May 23, 2018
Fidalgo Island, Pacific Northwest
Among the many islands of the Salish Sea, Fidalgo is the least island-like, being barely separated from mainland Washington State by a narrow shallow dredged waterway, the Swinomish Channel, which you cross over on a bridge, hardly noticing the water below. It’s as different as can be from the San Juan islands, which are only accessible by intermittent ferries (or much less often, small plane). Not that I resent the time and trouble it takes to get home! Far from it — the hassle of ferry transportation limits the comings and goings of both residents and tourists, which preserves a more quiet rural ambience than the rest of western Washington.
All of which is to say we had several hours to while away on Wednesday, waiting for our ferry home. We decided to roam around Fidalgo Island a bit. This installment takes us to a few sites along the shore.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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Padilla Bay
White Pelicans! I’ve been longing to see them since last summer when a small population appeared here in western Washington, VERY anomalously. Pellies migrate through Eastern Washington, some stopping to nest at one site on the Columbia River, but until the last couple of years they were unknown west of the Cascades. Bird experts say this could be expansion as their numbers recover from pesticide poisoning and habitat loss. There’s also speculation that climatic changes at their usual freshwater breeding sites inland have driven them farther west (crosscut.com/...). Since first sighted in 2016, numbers have increased at a few sites in the Salish Sea, Padilla Bay being one.
For orientation, take a look at this Google Earth map of the area. The dashed yellow line follows the Swinomish Channel, with Fidalgo Island to the west. The Swinomish Channel continues into Padilla Bay, a rich eelgrass meadow ecosystem.
The red arrow labeled “1” shows where I was standing on the shore looking out at the pelicans. They were a lot farther out than I expected, between half a mile to a mile, the very limit of my 300mm zoom.
I also saw quite a few Great Blue Herons in this shallow water. There’s a big rookery in the trees behind my viewing spot, with herons flying back and forth overhead.
This was my third attempt at seeing the pelicans this year. Previous tries were thwarted by traffic logistics and a low tide. Padilla Bay is so shallow it virtually empties when the tide goes out. Here’s what it looked like a couple of weeks earlier when we stopped.
Washington Park
Fidalgo Island has one town, Anacortes, which has a wonderful city park system. Washington Park is on the western edge, 220 acres of old woodland, beaches, campgrounds, a playfield and a boat ramp (www.anacorteswa.gov/...). We stopped at a few spots in the park, the first being Green Point (site 2) where there’s an exposed outcropping of serpentinite bedrock. This layer of rock was once at the bottom the the ocean crust and subsequently pushed up against the continent by tectonic action, carrying some magma material with it. It is an ultramafic rock, meaning ultra high in magnesium and iron, while extremely low in silicon. This article (nwgeology.wordpress.com/...) has more detail about the geology of this spot.
The serpentinite layer actually is geologically positioned at an angle, diving down at a 45° angle. Why is it so level here? Mile-thick glaciers advancing and retreating over thousands of years scraped it flat and deposited a layer of unconsolidated sediment on top.
Ship Harbor
At the ferry dock (site 3) you can get a good look at the wetland and the beach of Ship Harbor. In the early 1900s this bay was filled with fishing boats and people busy with fish canneries — until the salmon populations crashed. Today it is another small city park where you can wander until your boat is ready to load. Flowering Tree lupines and Nootka roses cover the hillside by the ferry lanes. Redwing blackbirds are nesting in the cattails and Purple Martins in the boxes on the derelict cannery pilings in the bay. Cormorants dive and herons wade here. If you’re lucky you’ll catch sight of the local osprey fishing too.
No matter how much time you have to wait for your boat, there are interesting things to see on Fidalgo Island.
That’s it for this episode.
Bucket’s open for your nature observations.
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