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Ballard Locks, Seattle, Washington
1999 06 16 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake 1999 04 25 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake 1999 03 24 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake 1998 10 29 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake 1998 10 22 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake 1998 08 15 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake 1998 07 09 . . . Reporter: Cliff Drake BACK TO WASHINGTON INDEX
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I saw what looked like two juvenile Belted Kingfishers this week, the first Tuesday [6/15] on the public fishing pier next to the boat ramp at Shilshole/Golden Gardens. The second this morning at the Ballard locks, fishing around the spillway. Both had lots of rufous on their sides, especially evedent when flying. The gray band was imperfectly developed and they looked kind of "fuzzy". The one at the locks I nicknamed "Ol Flattop" because its crest was either missing or well swept back. It was pretty dramatic. It also seemed to be diving for fish at a very shallow angle, flying a foot above the surface and swooping in at about 5 to 10 degrees. It didn't seem to have much success. There was an adult male buzzing around to the west of the RR bridge at the same time.
Belted Kingfishers are active from the Locks through Golden Gardens, but I haven't been able to identify individuals the last few weeks.
Today was the first day in several months I've seen the male Kingfisher at the Locks/Commodore Park. The male and female flew into the drained small lock, rattling away and perched on a piece of construction equipment on the bottom, some 40 feet down. It was quite an echo chamber for their rattles. The female had been hanging around with a juvenile, but today there was just the m/f pair. There was a male hanging around the ponds at Golden Gardens earlier this year, but I don't know if it's related to the locks pair.
There was an adult female Belted Kingfisher with an ~2" flounder in her beak. She flew to several perches near the railroad bridge before flying into the Commodore Park trees followed by two distinct rattles. I assume she was feeding a youngster. Saturday [1998 10 31] I saw a Juv. male (Juv, yes, male, yes, I think.) Plus about six other sightings that flew by too fast to ID. They all could have been the same birds. At Shilshole today [1998 11 06] there was an adult male rattling around V and W piers. He "woke up" two Pied-billed Grebes who were sleeping/resting in the calm water between the Yacht Club and V pier...
There were three Belted Kingfishers at the Ballard Locks this morning, the first two were perched together (~20 ft), both had some roufus on the breast, but I don't know if they were juv. or adult females. I'm not an expert, but I doubt two adult females would sit that close to each other... The third was an adult male.
This morning there were at least 5 Belted Kingfishers at the Ballard Locks in Seattle. One youngster on the cable, four or maybe five around the railroad bridge and the bank below Pescatore Restauraunt. At least two of these looked like youngsters, (Juvenile? sub-adult?)
There were three Belted Kingfishers at the Ballard Locks this morning, two together and one "interloper". Of the two that flew together one was an adult female, the other I think was a juvenile. (incomplete brown band, the top gray band was mottled brown rather than solid gray, and it just looked like a juvenile. The spots on the tail looked more distinct, but that could be because I could get closer.) The third was sex unknown, and was noisily chased away by the adult female.
1998.12.03 | 2000.03.18