Area parks are host to a surprisingly wide variety of wildlife

It can be difficult to envision wildlife of any great diversity in this busy big city — other than Pioneer Square on a rockin' Saturday night.

There's so much asphalt, steel, brick and glass.

But look on the edges of the concrete jungle — in green spots tucked away below busy freeways and in quiet waters surrounded by sprawling suburbia — and you'll find real wildlife all right, in abundance, seemingly thriving.

Beavers and muskrats quietly go about their aquatic business in parks and wetlands within a large tree's fall of houses. Sockeye, coho and even the federally protected Puget Sound chinook salmon swim past the center of the universe in Fremont on a daily basis in late summer and fall.

Eagles and peregrine falcons hunt for prey amid 1 million Greater Seattle residents. Coyotes and red foxes are sometimes seen in the twilight almost within howling distance of the heart of the city.

Carry a pair of good binoculars and a healthy measure of patience and you can spot some fascinating creatures in the city.

"I don't know if I'm amazed, but I think (urban wildlife) is not well appreciated," says Eugene Hunn of Seattle, a University of Washington professor of archaeology and one of the top birders in the Seattle area. "A lot of people may assume that wildlife and people can't mix. At times it's not necessarily a very comfortable relationship. But we should try to appreciate the aspects of an urban environment that might support abundant wildlife and realize it's possible to have urban areas that are very rich."

So get out, support your local parks, with Getaways' guide to the best spots for appreciating wildlife in the greater Seattle area.

Ballard Locks

Seattle and salmon are nearly synonymous, and the fish ladder windows at Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard (3015 N.W. 54th St.) are where residents make pilgrimages every so often to assure themselves the fish still exist.

Right now you'll see mostly coho bound for the state salmon hatchery in Issaquah (via lakes Union, Washington and Sammamish), but you'll also have a chance to see late-running sockeye and the biggies, chinook or "kings." These babies range from 12 to more than 30 pounds.

Most of the kings are headed for the hatchery, too, but some could well be of the wild stock listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Look west as you approach the boat locks. Often sea lions will swim right up to the downstream side of the locks to feed on salmon, although they're not as common as several years ago when a band known collectively as "Herschel" devastated local steelhead runs.

To see salmon in a stream in the Seattle area, try Pipers Creek in Carkeek Park in November, when the chum ascend, or Issaquah Creek just downstream of the hatchery right now, or Bear Creek outside of Redmond after the next good rain.

Juanita Bay Park

This amazing little gem on a corner of Lake Washington consistently offers good viewing and is perhaps the most reliable local spot to see beavers and their amazing handiwork. Boardwalks pass by at least two dens, one surrounded by the dammed waters of Forbes Creek. The beavers often are spotted in the evenings returning to this den from the lake. Muskrats also are sighted regularly.

Locals report that beaver sightings have decreased since the start of a noisy sewer construction project in nearby wetlands.

A female wood duck flaps its wings in a pond in Juanita Bay Park in Kirkland. The park also is the best local spot to see beavers and their amazing handiwork. GILBERT W. ARIAS / SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

"They're still there," says Teresa Sollitto, a planner for Kirkland parks and recreation. "I saw one in August. I saw an immature one out by the west (viewing) platform. They're still busy gathering things. You definitely have to wait until evening to see them."

Construction crews have been idle on weekends, so a Saturday or Sunday evening would be a good time to try to spot the beavers — and a lot of other critters. River otters sometimes are seen, eagles are common and birders love the place for unusual species, such as green herons and Virginia rails. Turtles are commonly seen sunning on logs.

Juanita Bay is a major wintering area for waterfowl, harboring such exquisitely decorated species as the hooded merganser and wood duck.

"It is an incredibly rich place in this urban environment," Sollitto says. "One of the volunteers last summer saw 13 eagles roosting."

Volunteer rangers conduct regular tours. See www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/parks/tours.htm. Find the park at 2201 Market St. in Kirkland.

Montlake Fill/Union Bay

Seattle's richest reclamation project, the Union Bay Natural Area, or Montlake Fill, as it is known, was once a city dump. Covered in 1966, it is now a series of meadows, ponds, wetlands and Lake Washington shoreline, and the hottest wildlife-watching corner of the big city. And within walking distance of the fill — to the south — is Foster Island in the Arboretum, another prime viewing spot.

You can spend a few hours between the two with binoculars, searching for a huge range of species, or you can rent a canoe from the University of Washington Activities Center and paddle lily pad lanes and marshy shoreline.

Birders say this, too, is one of the best places to spot rare species.

"Several times a year you'll get a bird that's particularly outstanding there," says Hunn, who leads field trips for the Seattle Audubon Society (www.seattleaudubon.org). "You'll find vagrants from the east side of the mountains. Snow buntings, rosy finches turn up there in winter. It's a really good place for bittern, which you don't see everywhere. The first place in Washington that green herons nested was over by Foster Island."

