I took advantage of today's fine weather to pedal my road racing bike from Ballard to Seward Park, and I carried my bins in a waist pack as I pedaled down. There was no wind at all, making for a fine day of riding. Just south of Seward Park I was pleased to find about 10 canvasbacks nearshore, diving near some docks just south of the tennis courts. Unfortunately, I also encountered a localized oily sheen and a sickening petroleum odor, so I reported it to the authorities. As I pedaled north I found another flock of canvasbacks just north of the Stan Sayres Pits, feeding among a larger flock of scaup and a few ring necked ducks; coots were scattered all over the place. I watched these for a long time, diving for 10-15 seconds within about 20 feet of shore. They seemed to come up with small items that took some handling before swallowing, possibly clams or mussels, and other times they clearly came up with vegetation. At Leschi I found a few dozen ring necked ducks and a few common mergansers, highlighted nicely by the setting sun. From there I rode with a group of bike racers in training through the arboretum and then I broke off to check on the Montlake Fill. As I passed the football fields I looked up and spotted a good sized peregrine atop a lightpost; a number of people walked right below it, not drawing any concern from the falcon. It stayed put for at least about 30 minutes, from 3-3:30. Other highlights at the fill were green winged teal, hooded mergansers, gadwall, ring necked ducks, PB grebes, shovelers, buffleheads and coots. I noticed that my two purple martin gourds were missing from the NE corner of the Fill, perhaps the recent winds blew them off the wooden crossbars in the cat tails.

Nothing out of the ordinary today, but a gorgeous day and a fine work out..

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com