They've put up the smolt chute at the Locks, to help the young salmon pass
through. But some of the smolt seem to be stunned by the intense experience,
and a few float on the surface on the saltwater side. This makes for some
interesting bird watching, as we observed gulls and a heron try to catch and
eat the stunned but living fish.

We could see what appeared to be one young eagle at the nest across from
Salty's on Harbor Ave. and an adult sitting in a nearby branch.

At the former Seaboard Lumber site on the Duwamish today, saw a great blue
heron on Kellogg Island. One osprey was quite active and sits at the top of
the snags on the Seaboard site. The other osprey may have been in the nest on
the nearby lightpole (we may have seen a bit of the top of its head), but was
not very visible. The osprey seems to have a pattern of taking its catch to
the tall red and white tower, and sitting on a railing for eating. As we
left, a heron circled and circled the osprey/osprey nest. It was still
circling when we left. Couldn't figure out what the heron's behavior was
about. But was encouraged to see a heron in that area, since I understood
they have not come back to the West Duwamish Greenbelt rookery this year.

Caspian terns still on Kellogg Island. Very beautiful to watch them plummet
into the water for fish..

A beautiful day!

Didi Anstett
mailto: didianstet at aol.com