Thanks to West Seattle photographer Steven Rice for these images of sightings today:

Above, he says, that’s “Vietnam’s CB-8022 (formerly USCGC Mellon) as viewed from the north end of West Seattle around 11:30 this morning.” (A smaller US Coast Guard vessel is in the photo too.) Mellon was decommissioned by the USCG five years ago; at the time, it was to be transferred to Bahrain. It is reported to have been acquired by Vietnam in 2023.

Steven also sent this montage of “four shots taken around 12:30 from the north end of West Seattle today. This is the third time I’ve heard and/or seen it since April 4th. Apparently it’s an F-15SA used for various types of training exercises.”

We’re still researching, but F-15SA is reported to be a Boeing-built fighter jet that flies for Saudi Arabia.

(Photo by James Tilley, from 2023 Seahawks-gameday flyover by Growlers from Whidbey)

The Mariners‘ season starts tomorrow, with an evening game vs. Oakland at T-Mobile Park. And the Mariners’ media memo for the homestand reveals the 7:10 pm game will be preceded by a flyover. Since that often means the participating aircraft are sighted over West Seattle in advance, we asked M’s spokesperson Adam Gersch for specifics:”U.S. Navy, flying a pair of EA-18G fighter jets in a south-to-north flight pattern.” Those are also known as Growlers, many of which are based at NAS Whidbey Island.

Sent by Kersti Muul:

No hints at the owner’s ID, but she spotted this while passing by at 35th/Holden (see Station 37 in the background) and propped it up against a utility pole. She says the contents include medicine, sunscreen, personal-care items but “seems definitely stolen and dumped.” (When items seem just plain lost, this is our board for those.)

If you’ve been in The Junction today, you might have seen the workers hanging lights in trees. As reported here recently, the West Seattle Junction Association is expanding its tree lighting, and this is phase 2, along California SW between Oregon and Genesee. Phase 1 of the expansion added lights to trees along SW Alaska.

(WSB photo)

It wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day in West Seattle if we didn’t get a chance to visit 41st Avenue SW north of Admiral Way to check whether the mysterious green stripe has been refreshed. Yes, it has, and our photo above shows the proof. Who does this? Still a mystery … but a commenter in the ’00s said it dates back to the ’70s! (The Seattle Irish Week celebration downtown includes a green street stripe too, but that’s done a bit more ceremoniously.)

We don’t cross the bridge often, so we hadn’t seen this sign until Lisa texted this photo today:

We have noticed this sign a few weeks ago. It’s so hopeful. We love West Seattle! It says “Your mistakes don’t define you.”

Love, Lisa, Ben, and Max The Third

Commentary on the crashes? The concrete? Or? Lisa says it’s on both sides of the southwest end of the bridge.

From the WSB inbox this Valentine’s Day:

Jerry Simmons photographed the Steller’s Jay, above; below, Gabe Cadwell shares the pic of “Cupid Lilly”:

Hope you and yours are having a love-ly Valentine’s night.

Thanks for the photos, both sent this afternoon:

ISS OVER ALKI: The photo is from Steven Rice, who explains, “This was around 6:15 pm. The International Space Station was visible for well over 5 minutes (moving from right to left) and reached a height of 48°. I also noticed the sandbags in place awaiting the coming tides.” If for some reason there’s a break in the clouds tonight or tomorrow, here are the next ISS-viewing opportunities over Seattle.

DUCK ACROSS THE BAY: That photo is from a texter who looked across Elliott Bay from West Seattle and spotted the giant “rubber duck” atop the Lumen Field Event Center, where the 61-foot-tall duck has been placed as a promotion for the upcoming Seattle Boat Show.

Sent by Chris:

Saw this guy put a box down for a PS4 on Hanford Street between 44th and 45th. He put the box down right in the entrance to the alley on the north side of the block in the middle of the block. Box contains PS 3 with all of the hardware … (Then) on my way back from the store checked the box and it was still there. I put it under a tree at the entrance to the same alley.

Sent by Justin:

I found this on SW Glenridge Way. I’m hoping to get Anne her bag back which has a freezer pack, a make-up kit, and some other stuff. I moved it to my house, so you can have her reach out to me if we can track her down.

If yours, email we*************@***il.com and we’ll connect you. Glenridge is a secluded side road, so it’s more likely to have been dumped there rather than simply lost.

Last time we published a photo of prescription eyeglasses found by a reader, it turned out they had been stolen in a car prowl … on Lake Union. Somewhere out there, whether via car prowl or simple misplacement or some other unforeseen circumstances, somebody is missing these glasses, and the finder is hoping to return them:

A nice pair of glasses was found on Sunday afternoon 9/22. They were in the middle of the road at SW Charlestown and 53rd SW, but luckily they were not run over. They are gold-rim prescription glasses in a hard black rectangle case.