Eagles, herons and a host of waterfowl are common, such as grebes, mallards, widgeon, bufflehead, teal and shoveler. Peregrine falcons and sharp-shinned hawks are regular sights. The place is crazy with crows — thousands night-roost on Foster Island.

A chinook swims past one of the viewing windows on it's way up the fish ladder at the Ballard Locks. GILBERT W. ARIAS / SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Beavers have been spotted here, and coyotes. Turtles haul out on logs near the Foster Island boardwalk. You can approach the fill via the Center for Urban Horticulture (http://depts.washington.edu/urbhort/ ). It is at 3501 N.E. 41st St., near UW parking areas.

For the Foster Island Trail, go two blocks south of the Montlake Bridge and turn east onto East Lake Washington Boulevard. Go 1 1/2 blocks to Park Drive, turn north and continue to the parking lot on the north side of the Museum of History and Industry. The UW Activities Center is on the lake near Hec Edmundson Pavilion. See depts.washington.edu/ima /IMA.wac.html or call 206-543-9433.

Me-Kwa-Mooks Beach

You can see birds here — screech owls live in the madrona trees on the bluff — and sometimes marine mammals offshore, such as sea lions and orca. But the distinguishing thing about this West Seattle beach is that it has the best darned tide-pooling in the city.

Limpets, lumpsuckers, blennies, chitons, nudibranchs, sea stars, sea slugs, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs and dozens of other colorful SpongeBob creatures can be seen here during minus tides. Tide-poolers occasionally even find octopuses.

"I have gone with friends to Me-Kwa-Mooks at night and it's just outrageous," says Maria Dolan, co-author of "Nature in the City: Seattle." "That is a fantastic place. We saw sea pens."

The biggest minus tides from now until spring are at night; if you're a fair-weather tide-pooler, wait until next summer. Wear rubber boots and bundle up, and be gentle on the beach and its animals. Take advantage of the regular nighttime tide-pool trips offered by naturalists at nearby Camp Long, who can identify all those cartoonlike critters. Low-tide walks also are offered at Discovery Park. Check www.cityofseattle.net/parks/ for schedules.

Me-Kwa-Mooks — the phrase is Duwamish for face of a bear — is south of Alki Point at 4503 Beach Drive S.W.

Seward Park

This final selection was a toughie. In fact, all these selections are subjective, indeed.

Christina Gallegos, the friendly naturalist at Seward Park, suggested that all Seattle parks should make the list: "You can't really pick and choose because it's all good."

West Point at Discovery Park, for example, is an excellent place to sit with a scope — bring coffee and be patient — and search for unusual migrating offshore birds such as shearwaters, petrels and jaegers. Pelicans have been seen there, along with murres, guillemots and murrelets.

"There's a constant parade of stuff," says Hunn. "I've seen elephant seals, orca, California sea lions, harbor seals."

Meadowbrook wetland on the north end has an active beaver colony. Mercer Slough Park in Bellevue is similar in species to Juanita Bay. West Seattle's Lincoln Park is an owl hot spot. Schmitz Park has woodpeckers.

But Seward Park is our choice because of its mix of habitat, variety of species and one all-American attraction: nesting bald eagles.

"We watch the eagles in the south nest nurture their young," says Gallegos. "This year the south nest had three eagles. Only one survived. That is considered the oldest eagle nest in the urban area."

The eagle nests — two of them — won't be active until spring. But you can see wildlife year-round at Seward Park, which at 270 acres encompasses the entire Bailey Peninsula on Lake Washington and one of two remaining old-growth forests in Seattle.

This magnificent forest is a haven for smaller birds such as waxwings, wrens, brown creepers and kinglets, at least four owl species (screech, saw-whet, great horned and barred), and woodpeckers such as flickers, downy and the elegant red-crowned pileated. Along shore, beavers, otters and muskrats are sometimes seen, and salmon spawn in November.

The Lake Washington sockeye run includes a shore-spawning component, and you can see many along the park's south shore, with the peak in late November.

The park is at 5902 Lake Washington Blvd. S. Naturalists at the environmental learning center can give you directions to nest-watching spots. They also lead field trips (see the Seattle Parks Web site). Also worth checking out is the Friends of Seward Park site at www.sewardpark.net/

If you go

"Nature in the City: Seattle" by Maria Dolan and Kathryn True (Mountaineers Books, 286 pages, $15.95) includes descriptions of many of the places mentioned here.

To increase your chances of seeing wildlife:

1. Be quiet, move slowly and carry binoculars or a spotting scope.
2. Avoid flushing birds or disturbing animals — the expenditure of energy can be critical to their health.
3. If you pick up creatures while tide-pooling, replace them where they came from, in the same position.
4. Stay on the trail to avoid trampling vegetation and habitat.
5. Wildlife won't always be waiting for you; be patient and prepared to return until you're successful.

P-I reporter Greg Johnston can be reached at 206-448-8014 or gregjohnston@seattlepi.com.

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