Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

Lat: 47.665323774091355, Lon:-122.39998334246673
Day, 2012
4/2/12

Today around 6:00pm I walked through the Hiram M. Chittenden locks. The sun was setting but it was still relatively light out and maybe about 50-55 degrees F. There were a few cumulus clouds and some overcast as well.

At the south side of the Locks there is a huge red alder tree about 30 feet tall that is home to about 20-30 cormorants. I could easily see about 20 nests and far more cormorants just sitting in the tree or flying above the nearby water. They were black with long orange beaks and lighter/greyish chests. In some of the pictures I took, they actually resembled Great Blue Herons that are known for being present at the locks so I was a bit unsure at first, but now I'm positive that I saw cormorants. On my post, these cormorants were identified even further to Double-crested cormorants.

I've also seen these birds swimming in the Shilshole Bay (saltwater) side of the locks. They dive down into the water and then pop up close to where the six gates release water from the Salmon Bay (freshwater) side. When they pop up, they are guided backwards by the water gates. They then dive back down and do it all over again. It kind of reminded me of the wave pool at Wild Waves when I saw this.

I've also observed them flying around the Shilshole Bay side of the locks. Once I saw this pair of cormorants fly the exact same path but in opposite directions. They both did a sort of figure 8 above the water while changing their fling heights and then returning back to the red alder one after the other.

Interestingly, I visited the same area about a month later (in May) and found hardly any cormorants in that red alder. Maybe the migrated or maybe they were only staying in that area to breed or just pass by.

Species List:
Double-crested Cormorant

Posted on May 21, 2012 10:08 PM by lisad22