HARBOR SEALS, OCTOPUS, EAGLES, SALMON AND NIGHT BEACH WALK

Lots of scattered stuff here.  Weaned Harbor Seal pups keep turning up on local beaches, some healthy and others both ill and dead.  This year has seen more deaths recorded for seal pups in West Seattle than last year.  There are also some very chubby seal pups so it's a mixed bag.  California Sea Lion males are back in large numbers as well as a few Steller Sea Lions.  This years summer run of Pink Salmon was about 6,000,000 fish in Puget Sound and the Fall Chum Salmon run may be near record high numbers.  Orca whales have been in Central and South Puget Sound for a number of days off and on feeding on the large Chum Salmon runs.  Most Central Puget Sound Chum Runs are on the West side of the Sound and there are a number of places to observe the runs.
Eagles have also been taking advantage of the large runs and evidenced by attached images....all that salmon makes some eagles think they can handle more than they actually can...(sorry about the images...couldn't resist).  One Harbor Seal....known as "Boomer" hauls out on a float beam in Elliott Bay quite often...seems uncomfortable but who knows...  since it's a beam and not a log boom perhaps "Beamer" would be a better name.  Might motivate a certain car manufacturer to send some cash to Stranding Network operations.  An octopus eating seal was luckily caught in the act.....just a lucky camera shot.
Tide pools were full of shrimp, weather was perfect with dry clear sky no wind and water a clear as possible.
Seattle has a new mayor....council members will be elected by district in the future but GEF will still not require labels stating such.

                                                 NEST BUILDING FOR DUMMIES

 

Jack Block Park Chum Salmon feast

Boomer

Sea Lions on bouy

Rusty seal on old dock at Jack Block Park-color likely from dock surface

Anna's Hummingbird male is back at Jack Block

Boomer and gull that forced Boomer off beam

Harbor Seal with octopus

Alki tide pool

Chiton with tiny anemones attached to shells

Moonglow Anemone

Penpoint Gunnel

Purple Sea Stars on piling

Red Rock Crab

Shrimp in tidepool