For viewing of the Lake Union Fireworks last night, I was at one of my most favored viewing locations at the Lakeview bridge overpass above I-5 at the corner of Lakeview/Belmont/Melrose, and as per usual, I had my binoculars in hand and at the eye as the fireworks commenced. Within the first minute, maybe a little less as the barge exploded to life, a large gull-sized bird appeared rising from the direction of the lake shore first as silhouette until it got into the I-5 street lights and in my eye and bins was immediately and with great surprise and startled delight identified as an adult BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON. Presumably, all the sudden illuminations and noisy commotion down there 'dislodged' the night-heron from presumably docks or pilings along the SE shore somewhere along Fairview. The night heron came up from there, diagonally crossing I-5 and thru my bins literally at eye level and that of the street lights, gracefully passed by and and then rising just above the Lakeview overpass heading toward the SE and into the Capitol Hill area. Just a flyby, but a nice bonus to this fine evening.

Tip: There are two ways to "observe" fireworks, you can either 'watch' them like most of the masses, two-dimensional flat screened wide angle whether watched in person or on tv, ...OR..., you can SEE the fireworks. A good 10X pair of binoculars adds a whole new wild crazy 3rd dimension to the experience! The minutest details to each air burst is mesmerizingly amazing, from launch to detonation to the smoke signature. Even better is to be plugged into a good and appropriate musical soundtrack of your personal choosing (I'm old fashioned, it's the traditional patriotic theme for me!), ...and probably even better with good drugs, dunno about the latter though :-)) Anyway, I've been an ardent fan of a good fireworks show for years and years and years and wouldn't even consider attending a show without the bins. Seattle Lake Union's is one of the nation's best, and who knows, a good bird might just fly by.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA