Airboat

Airboat docked at a slough near the Columbia River. Researchers gaze at the swarms of gulls, terns, pelicans, and swallows on our way to a sampling site. Near their stop, they stumble across invasive flowering rush. Along the shoreline, the team sees dozens of flowering rush sprouts, planted from their brown knobby bulbils, and dispersed here from the current, wind, or hitchhiking on driftwood.