West Seattle, Washington
25 Monday
Just south of the ferry dock, work has begun in earnest on a project Fauntleroy Creek stewards call “the reach to the beach.” Over the next 2 weeks, with the help of EarthCorps, they are working to transform the last stretch of FC into something more natural. Judy Pickens tells us major work won’t start till tomorrow, but we noticed a definite difference between the view of the beach this afternoon (first photo below) and yesterday (second photo below):
The coho salmon of Fauntleroy Creek need all the help they can get, after a disappointing year; here’s hoping this project does the trick. By the way, the FC fish ladder on the other side of Fauntleroy Way celebrates its 10th anniversary next year!
One is a sound, one involves wildlife, both were sent in by WSB readers wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar, or better yet, has relevant info.Read More
-The saga of Alki seal-sitting is told poetically in the P-I by WS writer Brenda Peterson.
-Also on seal-pup watch, Cathy Woo points out that unleashed dogs can be among their worst enemies.
-The Weekly tries to find new nuggets in the casino-cheating case involving Hizzoner’s son, among others, unearthing details including what’s on the walls in the “pad” where Jake Nickels lived while working at the casino dubbed “the Sack.”
-For everyone in the Short Stop sign discussion who thinks WS needs a little more spice, the Chelan Cafe is the place you will want to be tomorrow night.
-Ending on a G-rated note, tonight is opening night at ArtsWest for the show put on by its Musical Theater Adventures Camp kids — “Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr.” (photo courtesy ArtsWest)
The harbor-seal pup that’s been hanging out on Alki now has its own protection zone, with yellow (crime scene type) tape blocking off a section of beach by the Bathhouse. We caught a photo just before the seal went for a noontime swim, with the help of zoom – since as we all need to remember, it’s important to KEEP YOUR DISTANCE …
Cathy Woo alerts us all to a baby seal spotted at Alki, with the extremely important reminder: LEAVE IT ALONE. As noted in a similar situation last spring.
Another example of how lucky we are to have diverse wildlife on the ground and in the air over West Seattle … WSB reader Luckie e-mailed us photos of woodpeckers she’d never seen around her house before. This one, we recognize as a pileated woodpecker; we see them occasionally, though Northern Flickers are more common. Seems they like ants; we’re plagued by more of those this year, so maybe that explains it.
Reminder for all our fellow bird fans, the West Seattle Birdcam is still going strong; you can check it out any time from our WS “Live” Cams page, and its operators have a photoblog, also accessible any time from our Other Blogs in WS page.
… KEEP YOUR PETS INDOORS! If you don’t, as this article just posted by the P-I reminds us, they are liable to wind up as Coyote Chow. Though as we’ve noted before (last August and last September), coyotes are nowhere near the most lethal threat faced by pets whose owners let them roam free. So just say no to anti-coyote hysteria; find out more about these amazing creatures (including video) at this great site forwarded by Charles Redmond, who reports he saw one strolling 39th SW, heading south from Elmgrove, a couple weeks ago. (WS coyote pix, anyone? Send ’em!)
#1 — Our fly-fishing-blog friends at thee a** hooked whitey (one of the 75-plus blogs linked from our Other Blogs In WS page) report the first much-awaited Pink Salmon has been caught in West Seattle waters.
#2 — Here’s something pink you can catch without a hook or a net (just a checkbook). The famously pink Park Apartments just north of Lincoln Park are up for sale. Less than a million bucks!
So it seems that before The Commute From Hell became hellish yesterday, it got a little wild. Reader e-mail that just came in:
Did anybody see if the smaller possum that was trundling earnestly up
the center lane (right along the cement divider, not in a traffic lane)
of the eastbound West Seattle freeway at about 7:20 yesterday morning
got up and over the bridge?When I saw him/her, the little feet were scurrying right along, and
however I felt about possums, I wanted him to get to safety!
Thanks again to eagle-eyed goat-spotters for letting us know Rent-A-Ruminant (read a recent article about them) is in action along Admiral. Here’s the photographic proof:
-Bald eagles fly off the endangered species list. WS has regular sightings.
-Seattle Public Schools’ race-based tiebreaker, long on hold, is officially dead.
Creighton, whose blog is on our Other Blogs in WS page, tells us goats are grazing the hill along Marine View Drive, just up from the Endolyne area of Fauntleroy, clearing brush and delighting onlookers; he sent this photo.
Over the next four days (Wednesday through Saturday), we’ll see the lowest tides of the summer (yes, we’re aware summer technically is still about a week away) — all -3 feet or lower, with the absolute lowest a -3.8 on Friday morning (check the full tide chart here). Seattle Aquarium beach naturalists will be out on Friday (and over the weekend) at Lincoln Park and south of Alki Point; one of our favorite low-tide spots is Lowman Beach, one of the areas where submerged structures start to emerge, as seen this morning:
Oh dear, how will the West Seattle Birdcam folks handle this one? State wildlife experts want everybody to take their bird feeders out of service for a while or at least take extra steps to keep them mega-clean, because of a deadly outbreak. (At least this is an OK time of year for birds to be fine without feeders; there’s ample natural food such as bugs and flower nectar.)
Feels like West Seattle’s resident bald eagles have been more visible this year than ever. And tonight, a couple examples of photographic proof: First, a photo sent to us by reader Marci, taken recently just west of The Junction:
Second, Rhonda @ Beach Drive Blog posted some great eagle pix (and heron pix too) from her neck of the woods shore. These beautiful birds’ prevalence here is still a miracle, given the state of their species not that long ago.
Twice in the past two days, we’ve had to stop for these feathered pedestrians just east of Seacrest, and they’re hard to see from a distance.
Along the walkway to the Water Taxi dock, at/below the waterline of the pilings beneath the Seacrest Boathouse pier, here’s the kaleidoscope from almost-mega-low-tide time this afternoon (tomorrow will be still good but not as low):
Our fellow low-tide fans will want to know that a 3.6-foot “minus tide” is on the way just after noon tomorrow, and the afternoon low tide on Saturday is almost that low too. (Check the tide chart here.) If you’d like to explore Saturday’s low tide with an expert guide, West Seattle-based naturalist Stewart Wechsler is promoting an all-ages “Beach Safari” across from Me-Kwa-Mooks, 12:30-2:30 pm — it’s a Seattle Parks program so you need to preregister through Camp Long (by phone @ 206-684-7434).
If you haven’t checked in with the West Seattle Birdcam for a while, you have missed a lot. We are purple with envy over their wonderful sightings, but glad they’re posting and sharing pix. Note the difference between the Birdcam blog and the actual Birdcam live feed.
An update on the Fauntleroy Creek page says 20 of the creek’s coho are on their way out to the “saltwater phase of their lifecycle.” Check out the creek overlook (part of the view shown in recent photo below) next time you’re down by the ferry dock or the south end of Lincoln Park; it’s a little bit of wildness amid all our urbanity, kept up by a lot of hard (volunteer) work.
Fisherfolk alert: The federal government has just listed Puget Sound steelhead as “threatened.”
We’ve always vowed not to be another blog with cute baby animal pix .. but then came this.
As Earth Day meanders toward evening … two photo posts from WS-based bloggers:
-At Beach Drive Blog, Rhonda captured the graceful great blue herons often seen at water’s edge (especially at low tide).
-At Alki Beach Walks, Cathy captured some of Alki’s Sunday morning beauty.
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