On the Great Washington State Birding Trail: Everett Destinations (Part 1)

Here's the second in an on-going series of reports back from the Great Washington State Bird Trail.  This trip: Everett, for stops 3-5 on the Cascade Loop. (It was supposed to be stops 2-5, but more on that later!) With a ferry ride to the sandy beach of Jetty Island, ospreys nesting in the pilings near North and South View Parks, and the varied habitats of Spencer Island, Everett offers a great variety of outdoor activities that make an excellent day trip from Seattle.

Part 1: Jetty Island - a great trip for birders and beach-goers alike, with a quick visit to North and South View park to view osprey nests. (Click here for Part 2.)

Previous in this series: Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

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For larger views of these photos and more pictures, see the gallery.

At any given moment, there is a thing I am supposed to be doing and there is the thing I am actually doing. These are rarely the same thing.  This creates a mild haze of anxiety over my entire life. Somehow, by the end of most days, everything that I needed to do does get done. But the whole thing always feels like juggling on a unicycle when I am not a particularly strong unicycler or juggler. So it's just…stressful. And annoying, because I don't have anyone to blame but myself and who likes that scenario? 

Jetty Island BeachSometimes, though, this tendency to have a personal timeline that is out of touch with the rest of the world works in my favor.  Case in point: my trip this past weekend to Everett. I had Monday off for the holiday and decided, somewhat spur of the moment, to knock off several different spots on the Great Washington State Bird Trail all around the Everett area

Now, prime birding time is usually either early morning or evening time. I slept through the first option and too impatient to wait to take a trip up closer in the evening. So instead I just headed out whenever it was I finally got myself all together, sometime around noon.

Bad birding time? Perhaps, but excellent weather time. The grayness that had made the Fourth less festive started to burn off, and by the time I made it to the first stop on my route, it was turning into one of those impossibly beautiful Pacific Northwestern summer days.

So here's my report back from the Bird Trail in Everett, with one caveat – I didn't quite make it to all the stops I'd planned…

Click here for the map of this trip.

Jetty Island

Jetty Island FerryFirst stop was Jetty Island. This is stop number #3 on the Washington Audubon's Great Washington State Bird Trail.

Jetty Island 2-mile long manmade jetty, accessible in the summer via a free 3-minute ferry ride from the Everett 10^th Street Boat Launch and Marine Park.  (For summer of 2010, it's open until September 6.) Jetty Island has sandy beaches and warmer water, which make it a popular bathing spot for families. 

Boarding passesAgain, it's completely free to take the ferry and be on the island, although they do ask that you consider leaving a suggested donation of $2/adult and $1/child. There is a $3 parking fee at the park Fridays-Sundays in the summer.

The ferry departs at scheduled times, and you pick up a laminated boarding pass for your desired departure at the park. (Everett residents can make reservations.)  After a very short ride across the water, you arrive on the island. There are restrooms on the dock, but no other ones on the island, so keep that in mind.  There's some drinking water available at the ranger station, but plan to bring your own. There are no snacks or concessions, so pack your lunch or snacks. There are some covered picnic tables in case you need a break from the sun.

Upon arrival, you will need to select your departure time and pick up your return ferry boarding pass. From there, you can either head over to the other side of the island to hang out on the beach, go swimming, fly a kiting, or try kite-boarding.

Or you could check out some of the ranger nature programs they have on the island. Jetty Island offers daily nature walks (including birding and wildflower walks). There are also nature crafts and puppet shows for the kids. See the second page of this brochure for the full schedule of events.

I was there for a singular purpose, though: to check out the birding. I picked up a flora and fauna brochure from the ranger station, and was directed south towards the boardwalk and nesting area.

Gulls & babies

There were some Western Gulls on a closed-off dock with three babies in the nest. I didn't see any baby Killdeer, but I must have been near a nest, as one Killdeer was busy making a racket to get my attention (the video below is actually from later on my walk on the island, but I think it communicates the gist of a Killdeer freakout). Normally I wouldn't have known what was going on, but I'd just recently read Constance Sidles' description of what she calls the "Avian Con Game" so I knew what was up.

After the nesting area, the path brings you to the beach, which was just unbelievably gorgeous and perfect on this day. Many families were enjoying the sunshine and flying kites in the strong breezes.

There were lots of osprey about, fetching food and seaweed from the shore to take back to their nesting areas on the pilings in the water by the marine park.

Osprey heading back to nest

At the end of the beach, you can head into the lagoon area, where there were more upset Killdeer and some upset Sandpipers. (I am not terribly knowledgeable about my shorebirds yet, and wasn't feeling ambitious enough to figure out which kind of Sandpipers.)

All in all, I spent about an hour on Jetty Island, but could certainly have spent more were I in the mood for a little lounging on the beach. But I wanted to move on to my next destinations on the bird trail.

North and South View Parks

These are just a little up the road (less than half a mile) from the Marine Park where you catch the Jetty ferry.  You can definitely park at one park (North or South) and walk to the other, and if you didn't mind a little extra exercise, you could also walk between those two and the Marine Park where the Jetty ferry comes in. Parking at the North and South View Parks is free (although limited) so that might be something to keep in mind if you want to save yourself the parking fee at the Marine Park.

Heron party

From a birding perspective, neither knocked my socks off – they are just some strips of land facing the waterfront – but there were still some interesting things to see. There were about five Great Blue Herons out and about, including a group of four that gathered together for a family photograph.

The pilings in the water are also home to many osprey nests. I, unfortunately, didn't have strong enough binoculars (8x25) to get a very good view, but could make out the nest, and some young 'uns moving about. I could also hear them pretty well.

So after just a short time there, I was ready to move on to the next destination. Sort of. 

Click here for Part 2.