Looking for the Magic✨: A Nature Almanac
July 2026 / The Magical Sea Creatures 🐋 🐙
Welcome to Looking for the Magic✨: A Nature Almanac
✨ Sea Creatures ✨
When I look out over the ocean, it feels infinite. The rhythm of the waves drowns out the noise of the world. I love scrambling over rocks to investigate the tidepools. I seek out tiny shells, sea glass, and pieces of driftwood—little treasures to bring a bit of the sea home with me.
Hawaiʻi is my favorite place to wander the shoreline. I’m endlessly amazed by the magical creatures that call its waters home. When I slip on a scuba mask and drift above the reef, I get a view into a magical world. A school of tropical fish flashes by, an octopus melts into the coral, and suddenly a gentle sea turtle glides alongside me as if we belong here.
I imagine being underwater is like floating in outer space. It is a vast, mysterious realm that I will never fully understand—equal parts awe-inspiring and a little bit frightening. Every time I see photographs of a strange creature rising from the darkest depths of the ocean, I’m reminded of how much we don’t know. How endlessly we could explore this planet and discover a new bit of wonder each day.
Welcome to summer! This month, let’s talk about magical sea creatures!
Things included this month:
Creature Feature: The Humpback Whale & The Octopus
The Buck Moon: Arrives July 29th
July Creative Prompts
Whales hold a space in my heart. They used to sing my daughter to sleep. She lived in the NICU for the first month of her life while recovering from open-heart surgery. We were gifted a stuffed lamb that played a series of lullabies and sounds. Our favorite was the whale song.
There are many unwelcome sounds in the hospital—beeps and alarms are constantly lending more anxiety to an already anxious situation. We sat next to her bed all day, waiting for the chance to hold and feed her. When we cradled her in our arms, we would play whale song as she drifted to sleep.
Each evening, we were asked to leave at the end of visiting hours. We would instruct the night nurse to play it every time she woke up, because we were not there to hold her. The whale’s song would remind her of us. This gave us comfort that was hard to find in those days. I owe the whales a lot.
Their beautiful songs ripple through the ocean
Male humpback whales create one of the most beautiful and haunting sounds in the ocean. Their echoing melodies, known as whale songs, can travel for hundreds of miles underwater. For centuries, these mysterious sounds have captivated sailors, storytellers, and scientists.
Researchers believe these songs play an important role in communication, especially during the breeding season, yet it is not fully understood. A single song can last for hours—sometimes even an entire day.
Long before marine biologists studied whale vocalizations, sailors imagined the haunting sounds drifting through the night belonged to sea spirits, mermaids, or enchanted creatures.
Imagine lying awake aboard a wooden ship, hearing a whale sing through the hull beneath you. Without knowing its source, it might have felt quite otherworldly.
In folklore, whales were often seen as beings that could move between worlds. They vanished into the unseen depths, then returned to the surface to leap through the air. Their songs were imagined as messages carried between the sea and the spirit world. They were carried through the water long before humans were around to hear them.
Interesting Whale Facts:
✧ They carry an invisible map across the sea
Humpback whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal, traveling up to 5,000 miles or more each way between cold feeding waters and warm tropical breeding grounds.
✧ Every tail is unique
The black-and-white pattern on the underside of a humpback’s tail, called its fluke, is unique to that individual, like a fingerprint. Scientists use photographs of these patterns to identify and track whales over many years.
✧ Together, they create circles of bubbles that become underwater nets
Some humpbacks use a remarkable hunting technique called bubble-net feeding. A group of whales swims in a circle while blowing bubbles, creating a rising “net” that traps fish. Then they swim upward together with their mouths open to feed.
✧ They are very acrobatic
Despite weighing up to 40 tons, humpback whales often leap completely out of the water in a behavior called breaching. Scientists aren’t entirely sure why they do it. It may be for communication, removing parasites, play, or a combination of reasons.
✧ Mothers and calves share a remarkable bond
A humpback calf drinks rich milk and stays close to its mother for many months, learning the migration route and the skills it needs to survive.
✧ Whales nourish the ocean
Whales play an important role in marine ecosystems. Their waste brings nutrients toward the ocean’s surface, helping support the growth of tiny marine plants called phytoplankton. Those microscopic organisms are the beginning of the food chain for ocean creatures.
So basically, whales hold the cycle of life within them. They also hold the secrets of the sea.
I think we get so used to being human, we forget how other creatures operate in completely fascinating ways. And when we witness this, it fills us with such wonder. It makes us push beyond the boring boundaries of our so familiar existence.
Octopuses are one of those creatures, so full of magic tricks, they will enchant you.
They also go in that category of Possible aliens on Earth for me.
They could also go in the category of Superheroes. They can transform their shape, become invisible, and have 7 brains and 3 hearts.
Interesting Octopus Facts:
✧ Octopuses have three hearts
Two hearts pump blood to the gills, while the third pumps it to the rest of the body. When they swim, their main heart actually stops beating, which is one reason they prefer crawling to swimming—it preserves their energy.
