Sunday Union Bay Natural Area Bird Walk

The Seattle Audubon Society is having a Sunday morning bird walk at the Union Bay Natural Area, with Julia Hansbrough & John Leszczynski from 9-11am. 

The information says:

Neighborhood Bird Walks - A Wonderful Way to Meet Seattle's Birds! 

Neighborhood bird walk for beginning birders or new Seattleites will especially enjoy this exposure to the rich variety of regional bird life. Families and non-members are welcome to attend.  Meet at the Center for Urban Horticulture in the East parking lot off NE 41st Street, one block beyond the place where Mary Gates Memorial Drive turns left to become NE 41st Street.

Jean, from Friends of Yesler Swamp, told the Laurelhurst Blog that Union Bay Natural Area was at one time called the Montlake Fill and the area is managed by the University of Washington. It is located near the Center for Urban Horticulture in Laurelhurst.

The UW website gave this historical background: 

The Union Bay Natural Area was under water until 1916 when the new Ship Canal lowered Lake Washington by about nine feet. Later, the city of Seattle used the site as a city dump – dubbed the Montlake Landfill or Montlake Dump – but it was closed in the 1960s.

And the UW management plan says:

The public disposal site (the Montlake Dump) closed in 1964, and garbage landfilling ceased in 1966. Filling, grading, and seeding of the surface continued until 1971. A University Advisory Committee on Arboreta selected the location in 1971 for a new arboretum site.

Connie Sidles is a popular local birding expert who maintains a blog documenting the many types of birds including beautiful pictures at the nearby Union Bay Natural Area.
Go here for more information.

Saturday Union Bay Natural Area Bird Walk

The Seattle Audubon Society is holding a Bird Walk on Saturday from 9-11am at the Union Bay Natural Area, adjacent to the University of Washington main campus. The leaders are Julia Hansbrough and John Leszczynski.

The information says:

Neighborhood Bird Walks - A Wonderful Way to Meet Seattle's Birds! 

Neighborhood bird walk for beginning birders or new Seattleites will especially enjoy this exposure to the rich variety of regional bird life. Families and non-members are welcome to attend. 

Meet in the East parking lot at the Center for Urban Horticulture, off NE 41st Street, near the greenhouses.

For more information go here. 

Tomorrow Magnuson Bird Walk

Seattle Parks' Lifelong Recreation program for ages 50+ is having a bird walk at Magnuson tomorrow 9-11am with leader Emily Bishton, Naturalist and Master Birder. The cost is $15.

The information says:
Fall Migration Bird Walk 

Spot fall migrants and winter arrivals, including Pacific Chorus Frogs heading back to the wetlands. 1-2 miles walk on level trails.  

Meet at the sidewalk right next to the Boat Launch, just north of the E-2 parking lot on Lakeshore Drive.  

Proceeds donated to the Magnuson Children's Garden. 

Go here to register for class #18549.

Saturday Union Bay Bird Walk With Audubon Society

The Seattle Audubon Society is holding a Bird Walk on Saturday from 9-11am at the Union Bay Natural Area, adjacent to the University of Washington main campus. The leader is Julia Hansbrough.  

The information says:

Neighborhood Bird Walks - A Wonderful Way to Meet Seattle's Birds! 

Neighborhood bird walk for beginning birders or new Seattleites will especially enjoy this exposure to the rich variety of regional bird life. Families and non-members are welcome to attend. 

Meet in the East parking lot at the Center for Urban Horticulture, off NE 41st Street, near the greenhouses.

Sunday Magnuson Park Bird Walk

The Seattle Audubon Society is holding a Bird Walk on Sunday from 9-noon at Magnuson Park. The leader is Jan Bragg.

The information says:

Magnuson Park offers a variety of habitats, including ponds, forest, fields, and a lake shoreline. This outing is suitable for beginner or intermediate bird-watchers, including children accompanied by an adult.  

We will walk uphill and down, searching for birds and bird nests along the way. Songbirds will be singing for those wanting to practice birding-by-ear skills. Migrants may be about. 

And we’ll be celebrating mothers: Ducklings should be present, so we will study mothering skills when we find them. If we are lucky enough to find an active bird nest, we will try to observe mothering there as well.  

For those collecting pledges for Birdathon, and trying for 50 species, we may need to go to alternate sites (e.g. Montlake Fill, Matthews Beach?) afterwards. 

Birdathon Donation is $15.  

Meet at the Education Pavilion (west side of boat launch parking lot E-1, at the end of drive, on the right, after entering the NE 65th St entrance).

For more information go here.

Tomorrow Morning Audubon Society Bird Walk At Magnuson

The Seattle Audubon Society is having a morning bird walk at Magnuson with Joe Sweeney tomorrow from 9-11am.

