West Seattle wildlife: Snowy sightings – and some ID help sought

| Coyotes | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Mid-afternoon wildlife break! First, the top photo is from Felicia, who’s looking for ID help:

I live along Harbor Ave, close to the West Seattle Bridge, and (Tuesday) night I’d been getting up to look out the window all evening to check out the snowfall. A little after 10 pm I saw this guy on the wire just below my balcony. He hung out for a while and let me take some photos. The cars below didn’t seem to bother him, he even seemed to watch them go by. He looked up at me a few times, when my camera made noise, and finally flew off. Beautiful! I did a bit of research and believe he was either a spotted or barred owl. If anyone can tell for sure, I’d be interested in which one. It was an unexpected and amazing moment to share the wonder of the quietly falling snow with this beautiful creature.

Next photo is our latest reported coyote sighting, sent yesterday morning by Paul:

Paul explained that was “a Fairmount ‘yote (Wednesday) morning getting back on the street after taking to the brush to get around me.”

Paul January 13, 2011 (3:58 pm)

100% a Barred Owl. I have one of these up north that lives in my barn.

d January 13, 2011 (4:07 pm)

Concurred. Barred.

Next?
I love this game. :)

LB January 13, 2011 (4:13 pm)

I think it’s a barred owl.

On a sidenote, one showed up outside my office window at 4th & Cedar (north end of the Belltown neighborhood) last year

WS Steve January 13, 2011 (4:25 pm)

My wife and I spied one of these late one night as we hung out on our porch. We just saw a sillhouette but it was clearly an owl of some kind. I’d love to lure a pair of owls into living in our neighborhood to keep the rodents down.

E January 13, 2011 (4:43 pm)

My husband and I saw an owl just like this one at the Menashe house while checking out Xmas lights. I have a pic but it’s hard to see:-(

JumboJim January 13, 2011 (4:51 pm)

Yes, this is a Barred Owl. They are fairly common in West Seattle. Spotted Owls are very, very rarely found away from mountain or extensive tracts of lowland forests.
Cool pic!

toddinwestwood January 13, 2011 (5:02 pm)

I have been awaiting an owl post for a while. He didnt have a message tied to his leg did he?

Kayleigh January 13, 2011 (5:14 pm)

Beautiful!

mondo January 13, 2011 (7:25 pm)

we think its a Spotted Owl..

JumboJim January 13, 2011 (8:04 pm)

Ok mondo, why do you think its a Spotted Owl and not a Barred Owl? Because someone spotted it? Because it’s not behind bars??

Eric January 13, 2011 (8:11 pm)

Very good looking coyote. He seems a bit small, perhaps it is just a pup.

Mike January 13, 2011 (10:31 pm)

Darn cool pictures, especially the owl. And a sign of how important our greenbelts are. This coyote is probably part of a family that ranges thru the Duwamish Head greenbelt area, down to Hanford and maybe further south. They all are very attractive animals, well-fed and groomed. I guess it’s a nice place to live.

Petunia January 14, 2011 (9:27 pm)

We have a barred owl in our ravine (above Salty’s). That’s a barred owl in the photo..

zman January 15, 2011 (7:36 am)

This is rather ironic, as I saw an owl in my backyard on Tuesday night. I live in Port Orchard. I’ve never seen one before, but it was easy to identify as an owl…it flew away before I could get a camera.

Rainier January 15, 2011 (9:31 am)

My husband was running through the West Duwamish Greenbelt a couple weeks ago and had an owl experience. He ran along the trail, and an owl swooped down at him, he felt the owl just above his head. Husband then ran several more paces, deciding to turn around. Owl swooped down again, nabbed the hat off his head, flew a few feet, and dropped the hat right in my husband’s hands. The Greenbelt is truly amazing!