in the sterile nests, while nests with butts had slightly fewer parasites than the control group, particularly fleas and blood-sucking flies. However, other experts emphasize the effect might have been stronger if birds had collected the butts themselves and used them more actively. For example, in Mexico City, as described in The Seattle Times article, house sparrows and finches add an average of eight to ten butts to their nests and “disassemble” them to increase filter contact with chicks. Moreover, follow-up experiments showed female finches respond to rising tick numbers in the nest by adding even more butts.
This phenomenon is not limited to Poland or Mexico. On the Galápagos Islands, where finch nests are attacked by invasive “vampire” flies, researchers found that tobacco reduced the parasites’ survival in lab conditions, although in the wild birds have not yet learned to use enough butts for effective protection. But this adaptation has a dark side: studies in Mexico by colleague Constantino Masias García and Monserrat Suárez-Rodríguez showed that despite improvements in hatching success, survival, and immune response in chicks, their blood cells exhibited signs of genetic damage from exposure to toxins in the butts. The long-term consequences remain unknown, which adds a worrying aspect to what seems like a clever bird strategy.
Despite the relatively small sample size in the Polish study (99 birds were studied), ecologists praise the work. Sarah Bush, an ecologist at the University of Utah who studies host–parasite coevolution, called the team’s efforts “monumental,” highlighting the difficulty of field research with birds. The main takeaway Michał Gładalski wants to convey is simple: “Birds are clever.” Their ability to use anthropogenic materials, such as cigarette butts, to solve natural problems is a vivid example of behavioral flexibility in a rapidly changing world. Yet this adaptation also serves as a reminder of humanity’s profound impact on nature, where even our waste becomes part of ecological survival strategies.