The information says: 

Magnuson Park offers a variety of habitats, including ponds, forest, fields, and a lake named after a president. 

We will walk 2-3 miles on mostly level terrain, searching for birds.  Bring binoculars, hat, snacks, layers and a sense of humor. Please leave your pets at home, even if they have a good sense of humor.  

Meet at 9am at the Promontory Point Environmental Learning Center, a red-metal-roofed structure next to the little drive-in road at the west edge of parking lot E-1. It is marked with a pink square on the Magnuson Park map.

Saturday Bird Walk With Local Union Bay Birder Larry Hubbell

Seattle Audubon Society is holding a beginner's bird walk, "among the trees of the Arboretum and along the shores of Union Bay", on Saturday from 9-11am with local birder, photographer and Union Bay Watch Blog writer, Larry Hubbell.     


The information says:

The paths are generally level however boots may be helpful and binoculars will be essential. Families are welcome but please leave pets at home.

Meet at the Graham Visitors Center Parking Lot, 2300 Arboretum Drive East.

For more information go here.
Here also is an in-depth article about Larry and his work.

Saturday Bird Walk Union Bay Natural Area

The Seattle Audubon Society is having a bird walk from 9-11am Saturday at the Union Bay Natural Area, led by tomorrow at Magnuson Park, led by Julia Hansbrough and Jill Ericsson.

Participants are to meet at the Center for Urban Horticulture, East Parking Lot (near greenhouses, off NE 41st Street, one block beyond the place where Mary Gates Memorial Drive turns left to becomes NE 41st Street).

Go here for more information.

Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day Tomorrow At Magnuson

 

 

Tomorrow in honor of International Migratory Bird Day, Magnuson Park is having an event called "Migrate to Magnuson Park"  sponsored by Seattle Parks and Recreation, Magnuson Community Center Nature Programs and the Magnuson Environmental Stewardship Alliance.

The information says:

Bring your family to learn about amazing birds that travel thousands of miles each year to Seattle.

There will be guided walks, habitat bingo and other family-friendly activities beginning at 10 a.m. at the Magnuson Community Center (7110 62nd Avenue NE) 

Talks will be given by renowned bird experts Idie Ulsh and Dennis Paulson.  Go here to sign up for free bird walks and activities.

The Society for Ecological Restoration Northwest Chapter is also having bird walks as part of the celebration which can be found here.

The information says:

Sign up for these is limited, over the 2-3 mile distance some of the walking between points of interest will be a fairly quick pace, and focus will be more on ecological restoration of the park than on birds alone.  They will cover parts of the park less well known than the main wetland area.  Much of this restoration has been done by community based volunteers.

There is also to be at least one additional free walk in the Promontory Point Section of the park from 10-11 which will start from the educational pavilion located on the west side of the park’s most southeastern parking lot (southwest of the boat launch)  and also some shorter ones and other events centered around the community center on 62nd Avenue NE.

(photo courtesy of Magnuson Nature Programs)

 

Neighborhood Birdist Posts Two More Essays On Recent Happenings At The Union Bay Natural Area

Connie Sidles, who maintains a blog , as well as maintaining a kiosk, documenting the many types of birds, including beautiful pictures, at the nearby Union Bay Natural Area, also known as the Montlake Fill, has recently posted two more essays, one on Kildeers and the second on American Coots.

Faith in Your Feathers

September 15th, 2012

The two Killdeers who have laid claim to the gravel road next to the Youth Farm were on patrol the other day, marching back and forth in the short grass sprouting amid the pebbles. When I inadvertently crossed into their territory, they swarmed around me like MPs at a checkpoint, yelling at me to move away or else.

Ordinarily, when I find I am bothering birds in their natural habitat, I leave. I figure I’m in their home, and they make the rules. Besides, after years of political doorbelling and yard-signing, not to mention Girl Scout cookie-selling, I know when I’m unwelcome. So usually, I pass on to the next yard without demur. But Killdeers have expansive ideas about their home territories. I’ve had Killdeers chase me halfway around the Loop Trail, alerting all and sundry to hide from this dangerous, bipedal interloper with the floppy hat and the folding camp stool. Their voices are piercing and loud, their manners pushy and rude. When they get revved up, all the other birds within hearing disappear. It’s annoying.
I remonstrated. “Look,” I said, “I just want to scan for pipits and sparrows. I won’t bother you. Now be quiet.”

