It seemed like a recipe for failure: birding on the shortest, darkest day of the year in the rainy Pacific Northwest. If you were looking for an avian show on December 21 you might be disappointed. Right?
Wrong.
Despite the short light period and morning fog, this Winter Solstice was an excellent day for birding and wildlife-watching. Thirty-eight bird species for a grand total of 287 individual birds and one Coyote joined me on my two-hour misty stroll at Seattle’s Union Bay Natural Area. A wide variety of vocalizations and surprisingly bright colors of bird plumages cut through the fog.
Part of this phenomenon is due to the large wintering population of ducks, geese, swans, and raptors that migrate to Puget Sound area in late fall and remain through Spring. These birds escape the cold, snow, and ice of their northern and eastern breeding grounds to winter in a milder place. Here they can find open water, vegetation, and warmer weather. According to Duck’s Unlimited, half-a-million waterfowl winter each year in Puget Sound.
As often occurs on birding outings, things started slowly. In the first five minutes, I only heard a few calls of American Crows and a Northern Flicker, then saw several Mallards in Ravenna Creek and a Glaucous-winged Gull in flight, its plumage matching the gray and white sky.
Bird activity picked up when I walked to the shore of Lake Washington where 35 Double-crested Cormorants perched and preened on a submerged log in the foggy gloom. Alfred Hitchcock could have done something with this spooky scene, accompanied by the cormorants’ guttural croaking. Can you spot the one Glaucous-winged Gull in their midst? The rich, musty smell of the fresh water lake takes me back to my Great Lakes roots.
Northern Shovelers paddled close to shore, their conspicuously long bills just beneath the water line as they “shoveled” in a circular motion for aquatic vegetation. Even in the dim light, their colorful plumage and oversized bills stood out.
Meanwhile, bird sightings multiplied: Bald Eagles, Coopers Hawks, and Red-winged Blackbirds among them. At one of three ponds in Union Bay Natural Area, a colorful medley of a dozen Mallards, Northern Shovelers and Green-winged Teal rested and preened on a long, submerged log.
I heard resonant trumpeting, and soon found four Trumpeter Swans preening in the lake. The largest species of waterfowl in the U.S. with some reaching 35 pounds, Trumpeter Swans winter along the west coast, including in Union Bay. Their elegant beauty and haunting call enliven gray days.
Surrounding the Trumpeters were mixed flocks of waterfowl, including dozens of American Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead and Gadwall. Sometimes on winter days, the density of water birds is so high in Union Bay that it looks like a petite long-legged bird could walk across the bay on their backs.
Heading into Yesler Swamp for the final part of my walk, I encountered woodland species like Steller’s Jay, Varied Thrush, Bushtit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pacific and Bewick’s Wren. In addition, I had a final look at a calm, heavily vegetated inlet of Lake Washington where Great Blue Heron, Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, and a Belted Kingfisher were visible.
As I hiked the loop back to my car at the opposite end of the refuge, I ran into a fellow who mentioned seeing a Coyote earlier. When I told him that I had come up empty with respect to coyotes, he pointed behind me and announced “There it is!” Sure enough, a male Coyote trotted nonchalantly along a sidewalk before angling into deep brush and disappearing.
By the end of the morning, I was happy to have ventured outside on a gloomy day. The message is simple: Go outdoors, even on the shortest, darkest, coldest days of the year. In addition to seeing birds and wildlife, you will gather light, smells, and a taste of nature that will sustain your spirit during winter’s darkest days — even in the cloudiest city in the lower-48 states of the U.S.
