Today I once again tackled various West Seattle locations by bus. To sum up I arrived from downtown Seattle by route #54 and started at Lincoln Park. Then I went to the California Junction by Sound Transit route #560, from there I used route #128 to go to the Admiral Junction and walked down to the Duwamish Head by way of the Fairmount Gully. From Alki I returned to downtown Seattle on Route #56. Yes, I made a big day out of it!
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I am not going to recommend what I did as there are easier ways. I was looking for long walks in some of my favorite places. I would suggest doing either Lincoln Park or the Alki/Duwamish Head areas seperately. Either are extremely easy to access by bus. The #56 is a really good way to get to Alki and then walk along the waterfront to the Duwamish Head. It is a very worthwhile walk.
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I found all of my target birds today. At Lincoln Park I found a Common Loon and lots of Harlequin Ducks. Varied Thrushes were singing in the upper forest which is always wonderful to hear. I found a Townsend's Warbler in a flock of Black-capped Chickadees.
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Walking down to the Duwamish Head from the Admiral District I used an interesting trail that starts from the northwest side of the Admiral Way bridge and descends into the Fairmount Gully. This saves a lot of time if you are on foot.
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At the Duwamish Head my goal was to find the Black Turnstones and Surfbirds. I did not find around the head itself ,but found them when I turned west and on my way to Alki. There was a low tide this morning so not all of their rocks were being splashed by waves. I counted 29 Black Turnstones and only 4 Surfbirds.
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Mark Vernon
Renton, WA
mailto ma_vern at yahoo.com