We went to downtown Ballard this morning to see the beginning of the Sockeye salmon run. The adult salmon come up from the Sound, and jump up the ladder to reach Lake Union. The ladder is to the right in the photo. The fry (baby salmon) come from Lake Union and beyond, and travel back to sea through those white shoots. I guess they go through tail first to somehow minimize injury. Quite incredible. When you stand on the walkway over the shoots you can't hear the person next to you over the force of the water.
We were also very happy to discover a new heron rookery at the locks. We discovered it by noticing some bushes that appeared to have been painted white. I looked up to see where all the poop was coming from and discovered a 4 foot nest with giant baby birds in it. We could hear their beaks knocking together, and see huge wings extending over the edge of the nest. We counted 4 nests. Woe to the baby fry coming out of Lake Union.
Very cool!
ReplyDeleteSometime we will have to plan to be there for the salmon run. We are usually lucky to see even one salmon in the ladder.
ReplyDeleteThe Sockeye run starts in mid June, and runs to about the end of July. It is the largest of the salmon species' runs, and varies in numbers from year to year. This year, for the last couple of days, thousands of fish have been going through daily. Last year that amount was only in the hundreds.
ReplyDeleteIt really is something to see in a bounty year.... We were looking down into the water yesturday, from on top of the dam, and saw a HUGE school of adult salmon swimming towards the outflow and then turning as they came to the wall. Magnificent.
We saw lots of little fish going out to sea as well so hopefully we'll have a good year 3-4 years from now. Some are speculating that warmer waters are hurting the salmon populations around here. The outgoing fry don't do well when the lake waters warm too much. Nearby ocean temperatures are also changing.