Tag Archives: critters

Pikes/Pines | Like rainwater off a duck’s back — Your Capitol Hill neighbor the Mallard might be common but still has some stories to tell: colorful attire, rough sex, and ladies with powerful voices

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A female Mallard speculum. (Image: Brendan McGarry)

“Just Mallards.”

That’s a phrase I’ve uttered far more than I probably know and certainly too often. Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos (literally “duck with a broad bill”), the most widespread and abundant duck in North America, don’t generally elicit excitement.

Even on the Hill, where there are few ponds, I doubt most of us would be surprised by a few Mallards paddling around Waterworks at Cal Anderson.

Of course, I wouldn’t bring them up if they weren’t worth considering. (Then again, what species isn’t?) Being one of the most common ducks in the world, they are immediately recognizable. So much so that we often overlook them while simultaneously celebrating them with the likes of Donald and Daffy Duck who are both undoubtedly of Mallard stock. How many people reading this went to the University of Oregon but can’t share much of note about Mallards?

One of my favorite things about Mallards are their links to human history.

As a wild species, Mallards have probably been food for humans as long as our species has shared their space. Their domestication dates to at least 4,000 years ago in Asia and the ease with which wild Mallards accept our presence and handouts it’s not hard to imagine how this relationship started. Ducks are not raised for eggs or meat in the US on the level that chickens are, but they are still raised widely and billions are eaten every year across the globe. Though I am less enamored with the way ducks are commercially raised enmasse, I do find their connections to human development and culture compelling. Practically all domestic ducks, aside from Muscovy Ducks, were bred from Mallards.

Domestic ducks that come from Mallard stock. Some even look almost like a “wild type” mallard. (Image: Brendan McGarry)

Like many domestic species, domestic ducks have been the focus of breeding efforts which have brought out favorable colors, different sizes, and morphological surprises that have happened while seeking out other desirable traits. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill wildlife bingo card: Coyotes, owls, Eastern Cottontails… and the Meany Middle School deer

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The deer was spotted Wednesday morning near Meany Middle School — Thanks to Sam Cetron for the pictures

Add a young buck to the wildlife sightings around Capitol Hill this spring. Sightings of the small deer were reported Wednesday across northeastern Capitol Hill and into the Central District including a stop captured with these pictures from near Meany Middle School.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says nobody reported the animal so it wasn’t aware of the deer’s unusual route. “It’s not uncommon for deer to find their way into green space,” WDFW communications manager Samantha Montgomery tells CHS. “If the deer is injured or sick, or causing negative interactions in the neighborhood, we would ask folks to report that.” Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | Social queens with bright, distinctive patterns, Capitol Hill’s bumble bees also have perfect hair

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A bumble bee visiting a bigleaf maple bloom (Image: Brendan McGarry)

Every year I mark the start of spring when I see my first bumble bee. Birdsong and flowers are part of the cue, but I’m not filled up with vernal energy until a buzzing fluff passes by on some dreary spring day. That first bee is large. She’s always a queen who overwintered in some sheltered space. Her focus is on finding a suitable place to start her nest and getting on with the rest of her life.

Bumble bees are undoubtedly one of the most recognizable insects in our part of the world. It’s hard to miss these big insects, which are often brightly colored and noisily bounce from flower to flower. Sometimes our attention might be due to a misplaced worry that being bees, they might sting you and some bumble bees are indeed intimidatingly large. Thankfully, unless you accidentally squish a bumble bee or really disturb their nest, you’d have to work very hard to get stung by one.

Pikes/Pines has talked about native bees before, but bumble bees hold a particularly fascinating corner of the bee world. Not only are they obvious, with several species being relatively common on the Hill, their life histories are unique. One of the most noteworthy is that bumble bees are one of the few truly social native bee species in North America. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | A Capitol Hill coyote in Interlaken Park

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Mornings and evenings this spring on Capitol Hill have included occasional reports of sightings of shy, elusive neighbors.

Thanks to a reader, CHS can share a glimpse of one of these amazing city dwellers.

Tim Schluttenhofer took the picture in Interlaken Park on Sunday afternoon and reported the peaceful encounter to CHS.

Reports of coyote sightings around the Hill seem to have risen this month. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s North Puget Sound – Region 4 office has said that urban coyote reports pretty much always increase in the spring when pups are born and the drive for food and protecting young increases. Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | The City Nature Challenge in Seattle: 200 observations about 121 species on Capitol Hill — including native epiphytes outside Everyday Music

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(Image: Beth Jusino via Flickr)

Last month I wrote about the City Nature Challenge, an annual “competition” centered around getting out and logging as many species as possible on the community science database iNaturalist.

