Hi gang,

I saw a BROWN CREEPER in the Carl S English Gardens at the Ballard Locks this morning. Never seen one there before, it was on the southernmost Scarlet Horse-chestnut bordering the Ballard entrance sidewalk. It didn't seem at all skittish of us and called rather loudly and regularly (tzee tzee). Also the first BONAPARTE'S GULL of the year was sitting on the cable at the west side of the spillway with a juv BELTED KINGFISHER (BEKI) sitting a few inches away. Dad Kingfisher and the kid have been chasing each other around quite a bit recently, with 3 or more BEKI in the area as well. Let's see, a BALD EAGLE in the lookout tree, BARN SWALLOWS, CLIFF SWALLOWS, BANK SWALLOWS and a family (one adult, 3 kids) of NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS in the spillway area.

Spot, the mother harbor seal is still hanging around with one of her pups, lots of huge chinook salmon and smaller sockeye swimming around, sometimes in schools so big they look like underwater piles of fish. The water temperature in the fish ladder is about 62 degrees I was told, much too hot for the poor fish. We should all hope for some cold rain.

I never get tired of watching the fish or the birds.

All the best,

Cliff Drake
Ballard Seattle WA
cliff at cliffdrake.net