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The Daily Bucket: Pier Pressure [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-12-18

The Edmonds fishing pier gets you right out into Puget Sound to get closer to birds that you’d ordinarily need a spotting scope to see and confirm identity. Since I live in Edmonds, I’m usually down down at the pier at least every other week, sometimes twice a week. I’ve been on the pier recently fishing for squid a few nights. Winter is squid season but it’s been slow for squid. The squid are market squid, a near shore squid that is attracted to lights. Hence, they are near piers at night and that’s when you fish for them. Some folks bring generators and powerful lights to shine into the water. These are the folks you stand near while jigging for squid. Like I said, it’s been slow. I caught one squid and gave it away to my fishing buddy.

I digress, let’s look at some birds I saw and photographed a little over a week ago. Winter brings in the migratory waterfowl and other seabirds. The Bucket Brigade likes birds. I do, too.

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Map view of a portion of the Edmonds waterfront. Red Dot: Edmonds fishing pier and the sea bird photos Green Dot: Brackett’s Landing South Park. Yellow-rumped warbler photos. Has a nice shrubby environment, good for golden-crowned and white-crowned sparrows, and house finches. Purple Dot: Cascadia Art Museum parking lot. White-crowned sparrow and Anna’s hummingbird.

I photograph just about every gull I see that’s within reasonable range. The reason I do this is because gulls are a tricky challenge to identify and having a suite of gull photos to pore over helps me with that challenge. There are key features to look for like eye color, shades of black and gray, bill shape, etc. The larger gulls also hybridize between species so that you end up with gull mutts. I’m only including one gull in this set. Gull identification is a topic for another time.

Glaucous-winged Gull. Fisherman were tossing out some crab bait and the gulls were all over it. Edmonds fishing pier.

Glaucous-winged Gull. Fisherman were tossing out some crab bait and the gulls were all over it. Edmonds fishing pier.

Surf Scoters gather in some large flocks at the Edmonds waterfront in winter, especially around the ferry dock.

Surf Scoter hens. Edmonds fishing pier.

Surf Scoter hen. Edmonds fishing pier.

Cormorants are present year round but in higher numbers in winter. Double-crested Cormorants are the most common. Pelagic Cormorants are also very common.

Double-crested Cormorant. Edmonds fishing pier.

Double-crested Cormorant, juvenile. Edmonds fishing pier.

Alcids are usually a fair distance from shore. The pier gets you closer to them and often they get close to the pier.

Common Murre. Edmonds fishing pier.

Common Murre. Edmonds fishing pier.

Rhinoceros Auklet. These are the most commonly seen alcid from the pier. Edmonds fishing pier.

As I was walking off the pier, a gentleman approached me and asked: “Did you see the sea lions on the breakwater?” I didn’t. So, I walked back out to the end of the pier and took a picture.

Sea lions on the Edmonds marina breakwater.

Leaving the pier, I walked along the beach to Brackett’s Landing South Park next to the ferry dock. The park has a large grassy area and picnic tables. Around the perimeter of the park are shrubby areas of mainly native plants. These shrubby areas are perfect foraging and hideout areas for small birds like sparrows and warblers.

Yellow-rumped Warbler. This is why they are known as “Butterbutts.” Brackett’s Landing South Park.

Yellow-rumped Warbler. Brackett’s Landing South Park.

Yellow-rumped Warbler. Brackett’s Landing South Park.

The most common and ubiquitous birds in the greater Seattle area are the American Crow. Brackett’s Landing South Park.

There is always a Bald Eagle perched on this piling just off the beach.

Leaving the beach area I headed over to the Cascadia Art Museum to do a little Christmas shopping at their gift shop. They have some really cool stuff. They also have nicely landscaped planters where they’ve left flower heads to shed seeds and some lingering tubular flowers. I didn’t plan on taking any photos until I spied an Anna’s Hummingbird working the flowers. A White-crowned Sparrow was working on seeds that had dropped to the pavement.

White-crowned Sparrow. Cascadia Art Museum.

White-crowned Sparrow. Cascadia Art Museum.

Anna’s Hummingbird. Cascadia Art Museum.

Thanks for joining me. I really love my town of Edmonds and I love sharing it.

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