West Seattle, Washington
03 Wednesday
Authorities responded to a wild call in the 7900 block of Delridge (map) this morning: A goat on the loose. Nothing like that Sunset Avenue roundup last month, though, nor did it require transport to a holding cell: A couple of official city items were turned into makeshift barricades to keep the goat from going on the lam before animal control arrived.
Two things to mention: First, we just checked out a tip about a notable police response in The Junction near the Chase bank branch. An ambulance was called too; turns out, police tell us at the scene, to have been a fight between two people described as transients. Second, just got this note from Courtney at Wallflower Custom Framing (WSB sponsor) across from Jefferson Square:
I thought it might be worth mentioning that I just watched a coyote run down the middle of 42nd Street. It briefly ducked into the parking garage under Jefferson Square and then came out (with a bunch of crows giving chase) and ran north on 42nd toward Alaska Street. I lost sight of it after that, and it all happened faster than I could react to snap a photo. I only mention this for any potential safety issues both for the public and the animal, and also to see if anyone else can confirm the sighting or if I am just sitting here in the frame shop hallucinating…
Alki Point wildlife watcher/writer Guy Smith shares that photo with news of the first brant sighting – just two days after we published his story about the small geese who return to West Seattle waters (and elsewhere in Puget Sound) Thanksgiving week every year (see Guy’s story here). So – just like clockwork, they’re back; Guy photographed these a bit earlier this afternoon.
Have had a few reports in the past few hours of orcas passing southern West Seattle shores as well as Three Tree Point to the south – so it’s another day worth keeping your binoculars handy! (Here’s our Saturday coverage, photo included.) 3:36 PM: Note the comment a few minutes ago from G. Jones (who took yesterday’s great pic): “Just watched a pod of orcas – at least a dozen heading north past Alki Point over nearer to Bainbridge, now probably about due west of West Point.”
(Added 1:53 pm – photo by Gary Jones, orca with Alki Point Lighthouse tip in the foreground)
ORIGINAL 10:44 AM REPORT: Just got a text that orcas were spotted off Discovery Park (Magnolia) and heading this way. Off to have a look! 1:23 PM UPDATE: We didn’t see them but we’ve gotten two reports in the last 15 or so minutes that they’re NOW in West Seattle waters – off Alki Point just after 1, then @frewq via Twitter just reported them off Me Kwa Mooks “but not surfacing much.”
(February 2008 photo by Jim Clark)
Guy Smith of Alki Point has been watching brant geese come and go since he moved there in 1993. His personal observations together with source data from Ducks Unlimited (DU), Washington Brant Foundation, and Audubon field guides have led to the following story. Guy knows that his perspective is weighted toward Alki Point and he apologizes to those readers whose favorite brant watching beaches are not recognized by name in the story.
By Guy Smith
Special to West Seattle Blog
Sometime during the week of Thanksgiving this year, as happens every year, you should see the first of “our” brant geese return from their nesting grounds in the Arctic. Our brant will winter along Beach Drive, Alki Point, and other West Seattle tidelands before leaving again in May.
During the first week of every May, the bulk of the local brant geese population leaves the western shores of Alki bound for their breeding grounds in the Arctic. They travel with other Pacific brant, or black brant, and are nicknamed for their under-bellies which are noticeably darker than those of their Atlantic brant cousins.
These small tidewater geese of about 3 pounds hang around far past the time when you would expect them to leave, with the weather having been warmish for a long spell. But they have always waited this way.
While salmon-watchers along Fauntleroy Creek watch for the next arrival of live fish – the ones who’ve visited so far are doing what come naturally – including dying. But while visiting the creek this morning, we learned from Dave McCoy of Emerald Water Anglers that the one you see above wasn’t a coho after all – but a blackmouth chinook. “Hatchery fish trying to get up here and mix it up with the wild ones,” he explained. We caught up with him, Denny Hinton and Judy Pickens while a class from the Providence Mount St. Vincent Intergenerational Center was getting a lesson about salmon – including the chinook carcass – and then a presentation from Judy (in the background):
Denny and Dave then headed off to check out a report of fish near the creek mouth on Fauntleroy Cove.
