Hi

There was a Male Belted Kingfisher at the Ballard locks this morning, in
adjoining Commodore Park actually. Look on the wires on either side of
the spillway. on the spillway gates on any of the lamps, or as in this
case, on the sidewalk railing anywhere from the fish ladder to the end
of the park. Also check the fence between the locks and the Canal
restaurant and the pilings of the tie off wall under the railroad
bridge. Another spot is a ledge under the viewing area at the fish
ladder entrance and the small marina east of the fish ladder. If you
don't see kingfishers walk the sidewalk west from the fish ladder and
look for kingfisher poop on the sidewalk. Look for small white spots
that look like they were shot out at a 45 degree angle. As for
potential nesting areas, try the treed bank next to the terraced lawn
in the Park and the bank under the canal restaurant. Also the locks are
pretty close to Discovery Park as the BEKI flies, could be there.

By the way, the Ballard side parking lot will have parking meters by
memorial day (City Property). Bummer.

Cliff Drake
Seattle WA Ballard
cliff at cliffdrake.net


At 10:21 PM 5/3/2005, uglyduckling at comcast.net wrote:

Hey folks,
Today was by far the most unsuccessful day of birding I
have ever had. Why? Because I couldn't find a single Belted
Kingfisher in Seattle. I drove all over, visited parks up and down the
sound as well as around lake union and Washington but no birds. I don't
know what the deal was, but it probably because I was looking for them.

I saw some good stuff though, got some good pics of a
Double-crested Cormorant at the fill. Plenty of warblers about too.
The strangest thing was a Brant sitting on the beach at Golden Gardens
park. I drove to the end of the parking lot to see if I could find any
nest cavities or even a sand bank (to no avail) and there on the beach,
hardly a 10 yards away was a Brant all alone and just sitting there.
Its head feathers were very, very worn and it looked sick and I assume
that is why it was there. Still it struck me as very odd cause I am
used to seeing them in the middle of puget sound or any other body of
water.
Anyway, tomorrow I have more work to do and I am going
to look at some other areas. Thanks again for all your suggestions
again and good birding.
-Brendan McGarry

Brendan McGarry
Seattle/Olympia, Washington
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