No good. “Ki-ki-ki-killeer,” they clucked, skittering around my feet like ankle biters trying to decide the right spot to bite.
I was about to advance another argument, when suddenly the Barn Swallows soaring overhead gave their distinctive, two-note alarm call. The Killdeers and I froze, knowing a raptor was near. Sure enough, a Merlin rocketed by at head height, its wings bent back like a Stealth jet on turbo-chargers. After it passed, I glanced down at the Killdeers at my feet. They weren’t moving a muscle. These normally twitchy, can’t-sit-still birds might as well have been stuffed, they were so immobile. The Merlin cruised back, its ominous shadow skimming the short grass like Death itself with a scythe.

A juicy Killdeer would have made a perfect meal for the falcon, and my two compadres knew it. So they stayed absolutely still, counting on their brown, white, and black feathers to blend into the background, making them invisible. In reality, they were out in the open in plain view. If they had moved, they would have died. But they had faith in their feathers, and the shadow of Death passed over them harmlessly.

In these days of recession and uncertainty, perhaps it’s wise for us to recall our own “feathers” and to have faith in the skills, strengths, and beliefs that give us the power to overcome.

 

Lift Off

September 2nd, 2012

The American Coots came back from their summer vacation this week. Not that they went far. I think most of the coots that ply the waters of the Fill spend their summers on Green Lake. It’s not exactly the Far North. Somehow, though, the fact that coots go only a few blocks north during breeding season – when birds such as Arctic Terns routinely fly tens of thousands of miles – seems appropriate. Coots are goofy.

Take the one that was on Main Pond the other day. It apparently saw a berry it wanted to eat near the shore and figured if it stood on the willow bough that stretched across the berry bush, it could dine in comfort. So, flapping its stubby wings and churning its size-10 feet, it lifted off the water and landed on the willow. Unfortunately, the willow bough was more of a willow wand and could not support the hefty weight of the coot. Down went the coot, only to rise up again as the springy willow obeyed Hook’s Law: the flexion of a spring is in direct proportion with the load applied to it. Coot and willow shot up like Greg Louganis executing his Gold Medal dive off the three-meter springboard. At the maximum extension of the branch, the coot’s hold on the bough broke, and the coot blasted off into space, squawking all the way. I think it ended up in Green Lake.

Neighborhood Birdist Posts Two More Essays On Recent Happenings At The Union Bay Natural Area

Connie Sidles, who maintains a blog , as well as maintaining a kiosk, documenting the many types of birds, including beautiful pictures, at the nearby Union Bay Natural Area, also known as the Montlake Fill, has recently posted two more essays about Northern Rough-winged Swallows and the Semipalmated Sandpiper:

Are We There Yet?

August 1st, 2012

Northern Rough-winged Swallow adult taking a short breather on Main Pond.

The Northern Rough-winged Swallows are on a road trip to Mexico, on their way south for the winter, and yesterday, they stopped off at Montlake Fill to take a break.

Northern Rough-winged Swallows are plain brown- and-white birds who come up to Washington every spring to nest in burrows they dig into sand banks. They’re called rough-winged because they have a tiny, rough fringe of feather-barbs on the leading edges of their wings. No one knows why.

The kids were, I think, driving their parents crazy. Although they are perfectly able to catch their own insects, the youngsters sat on the willow snag at the north end of Main Pond and squawked loudly to be fed. The parents swooped low over the water, caught bunches of bugs, and hurried back to their brood, whose open mouths seemed to be mere gateways to bottomless pits of hunger.

Long-time educator and founder of Northwest Montessor Schools Marietta Rawson once told me that the thing kids want most in all the world is to be grown up.

Maybe so. But when it comes to flying your own way and catching your own bugs, even the swallows seem glad to cling to mom and dad just a little while longer.

A Beach Too Far

July 18th, 2012

Semipalmated Sandpiper on Main Pond

Much as I admire the Semipalmated Sandpiper who has been visiting the Fill the past couple of days, I have no desire to become one. I wouldn’t be any good at it.

Semipalmated Sandpipers are sparrow-sized shorebirds who breed in the tundra along the coast of the Arctic Ocean from Alaska, across Nunavut, to Newfoundland. They spend the winter in Peru and Brazil, migrating mostly through the Midwest, a flight distance of more than 7,000 miles. That’s14,000 miles round-trip.

Do you realize how far 14,000 miles is? I live a mile away from my local Safeway and make three trips there a week. It would take me 44 years to travel that far.

As I get older, I find myself hesitating to begin jobs that I’ve done often enough to know exactly how long they will take and exactly how much energy they will require. Mowing the grass is a good example: one hour to wrestle the electric mower from the back yard to the front and clean out the grass-catcher that should have been cleaned out the last time but wasn’t, two hours to mow, one hour to drive to Home Depot to buy a new cord because I’ve just run over it and cut it in two for the umpteenth time, an hour to use the weed-whacker to edge the sidewalk, another hour to drive to Home Depot to buy new cord because the spool ran out.