The finder has posted myriad other places, including the Lost/Found/non-pets board in our Community Forums, so this is one last try. Email we*************@***il.com if yours & we’ll connect you.

That’s one of several reader photos we’ve received of an unceremoniously strewn pile of stuff on the sidewalk and street in front of the Westside Flats apartment building at 3233 SW Avalon Way. The first reader to mention it said the pile showed up sometime last night. Police logs indicate it’s been reported, but it’s still there as of a short time ago. We advised one concerned reader that sidewalk/street obstructions can be reported to SDOT‘s 24/7 dispatch line at 206-386-1218; they called but got stuck on longterm hold. The city of course has mechanisms for reporting illegal dumping, but this seems more urgent than Find It Fix It. What led to it, we don’t (yet) know.

(First two photos by Steven Director)

Thanks for the photos! This turned some heads in the Alki area this afternoon, particularly once it was airborne:

Information in the top photo points to two websites, neither Seattle-based – the Airtime Aircraft site (Florida) says this is a “Light Sport Amphibious Trike,” calling it “The Perfect Recreational Aircraft.”

(Photo by Javier Fosado)

This one is registered in Florida, too, to Amphibian Air, whose social media page mentions a road trip – with a photo taken here today – but no details (we’re sending a message to ask).

ADDED: Dave responded to our message with this comment below, saying he’s in the area offering “introductory flights.”

Thanks to Eddie for the photos! In today’s highlight list, we mentioned the annual sighting of “no-parking” signs on Harbor Avenue because Seafair Torchlight Parade floats would be parking in a port lot. Eddie caught some of the floats crossing the low bridge this morning:

The parade starts at 3 pm near the Space Needle and heads southbound on 4th Avenue to Seneca.

Some of the parade entries travel hundreds of miles to participate.

Missing a backpack? These two were seen in Gatewood, per this texted report:

I walked by two probably dumped backpacks on Glenridge (almost at the top near Austin Street).

Two readers found two items on local streets and are hoping to get them back to their owners:

STROLLER: Beth sent the photo and says, “We noticed that part of a stroller bassinet was dumped in our yard today (likely last night). I just noticed another part of it appears to be in my neighbor’s yard. I believe this is an UppaBaby Vista stroller, which retails for about $1000. Wondering if anyone is missing theirs.”

LAPTOP: Will found this “in the middle of the northbound lane of Fauntleroy at the intersection of SW Juneau. Cars were trying actively to avoid it, and it does power on. It could have possibly fallen out of a cyclist’s backpack. The login page says ‘John T.’”

(That one could have been lost, rather than stolen/dumped, so it’s also posted in the Lost/Found/Non-Pets board in the WSB Community Forums.) Either of these items yours? Email us – we*************@***il.com – and we’ll connect you.

From the WSB inbox, two discoveries from the “dumped-possibly-stolen” file, so we’re featuring them here rather than on our Lost/Found board:

The items above were found in the street at 40th/Brandon; the item below, described as appearing to be “1” glass 24”x82”,” was found roadside on Gatewood Hill:

If you’re missing any of that, contact us and we’ll connect you to the finder.

Sent by Casey at First Lutheran Church of West Seattle (north of The Junction):

This suitcase was by the front door of First Lutheran Church this morning, open and rifled through, containing personal items looking like possibly stolen out of someone’s car returning from the airport. Call us, or email ad***@***ws.org if it looks like yours. 206-935-6530

10:37 AM: We saw/heard that very loud two-jet flyover while covering an unrelated outdoor event in North Admiral. Looking into it!

12:03 PM: Since the Museum of Flight is at Boeing Field and very plugged in to the happenings there, we asked MoF spokesperson Ted Huetter what he knows. While he said he doesn’t have specifics about these jets, “the planes are Harriers. There are seven at Boeing Field today. There were a number of them here last month before heading up to Alaska for training exercises.” (The U.S. Marine Corps flies them.)

12:19 PM: The training exercises Ted mentioned were part of Red Flag Alaska 24-1, which wrapped up a few days ago.

(Photo sent by Kellie, sighting near 41st/Alaska)

They’re not turkeys, though they’re often mistaken for them. The wandering Guinea Fowl of West Seattle have been seen for months north of The Junction – we’ve featured them in some of our galleries of bird photos sent by readers. But these past few days, readers have sent photos of them closer to the heart of The Junction, expressing concern for their safety – the next photo was from Kristin, who emailed this morning to say, “They’re on the corner of 41st and Oregon. Cars on Oregon are dodging them.”

Those two photos above are from today; the next one was sent by James last week, taken near 41st/Genesee, closer to the north-of-Junction location of most previous sightings people have mentioned to us:

If these are your birds, we’d be interested in the story behind them, after so many sighting reports – we*************@***il.com.