✧ They can change color and texture instantly
Octopuses can transform their skin to match rocks, coral, sand, or even ripple like seaweed in the current. They can magically camouflage themselves before your eyes in seconds.
✧ Their arms think for themselves
Each arm of the octopus is said to have a “mini brain.” Most of their neurons are in their arms, not their brain. Each arm can taste, touch, and explore independently of the other.
✧ They are escape artists
Octopuses can squeeze through any opening larger than their beak (the only hard parrot-like part of their body, located in the center of their arms). If their beak fits, they can fit. They have no bones.
There are documented cases of them escaping aquariums, crawling across floors, and returning to the ocean or nearby tanks.
✧ They are mostly nocturnal and deeply private
Many species hunt at night and spend their days hidden in dens they decorate with shells, rocks, and debris. They have been observed digging up special shells and dragging them back to their homes.
✧ They are highly intelligent problem-solvers
They can open jars, navigate mazes, recognize human faces, and learn by observation. Some scientists describe them as among the most intelligent invertebrates on Earth.
Add to your summer watch list
If you want to witness the magic of octopuses firsthand, I can't recommend My Octopus Teacher enough. It's more than a documentary about these fascinating sea creatures; it's the remarkable story of a man who forms an extraordinary bond with a wild octopus. By the end, you'll never look at them the same again. You will be smitten.
☽✶ This full moon name is attributed to the Algonquin Indigenous Peoples.☽✶
The Buck Moon will peak on Wednesday, July 29th at 7:36 a.m. PST. This means you can get a pretty good view on both the 28th and 29th of July.
By early spring, the deer mating season is over. The base of the buck’s antlers weakens, becomes soft, and falls off.
New ones begin to emerge quickly. Their antlers are the fastest-growing tissues in the animal kingdom.
By July, they have grown back to their full glory, covered in a velvety coating. This coating nourishes them until late summer, when the buck rubs it off, revealing the bone beneath.
The Buck Moon symbolizes a time when things come to fruition. It is trusting in one’s own becoming. We can shed what we don’t need, again and again. Then we will emerge stronger than before.
✨ 🦌 The Buck Moon Meditation:
The Buck Moon is a moon of becoming.
Just as a buck grows a new set of antlers each summer, you are growing too.
Not everything moves as quickly as we think it should.
Some of your greatest transformations are happening a little bit each day.
Ask yourself what is growing.
Make a cup of tea. Light a candle. Find a quiet place to sit.
Close your eyes for a moment and take a slow, deep breath.
Think back to who you were one year ago.
How have you grown?
Maybe you’ve become more present.
More open.
More creative.
Maybe you’ve learned to trust yourself just a little more.
Take out a journal and write down five ways you’ve grown, especially the ones no one else would notice.
Tuck this paper somewhere you can see it. Let it remind you that small things add up over time.
Then step outside.
Stand beneath the Buck Moon.
Remember that antlers don’t appear overnight.
All good things take time.
It is all the little things we do that add up.
Trust that what you’re becoming is already unfolding.
You don’t have to rush it.
Nature never does.
Let nature inspire you this month. Here are some ideas!
✦ Sea Creature Field Trip
If you live by a beach, head out to the tide pools. If not, head to the aquarium. My favorite thing to watch at the aquarium is the jellyfish. They are so very magical. It always inspires new art in me to go see what I will find. This is some art inspired by magical creatures:
✦ Moon Garden
Do you have plants in your backyard that attract moths? Buy a plant like a moonflower or evening primrose. My two favorites are night-blooming jasmine and honeysuckle. They smell so good. You won’t be sorry.
✦ Moth Inspector
So this is fun.
Put a white sheet up in your backyard. Hang the sheet vertically between two trees, on a fence, or from a clothesline.
Shine the light directly onto the sheet.
(black lights work best, but any will do the trick)Turn off nearby outdoor lights if possible.
Wait quietly. Moths often begin arriving within 15–30 minutes, though it depends on where you live.
Then see all the magical moths you never knew lived in your own backyard! The thing is, we don’t notice most of them in the dark. This is especially fun if you have kids or friends who geek out about nature. 🙋♀️
✦ Magic Hour Walks
Being outside at magic hour in the summertime is the BEST. It is that short window when the sun is about to set. Everything is cast in the most golden lighting. The heat has subsided. And the air is so warm and inviting. Make time for a lot of magic hour walks.
✦ Buy a Sketchbook
A new sketchbook for summer—totally dreamy. There is nothing like doing a little sketching and journaling outside during summer.
Until Next Time✨ 🌙,
Kim
P.S. Tell me in the comments one of your favorite things to do in the summertime!
P.S.S. If you enjoyed this, please give it a 💛 or share it with another. It helps others discover it as well. 🤗
My favorite summer activity is to get up early to sit on my back patio to watch the birds and drink coffee as the sun comes up.
During the summer I love looking at all my flowers in the morning with a cup of coffee. I have a pollinator garden so I get to see all the bees that rested overnight on my plants.