Ballard Locks- When Winter Meets Spring

When winter meets spring – what a marvelous time of year in the Pacific Northwest and what better place to experience this junction than the Ballard Locks in Seattle? Here saltwater meets freshwater and forest meets the garden, joining multiple habitats where residents and migrants mingle in this dawn of the year. I have chosen this unique time and place to lead a Seattle Audubon Bird Tour to share the magic of the melding of seasons and habitats.

Arriving early, I am greeted with the long melodious vibrato of the resident Winter Wren clearing the air with its 300-note song. This tiny songster is joined by the migrant Varied Thrush, whose discordant monosyllabic song rings through the garden. As the Audubon group arrives, a male Anna’s Hummingbird shows off his squeaky metallic song from the top of a Wax Myrtle, attempting to impress the females who are nesting nearby.

A quick “Whit!” draws our attention to a winter resident, the Yellow-rumped Warbler, who is getting her fill of insects taking flight in the warm morning air. The warbler is powering up for the long migration back north.

Tearing ourselves away from all of this activity we continue to explore the rest of the Carl S. English Gardens. The gardens provide a lovely place of refuge for locals and
tourists alike, all of whom can enjoy the spectacular landscape all year round. Our attention is drawn away from the Starry Magnolia in full bloom to an ancient Blue Atlas Cedar. It is not the tremendous height of this tree that is alluring, but the decoration of dozens of Great Blue Herons posed in a stately manner throughout its branches. As we gaze through our binoculars and spotting scopes, the stillness of the scene is awe inspiring.

Closer examination shows all the herons are sporting lovely white breeding plumes on their necks and chest. They are gathering for their pre-nesting social. Their rookery is located in the forest just south of the Locks, and they gather here in the garden prior to starting the long, arduous nesting season.

The rattling call of a Belted Kingfisher pulls us toward the water. A chase is on between the resident male and any other kingfisher who dares enter his territory. The kingfisher’s feeding area at the locks is rich with young salmon, who are leaving the relative safety of freshwater and entering the first stages of their lives in saltwater.

Belted Kingfisher. Photo by Greg Thompson.

Other fish-feeding birds are in evidence with Doublecrested Cormorants perched high on light posts, spreading their wings to dry in the morning sun. A closer examination in my spotting scope shows some of the cormorants beginning to grow their double crests in anticipation of nesting season. Soon they will depart the locks and return to offshore islands to raise their young.

Scanning the water reveals a multitude of migrant waterfowl in full breeding plumage, feeding for the last few days before spring departure. Greater and Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Mergansers, Barrow’s and Common Goldeneye. Soon we’ll only be left with Gadwall and Mallards, tough urban species who will nest in marginal blackberry brambles.

Soon we notice the herons have left the “dance floor” of the Blue Atlas Cedar and are now gathering in the young alders lining the south side of the saltwater arena. A great deal of slow-motion posturing begins to take place. Thin branches from the alders are stalked and removed by the strong, fish-killing beaks. Rather than fly back to the rookery with the sticks (as they will in a week or so) instead they pose, manipulate, and generally show off their stick-gathering prowess.

While we are watching this ancient dance the herons are joined by a mixed feeding flock of Black-capped and Chestnutbacked Chickadees, Bushtits, and Pine Siskens- a reminder that it’s still winter for many small birds who have yet to break into pairs.

We end our rich morning in the Kiwanis Ravine, a forested area just above the Locks, to admire the Great Blue Heron rookery. Large stick nests laden the alders and maples in the ravine, quietly waiting for the spring frenzy that is soon to come.

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