Hi Gang,

Now that I have your attention... I've seen only a few fledgling GB Herons
down at the locks, they sit on the railings and wander around on the lawns.
I think the adults know the fish are in the water, not on the lawn, but I
don't know if the newbies do. There are thousands of tiny dark fry along the
rocks there on the Magnolia side, and shiner perch and other bigger (five
inch?) unknown fish, plus smolt and a mess of Sockeye Salmon, but none can
be found on the lawns.

One of the fledgling herons - it had the biggest fuzziest crown I've seen -
had white flight feathers, a band on each wing about six inches wide at mid
wing, I don't know if they were primaries or secondaries, I only saw it from
below, it was in the top of a tree and flew off, I've never noticed the
white before. The coverts were the usual gray, it was kind of striking.

I also found a dead beaver pup in Commodore Park, just above the round
stairs. I wasn't sure it was a beaver at first because the tail was so
small, only about two inches wide and it wasn't in the best shape. I
reported it to Brad the interpreter in the visitors center at the locks and
he and his boss Jay called a bunch of people about it. No one at fish and
wildlife or the marine mammal people seemed interested that there was a dead
marine mammal in the ship canal. Some f&w fish catchers working there
confirmed it was a young beaver. Don't beavers count? It was in salt water
at this point maybe 1/4 mile from fresh water. Anyway, its gone now.


Cheers,

Cliff Drake
Ballard Seattle, WA
cliffdrake at qwest.net