WHALE SIGHTING: Humpback seen off West Seattle

| West Seattle news | Whales

Thanks to Richard for the texted report: “Humpback whale heading north from just south of Brace Point. A couple hundred feet offshore. Just now.”

webcami October 18, 2023 (4:44 pm)

That was very cool! Huge creature.

Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 18, 2023 (7:11 pm)

It was awesome!Folks got to see it from lowman to West point, close in most of the wayFun day for wildlife in west Seattle, especially with the 🦌 deer in Lincoln Park!

Suzanne October 18, 2023 (8:59 pm)

Missed the whale … again! I’m also wondering about the deer in Lincoln Park.
TMT October 18, 2023 (9:05 pm)

DEER, Inquiring minds wanna know…😊

Julia October 18, 2023 (8:49 pm)

Deer? More info please!

Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 18, 2023 (11:06 pm)

A young buck was in the proposed pickleball site. It was amazing 🤩

Suzanne October 19, 2023 (3:11 am)

That really is amazing news. This is the last reported sighting was exactly 3 years ago (10/19/2019) — https://westseattleblog.com/2019/10/west-seattle-wildlife-deer-sighting/.  Previous sightings were in 2016 and 2017. I hope he’s healthy, getting everything he needs, and safe. I wonder where he spends his time and how large his territory is.
- Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 19, 2023 (10:48 am)
  
  Likely swam over from Vashon.
RuttingBuck? October 19, 2023 (9:04 am)

That is amazing!
A deer in the 135 acre park goes to the only paved pad inside the park, surrounded on three sides by high chainlink fence with nothing to graze and Lance occupying its entrance with a seat and umbrella!
Did you witness the young buck or was it a reported sighting?
And of course, please share the photos and iPhone videos?
- Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 19, 2023 (10:49 am)
  
  You do know that there is soil in there and other natural surfaces? There are also other entrances, In fact he used one of them; the Southeast entranceHe walked in and looked around went back out and then was chased by off leash dogs unfortunately
  - Ruttingbuck October 19, 2023 (1:44 pm)
    
    I do know that one can now see the old tennis court stripes.
    So, no, I do not know that there is soil there other than the amount similar to some of our soiled streets (certainly no plants on the courts).
    And I remain confused.
    Did you personally witness the buck go that route and his behavior as described?
    Or was it reported to you by another and you are sharing?
  - JK October 19, 2023 (7:09 pm)
    
    I happened to be walking by when the deer made a visit to the pickleball site, Thursday afternoon around 6:00 pm. The deer was not chased off by offleash dogs. It trotted away slowly to the south as people walked towards it (slowly) taking pictures.
    - Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 20, 2023 (6:20 am)
      
      Obviously you missed that interaction then

Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 19, 2023 (7:41 am)

Seen again last night along beach drive

Kersti Elisabeth Muul October 19, 2023 (7:54 am)

It’s

Patronus!

Ruttingbuck October 19, 2023 (9:32 am)

Photos please?
It must prefer pavement!

JustSarah October 19, 2023 (10:02 am)

They’re cool to see, but please don’t encourage the deer to stick around. Deer carry ticks (Lyme disease), cause the most U.S. fatalities annually due to their tendency to collide with cars (not their fault per se, but noteworthy), can be very dangerous to eat due to the proliferation of chronic wasting disease, a prion disease (like mad cow) that transmits to humans through deer meat and is not curable nor detectable by test, and are wreaking havoc on eastern forests. And very recently there’s evidence that COVID is mutating in deer and can transmit back to humans. So far our region is somewhat insulated from these issues because our deer population isn’t as dense as in the eastern half of our country, and we have more diversity in our tree species to protect somewhat from the forest death, but still… Deer are not great for us or our environment. See:

JustSarah October 19, 2023 (11:11 am)

This podcast episode had great info on the various causes for eastern forest die-off, including a ton of info on how much harm deer cause: https://youtu.be/Fn3GyOSJ3uQ?si=A14UTNbOvUlzrDSA But it’s an insanely long listen and you do need to have a high tolerance for banter, side topics, and low/mid production quality.