I ran into Michael Williams again today, he designed and built the
wetlands remodel at the far end of Golden Gardens Park in
Ballard/Seattle. He mentioned seeing a number of bird kills at the far
NW corner of the pond, nearest the RR tracks, the same area where I saw
a partially eaten GB Heron and an unidentifiable duck earlier this year.
He mentioned a report of a large owl in the area, has anyone else heard
reports of an owl there? The Heron I saw could have been predated or
scavenged, I couldn't tell.

He also asked about the "parrots" that have been seen around Sunset
Hill/Golden Gardens. Are they still around?

Lots of swallows, mostly Violet-green and Barn, GW Gulls, Canada Geese
and Mallards, and of course crows are the common pond birds. New for me
at the ponds this week or two were a Blue-winged Teal, a Brown-headed
Cowbird and a couple of Rough-winged Swallows. On Wednesday there was a
female wigeon, pretty late, it seems, but she was gone the next day. And
also several juv. Red-winged Blackbirds. They've been gone since the
remodel, I'm glad they bred successfully this year. One nest was in the
cattails in the same NW corner I mentioned earlier.

Cliff Drake
cdrake at zipcon.net
Ballard Seattle, WA