(Added Judy in e-mail after we first published this story: “Fauntleroy is a coho creek, so having this type of chinook (king) come in is a first. Instead of migrating to the ocean, blackmouth stay in Puget Sound all year and their black gum line is the reason for their name. This fish was under five pounds – small for the species – and it had no adipose fin, indicating that it originated in a hatchery.” She says the carcass “was returned to the creek where its nutrients will benefit the next generation” and adds an update on this year’s watch: “After several days of no fish, this year’s salmon watchers went home, having documented a total of 18 fish. But more were spotted this morning near the mouth and, with especially high tides through the weekend, spawning season may not be over!”) Great day to be out by the creek, despite the fairly heavy rain – and nearby streets are resembling creeks, like upper Fauntleroy Way north of the salmon overlook:
By the way, the wind advisory is still up, till midnight, and the forecast suggests it may kick up again before then.
Hutch sent the photo, wondering if the bird is a peregrine falcon. We couldn’t say for sure from consulting various online sources, so thanks in advance to any of the many expert birdwatchers of West Seattle who might offer an opinion. ADDED 11:18 PM: Rob sent this next photo he took near Schmitz Park a week ago, thinking it’s the same bird and hoping the photo might help with ID:
We have been SO overdue for cute owl photos, ever since the charming saga of Wollet over the summer. And now, our unspoken wish is granted, courtesy of Jonathan French, who says his neighbor northwest of The Junction – proprietor of Better Coops and Gardens – has had this little visitor around all day in her carport workshop … watching her build chicken coops!
(Video added 5:15 pm)
Exactly two weeks after more than 60 people gathered at Fauntleroy Creek to drum and sing in the annual ceremony calling the coho home, creek steward Judy Pickens says the first one’s shown up: “The first pair were sighted at about 1:00 this afternoon and we thought we heard another one coming.” Volunteers are watching the creek in the hours after high tide daily, and were scheduled to do so till late November. Whenever coho are known to be in the creek, the “salmon sock” shown in the photo below will be up on its pole at the creek overlook across Fauntleroy Way (and up the embankment) from the ferry dock.
(WSB photo from Fauntleroy Creek overlook, 10/25/09)
ADDED 9:58 PM: The official account from Dennis Hinton:
The first coho spawners to return to Fauntleroy Creek were spotted at 1 pm Sunday by Steve Zarnick and family.
Between 3 and 4 pm Judy, Phil, Patrick and I counted six coho in the creek. All fish were estimated between two and five pounds. The largest was a bright red-sided hooked-nosed male, about five pounds.
Usual window for the coho return over the past 10 years has been between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Recent rains and high tides have probably given the fish the push they need to get up the creek.
More photos from Alki’s Guy Smith, watching the purse seiner Quandary fishing off Alki Point Wednesday morning: First, the seal nicknamed “Squint” keeps an eye out from atop the Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft – Guy says, “A fair amount of chum were caught as a sea lion patrolled just outside the net.” Next, you have to look really closely, but two Western grebes had a close call with the Quandary’s net when it came up apparently empty:
But Guy reports they managed to make a getaway, “awkwardly clambering over the floats at the last second”:
He adds, “A short while later the Quandary was seen miles north, looking for better fishing. In the afternoon, it returned to Alki Point. The Renaissance made a pass by, but didn’t stay.The seiners seldom stay more than 3 days at Alki Point, so the chum run might be about to end for this year.”
(Photo by Robin Lindsey)
The joys and sorrows of seal-pup season continue on West Seattle shores, according to Seal Sitters‘ Robin Lindsey, who says that while they haven’t seen a live pup on the beach in two weeks, they dealt with two deaths in the past week. “This is the time of year that the pups really struggle to survive.” So Seal Sitters’ work to help the pups continues, and today they’re putting out a call for assistance to help them keep that work going:
As a non-profit organization, Seal Sitters is always looking for creative ways to meet our operating expenses. Through the generous offer of one of our colleagues, Seal Sitters has been presented with a unique opportunity to raise funds to cover a portion of our expenses. There are many costs involved in protecting the seals on our beaches – maintaining our dispatch phone line, website, educational materials, etc – that are currently paid out of pocket by our volunteers.