What a colossal drag. Maybe I’ll just pretend I’m cultivating a prairie in my front yard and that’s why the weeds are higher than my head.

I can easily imagine myself as a Semipalmated Sandpiper, living the good life on the beaches of Peru, sipping the occasional sand worm, nibbling on a bug hors d’oeuvre, when all my friends start talking about flying north to breed. “Hilda, let’s skip over Kansas this year – it’s so flat and hot. We could fly right past it if we got a good start.” “Hey, Jim, let’s travel with the babes this year – I hear they’re skipping Kansas.”

Meanwhile, all I can think about is how happy I am on the beach and how tired I will be flying past Kansas.

We all know a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, but that would be ridiculous.

Migrate To Magnuson Park On Saturday For International Migratory Bird Day

The community is invited this Saturday to Magnuson Park for the opening of the Magnuson Park Shore Ponds as part of International Migratory Bird Day from 10-3pm. 

There will be a variety of activities, lectures, and tours including guided bird and habitat walks, fun kids activities, talks about bird migration, habitat restoration, and how important trees in your yard are to our migrating birds.

"Celebrate and learn about the amazing birds that travel thousands of miles to return to Seattle each year," the flyer says.

World Migratory Bird Day began in 1993 as a global campaign to raise awareness of the need to protect migratory birds and their habitats. On the second weekend of each May, people around the world organize public bird festivals, education programs and bird-watching expeditions to celebrate the day.


And the Shore Ponds add to a system of connected wetlands in the park that are home to 29 species of dragonflies.

Here are the day's activities:

11:30 a.m: opening of the Shore Ponds with Sally Bagshaw followed by a tour of the shore ponds and wetlands

Nature Walks (all ages)
10 - 11:30 a.m. - Tadpoles and Nestlings Nature Walk ($5 per family, $2 per person) with Emily Bishton of Sustainable NE Seattle – meet at Parking Lot E-5 at the Wetlands Central Entry

10:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. - Migratory Birds of Magnuson Park Nature Walk with Jan Bragg, Seattle Audubon Master Birder – meet at Promontory Point Education Pavilion

11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. - Grand Opening and Tour of Shore Ponds Nature Walk with City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, The Berger Partnership’s Guy Michaelson and Parks’ Andy Sheffer

2 - 3 p.m. - Restoration site tour with a Magnuson Environmental Stewardship Alliance (MESA) member, staff from EarthCorps and the Green Seattle Partnership, and a Seattle Audubon Master Birder

Presentations  -  Brig Wedgwood Room
10 - 10:45 a.m. -  Threats to our Alaskan Arctic Breeding Migratory Birds with Raelene Gold of Seattle Audubon

11 – 11:45 a.m.- Beyond Parks – Seattle Trees and Migration with Matt Mega of Seattle Audubon

12 – 12:45 p.m. Habitat Restoration in Seattle Parks with the Green Seattle Partnership: Parks’ Rory Denovan and Michael Yadrick and Forterra’s Joanna Nelson de Flores

1-2pm - Bird Migration with Seattle Audubon’s Dennis Paulson, Ph.D., Seattle Audubon Bragg,= Seattle Audubon Master Birder – meet at Promontory Point

Seattle Parks’ partners in presenting this event are the Seattle Audubon Society, MESA, the Berger Partnership, International Migratory Bird Day and EarthCorps.

For more information go to http://www.seattle.gov/parks/Magnuson/ or http://www.birdday.org/.

Learn About Native Mushrooms On Friends Of Yesler Swamp Nature Walk On Sunday

Friends of Yesler Swamp is having a nature walk called “Focus on Fungus” on Sunday from 1-2pm.

This free guided nature tour of Yesler Swamp will explore native mushrooms and related fungi common to the Pacific Northwest on Sunday. The walk will be led by Dr. Joe Ammirati, Professor of Mycology at the University of Washington.  His photos can be seen at the Burke Museum website.

Participants should meet in the east parking lot at the Center for Urban Horticulture (3501 N.E. 41st Street).

(photo courtesy of Friends of Yesler Swamp website)

Bird Walk Starting At Metropolitan Market on November 27th

One of our readers wanted to let the neighborhood know that there will be a special bird walk called "Bird Walk on the Burke" with Woody Wheeler, master birder at 9am on Sunday, November 27th 

The walk will be on the Burke Gilman from 40th Avenue NE to NE 65th Street and will be about 2 hours long.  

Walkers will meet at the small park on the trail just south of Metropolitan Market. 

You will need to reserve a space as the group is limited to 12 people. Email Jim Corson at  jim.corson@comcast.net or call 206-200-9669 and leave a message  if no answer.

(photo courtsey of birdclipart.com)