West Seattle shores: Low tide, lots of brant, more whale-watching

April 9, 2012 at 1:34 pm | In Seen at sea, West Seattle beaches, West Seattle news | 5 Comments

Another orca-sighting alert (via Elissa, on the WSB Facebook wall) sent us down to Beach Drive to take a look – but this was the only black-and-white-marked wildlife group we spotted – the beautiful brant who come here to eat eelgrass. (Here’s what Alki resident Guy Smith wrote about them for WSB in fall 2009. Note – brant are easily spooked, so if you see them, shhh!) The whale tips came from multiple sources; though we never saw them, that’s par for our course, but others including Jeff Hogan from Killer Whale Tales, plus two city Park Rangers, had better luck. And Orca Network‘s Facebook page says two pods may be in the Sound today. Meantime, the lowest tide of the month (-2.3 feet) is bottoming out right about now; if you have the chance to tidewalk tomorrow, it’ll be almost this low (-2.1 feet) at 2:23 pm – here’s the chart.

5 Comments

  1. I saw some Orcas about 11 today just north of Vashon while walking at Lincoln Park – beautiful site!

    Comment by Tbone — 8:48 pm April 9, 2012 #

  2. While Seattle does have a small population of Brant over the winter, most of these Brant have spent the winter in Mexico, and are migrating back to Alaska.

    Comment by Lura Ercolano — 11:01 pm April 9, 2012 #

  3. Lura: Do you know if Brant nest in this region or are we just on their flyway as they head to Alaska to breed?

    Comment by ws_s — 11:26 am April 10, 2012 #

  4. I think they all nest far, far north。

    Comment by Lura Ercolano — 8:55 pm April 10, 2012 #

  5. Thanks Lura.

    Comment by ws_s — 6:59 pm April 12, 2012 #

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