Seal Sitters is in need of a place to host an estate jewelry sale to raise funds. We are looking for any place that could be open to the public where we could set up two or three small tables to display jewelry. If you, or someone you know, has a facility in a high traffic area, like any listed below, that could be used for a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday prior to the holidays, please contact us at: info@sealsitters.org.
· Restaurant
· Meeting Room
· Office
· Storefront
· Vacant Storefront / building or other optionSeal Sitters welcomes donations of any type – click here. We would like to thank all of West Seattle for providing such a warm welcome for our smallest of marine mammal residents! Please visit our website and blog at www.sealsitters.org.
There couldn’t have been a perfect place for that young salmon masquerader to play during Sunday evening’s annual gathering at the Fauntleroy Creek overlook – the rock-sculpture rendition of a stream – as more than 60 people of all ages sang and drummed to celebrate coho spawners’ anticipated return.
More than a decade after the creek’s restoration, neighbors gather each year with high hopes it will play host to spawners. Led again this year by Jamie Shilling, they sang and chanted songs of celebration and welcome:
And they told stories, enhanced with native art:
A human bridge symbolized safe crossing:
What’s next: Fauntleroy Creek Salmon Watch starts today, as creek steward Judy Pickens explained (after noting that recent Puget Sound passers-by might be delaying things):
Here’s the “salmon sock” that Judy mentioned – installed atop a pole anchored in the Darwin’s-barberry hedge on the north side of the overlook:
If you can volunteer some time to join the salmon watch, go here to find out how. It’s scheduled to last about a month, and as you heard Judy say in the video, they hope at the very least to have people on the lookout for the five hours after high tide each day.
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli recently photographed salmon in the Cedar River for that video essay. Here in West Seattle, the watch is about to begin along Fauntleroy Creek – and Judy Pickens tells us they’re still recruiting volunteers to take turns watching for the returning spawners. Whether or not you decide to sign up, you are invited to come join an annual tradition this Sunday – drumming at the Fauntleroy Creek overlook to help call the salmon home. Be there, 5 pm Sunday (upper Fauntleroy Way at Director; here’s a map; here’s our coverage from last year). Creek Watch begins the next day and runs for about a month; for questions or to get on the list, contact Judy at 938-4203 or judy_pickens@msn.com.
This time the call comes from whale expert Jeff Hogan – he says they’re close to shore and they’re heading back north – we also received a Twitter report about half an hour ago re: a sighting at Three Tree Point. Off to the beach! Send pix if you get them! ADDED 3:40 PM: Shaky zoom but we got some :11 into the clip above. Thanks to everyone for sharing sighting info. Here’s channel 4 chopper video:
Also a great link – orca video from a kayak! Thanks to Scott for sharing the link via Twitter – go here.
In the WSB Forums, there’s word orcas have just been spotted off Fauntleroy. We retweeted a report much earlier that they’d been seen off Alki Point, but thought it was too late so didn’t mention it here (till now). Get those binoculars!
It’s been a while since we added to the coyote-sighting archive (which you can browse here). But it’s a good occasion for a reminder that authorities urge education/coexistence – don’t call in a coyote and expect to have animal control come chase after it. But do consider keeping your pets inside. This morning’s report is from Sherrideth:
Just wanted to alert the neighborhood that there is a coyote in Gatewood. Saw it
run across SW Austin as I drove to work this morning at 6:10 (10/20).
She says the cross-street was 39th SW (here’s a map). If you haven’t seen the state’s Living With Wildlife coyote info page before – check it out here.