The results are now in and in the Seattle-Tacoma Area, 571 observers contributed 7,144 observations of 1,235 species; pretty awesome for a long weekend. Just as cool were the nearly 200 observations of 121 species within the Capitol Hill Connections corridor. And we definitely weren’t alone in our participation.

All around the world 52,587 people got out and recorded a total of 1,259,469 observations on iNaturalist, accounting for 45,583 species, over the course of four days. Even more exciting is that the number of observations grew by around 400,000, and 10,000 more people participated than in 2020. This growth in participation is very exciting; to me it represents a whole bunch of people who just got more excited about nature where they live.  Continue reading →

What the duck! Capitol Hill waterfowl question Seattle Parks over anti-duckling measures at Volunteer Park lily ponds

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No anti-duck mesh — yet — on the north pond (Image: CHS)

Ducks hate this mesh (Image: CHS)

Capitol Hill area waterfowl are outraged over a new effort by Seattle Parks to improve the Volunteer Park lily ponds which, apparently, “were never intended to serve as duck ponds.”

New mesh wire has been securely installed to block the spaces of the lily pond fence that surrounds the northernmost of the twin Volunteer Park ponds. Seattle Parks hasn’t responded yet to our inquiry but it sounds like new mesh will also be added to the southern pond.

“The two small ponds at Volunteer Park were never intended to serve as duck ponds,” a Seattle Parks representative from the office of Superintendent Jesús Aguirre wrote in a response to a community member’s email complaint about the anti-duck mesh shared with CHS. “But over the years, ducks have used the ponds, and the duck population has increased dramatically.”

This is where it gets dark. Content warning: sad duckling details from the city — Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | Your squirrelly Capitol Hill neighbors might make you nuts but you’d miss them if they were gone

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(Image: ERIK98122 via Flickr)

Capitol Hill squirrels. They’re amusing and cute to some. Considered hirsute rats by others. Ultimately they are one of the only non-domesticated mammals we see on a daily basis. So, if you feed birds you might have developed a bit of rage towards them. Every day they’re there, little tree climbing pigs, gulping down your birdseed, and hiding peanuts in your flower beds.

Though corners of greater Seattle have holdouts of our native tree squirrel, the Douglas Squirrel, the only squirrel on the Hill is the Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Like many of our day to day urban species, they are not native. They hail instead from east of the Rocky Mountains. They are here because of us, which as I have continued to repeat, is not a real reason to hold grudges. (Though for people who feed birds all across this country, indigeneity matters not.) Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Blessing of the Capitol Hill Animals

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For many Capitol Hill pets, the pandemic has answered prayers. Humans are home nearly all the time. Walks are plentiful. Sunday, at Capitol Hill’s St. Joseph Parish, the congregation again marked the feast day of Francis of Assisi with a Blessing of the Animals. Several furry friends attended and gave thanks while sniffing the lawn along 18th Ave E. Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | The Seattle Cooper’s Hawk Project is tracking a bird on the rise despite window strikes and rat poison

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Cooper's Hawk

A steel gray bolt slashes across the blue of dusk. Rolling around corners, it disappears into darkening trees, apparating with a scrape of feathers through branches, and vanishes below the horizon. As it passes robins in the nearby holly tree squeal in alarm. They know twilight is trouble: the killing hour. If you’re a Cooper’s Hawk, it’s the time to make hay.

My first love of birds sprung from a woodpecker, but I’ve always loved raptors. As enchanting aerialists, they live long, interesting lives, and they are relatively easy to observe if you know to pay attention. Some of my best memories involve unwittingly getting too close to breeding Northern Goshawks and hearing the screaming rush of Peregrine Falcons in a dog fight over my Eastlake apartment building. I especially love Cooper’s Hawks. They occupy an ephemeral realm, wild, impressive creatures that permit our presence.

Cooper’s Hawks are the most common North American members of the Accipiter family, a group of hawks known for short wings, long tails, and a specialization for hunting other birds.  According to Ed Deal, President of Urban Raptor Conservancy, a Seattle area nonprofit focusing on research, education, and conservation of urban raptors, Cooper’s Hawks have become increasingly common in our area over the past several decades. They have been able to not only endure but flourish amidst our rising human density. Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | Two Turtle Doves

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Eurasian collared dove (Image: Rovdyr via Wikipedia)

The music finally got through to me the other day. Either through stubborn denial or mere chance avoidance, I hadn’t heard any Christmas music. I know people love it, and as a person who celebrates the holiday, I feel it’s appropriate in the week of. But not in November. Not before Thanksgiving.

Holidays can be equally as trying as they are happy and uplifting. However, in an attempt to dig deep into curiosity I had to ask: what’s this music talking about? Gritting my teeth, I cast across one of the songs that got stuck in my head. I started thinking about “The 12 days of Christmas” and its birds. Specifically, those “turtle doves.” Continue reading →