On Friday the 16th Kris Baker and I found our first urban osprey of the
season, at their familiar nest site just down river of Kellogg Island in the
Duwamish River. One was seen acquiring branches from the island for its nest
atop the light pole just to the north of the island. Tree swallows were
hotly pursuing each other, adding to our entertainment. This site is in the
midst of further development for public access and is also being enhanced
with plantings of native vegetation in a newly constructed wetland area.
Shaggy manes were already coming up, a few dozen fresh ones were just off
the trail.

>From Kellogg Island we went north to terminal 105, hoping to glimpse an
early purple martin. With no such luck, we went on to the new Port of
Seattle park directly west of the north end of Harbor Island (just SE of
Salty's at Alki). From there we had a good but distant view of the eagle nest
up on the hill to the NW, and one adult was visible for the hour that we
stuck around. Despite ideal viewing conditions across Elliott Bay, we failed
to spot any of the gray whales and orcas that have been reported recently.
The new park has a fairly high observation deck allowing a fine view of the
bay, although northerly breezes can make it a bit brisk. Yesterday was no
problem. Rhino auklets, western grebes, red necked grebes, pigeon
guillemots, and others were around.
Just before dusk we checked on the Green Lake eagles, but the sun made for
difficult viewing of the nest from the amphitheater. Didn't see any birds at
the nest, but one was on the island in its usual spot.

Kevin Li
Seattle