Birders in Seattle Wa. (1 Viewer)

[Gentoo]

I will be heading there in about a month. What aree some good birding spots and what can I expect to see? I hear Bald Eagles are fairly common there and I've never seen one so I'm looking forward to that. How about Gray Jays? Also believe or not, I'm looking forward to seeing Black-Capped Chickadees. I know this sounds strange but there's a whole different set of bird in California. I've seen the Chestnut-Backed and Mountain Chickadees. What else is unique to the Seattle area?

 

[napamatt]

Gentoo

I used to travel to Seattle fairly frequently, and birded Discovery Park on a couple of occasions. Didn't pick up the species you are looking for, but Northwestern Crow is a good one, and the park was full of very obliging Kinglets, creeper's, nuthatches who came very close.

Matt

 

[Gentoo]

napamatt, thank you very much. Northwestern Crow would be a good tick as I've not yet seen one. Kinglets and creepers are hard to come by in southern cal except in the mountains so those would be some good species to get. I only wish I was going about 6 weeks later to get the winter migrants.

 

[alancairns]

napamatt, thank you very much. Northwestern Crow would be a good tick as I've not yet seen one.

When you do (and you will) see one, you will be unable to distinguish it from an American crow - they cannot be distinguished in the field.

If you go into the mountains (Snoqualmie pass is not far) you should get Gray Jays and Clark's nutcrackers aplenty.

Alan

 

[djleahy]

My top suggestion is Juanita Bay, on the east side of Lake Washington (just north of Kirkland). It has become infested with Wood Ducks in recent years.

My only Red-necked Grebe was seen on Lake Washington.

http://leahy.to/birds_seattle/red-necked%20grebe_a.html

As you noted, there are a lot of Bald Eagles over Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish (east of Bellevue) these days.

Marymoor Park (Redmond) has some nice slough birding. Alki Beach (West Seattle) is a handy example for Puget Sound coast beach. You might consider a ferry ride for a chance for alcids and other Sound-going birds. A bit of a drive, but the north side of Deception Pass has a short hike to some pretty wild rocky shoreline, with Pigeon Guillemots and friends (and is a pretty fantastic place to visit).