That photo shared by Greg Whittaker of Alki Kayak Tours earlier this week is one of several we’ve received showing one or more seals on a raft off western Alki. After publishing another one of those photos, we received an unexpected note. Turns out, there’s quite a story behind the raft, and Guy Smith wanted to share it, hoping that when we mention it in the future, we will use its official name: The Joy D. Smith Wildlife Raft. No, it’s not a memorial – instead of in tribute to Joy D. Smith (Guy’s wife), it was meant “for” her – in this photo, she checks it out with its proud builders after they assembled it last year:
Read on for the story, and more photos that Guy shared:Read More
(Sunday photo taken from Southworth by Terry Wittman)
So far, we haven’t seen any speculation on the IDs of the orcas who traveled between West Seattle and West Sound shores last Sunday (WSB coverage, with video, here) … so we don’t know if these whales were among them .. but the Orca Network reports today that photos taken the day before, near Port Townsend, reveals 2 orcas accompanying a brand-new baby. See the photos by going here. So far, the baby’s known as L-113, and brings the “southern resident” orca population to 86. Meantime, more news from Orca Network – they shared this photo taken near their south Whidbey Island HQ on Saturday, with info for all orca-watchers:
They forwarded news of a new study that relies on quick reports of sightings – read on:Read More
ORIGINAL 2:32 PM REPORT: Just got a message from Jeff Hogan – orcas headed northbound, spotted near Southworth (on the ferry run with Fauntleroy). Get those binoculars out! 3:47 PM UPDATE: Just back from Beach Drive, where we caught sight of them from Constellation Park (as did others nearby with binoculars and/or hands-shielding eyes)- they were closer to the Bainbridge side than the West Seattle side. Checking to see if our video came out! 4:09 PM: It did – and we have just added it to this report. A bit shaky/blurry but we were zooming all the way to almost-Bainbridge, and it’s just a standard-issue small handheld. More whales than we thought we were seeing, squinting at the camera in the sunshine! 8:20 PM UPDATE: For a closer look – here are two photos just shared by Terry Wittman, taken from Southworth:
(September photo from Pete R)
Heard this morning from Brenda Peterson of West Seattle-based Seal Sitters: “We’ve had pups almost every day and lost 3 of them, sadly. But we’ve also helped launch a whole new generation of seal pups.” As the Seal Sitters’ site points out, seal pups only have a 50% chance of survival. Go here for their latest updates (with photos!) on the successes as well as the losses. And if you see a pup on a beach, with no Seal Sitter in sight, call 206-905-SEAL.
KING 5 tweeted that goats were on the loose in West Seattle. Here they are – in a North Admiral neighborhood – police and all (photo just sent by co-publisher Patrick). 6:16 PM: Another photo (this is in the 1100 block Sunset):
Here’s what happened: The goats arrived to clear a patch of brush in the greenbelt behind the house; they did such a good job in that area, they wound up wandering further than they were supposed to. Police believe they’ve all been rounded up. P.S. If you’re seeing a helicopter, that’s TV news; KING is going live at 6:30 pm. 8:38 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Bob Anderson for sending more photos and his account of what happened:
Today’ at approx. 5:30 pm a herd of approximately 25 goats who were clearing a hillside behind residential new construction on 44th Avenue SW (1/2 block NW of the intersection of 44th Avenue SW and Sunset Avenue SW), escaped their fenced confines and fled into the North Admiral neighborhood.
Amazed neighbors contained the goats who fed on residents shrubbery. The SPD were called and arrived promptly on scene within minutes. Neighbors & SPD herded goats back to fenced in construction site where they were contained.
The entire episode took approximately 20 minutes and was good fun on a beautiful fall afternoon.
Here are three of Bob’s photos:
By the way, this isn’t the first time Southwest Precinct officers have tangled with goats this year – remember this escapade from February? ADDED 11:11 PM: OK, two more photos. These are by Junior Member of the Team – the only real goat close-up we got, plus a bonus shot at sunset, looking downtown-ward from the roundup neighborhood:
That photo is from “Kona” Greg, who works at Alki Kayak Tours (different Greg from the boss), and wants to know what a king crab was doing in 3-foot deep water off Duwamish Head – or, if that’s not a king crab (which usually roam Alaskan waters), what was it? he wonders:
I was out on a tour Friday Sept 18th and spotted this critter near the Duwamish Head channel marker. I had a guest from Penn. with me. We were in about 3 feet of water and she spotted a crab and asked me what kind it was? I could not believe my eyes when I looked down. It sure looks like a King crab to me. I am wondering if anyone has ever seen a King in Elliott Bay, or has information on what this is if it in fact is not a King. I am in, on, or under water here ALL the time and have been for the last 5 years. I have never seen anything like this. Plus as a PADI divemaster I have over 200 dives right here in West Seattle.
Here’s the other photo he sent:
The only kind of “king crab” that’s supposed to be in Puget Sound is this one – pretty but doesn’t resemble Greg’s photos at all.
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