Subject: Heerman's Gull in Ballard
Date: Oct 9 16:17:42 2000
From: Cliff Drake - ardea at uswest.net



There was a single HEERMAN'S GULL sitting on the cable on the west side of
the spillway at the Chittenden Locks in Seattle today (10 AM Oct, 9), about
20 feet from the sidewalk. I think they're beautiful birds, such subtle
shades of gray with stark black and white primaries and the bright orange on
the bill offering such a colorful contrast. I wish I could see more of them,
but then they wouldn't be so special I guess. That brings the count of gulls
seen there this summer/fall to seven, Glacous-wing, Western, California,
Ring-Billed, Mew, Bonaparte's and Heerman's, plus the ubiquitous hybrids.

Some others roughly in order seen.

American Robin
Bushtit (many?)
Great Blue Heron 2 *
Annas Hummingbird 2 *
Starlings
Crows **
Rock Doves
House Finches
Black-capped Chickadees 2 seen, more heard
Steller's Jays 4 again, flying over the canal
House Sparrows
Canada Geese
Glaucous-winged Gull (many)
Mew Gull (many)
Belted Kingfisher 2, m/f
Common Merganser f (Walking on the beach with)
Mallard 4
DC Cormorant 4 with more flying by.

Nothing spectacular, but fun to see nonetheless. Also present were several
brown rats and about 30 coho in the fish ladder, mostly small, around a foot
long. (one year salts?)

* There are two hummer territories that are almost always occupied, both
near one of the two fuchsia beds. One is just N of the admin. building with
a male usually in the oaks just to the east. The other is the
fuchsia/day-lily bed near the Ballard entrance. There's usually a female
there near the harlequin glory bower or the dying(?) flowering cherry. There
is frequently a Great Blue Heron in the fir just inside the nursery entrance
and today an anna's was buzzing the heron, that's about the biggest size
difference you can see here, I would think.

** One of the crows today was banded, green above silver on the left , gray
gray on the right, I see it frequently foraging on the rocks at lowish
tides. I reported it to the U Dub folks, they said it was banded March 1999.
I saw one other this summer, also reported, silver orange left, orange
orange right, but only once. The best time to look at crows is near low tide
on the rocks on the Magnolia side. They and the rats and a rare river otter
eat mussels, small crab and an occasional trapped fish. This time of year
dead salmon wash up too. The crows and rats eat better than I do.

Cliff Drake
Seattle WA
ardea at uswest.net