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| May 6-19, 1999 |
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This is a great time of year to take up bird watching in Washington because many species are present.
That's because many birds spend the spring and summer here, or simply pass through at this time of year to other breeding and nesting areas. Many of these migratory birds spend their winters in other countries south of the border, where their habitat is being degraded or destroyed.
This Saturday, May 8, is "International Migratory Bird Day" – a good day to start enjoying and learning about these birds and how to help them. Since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leads protection of such interstate and international birds, many national wildlife refuges will be hosting field trips and other events this weekend. Check out the USFWS Website to find out more.
Many of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) 70-some wildlife areas are also good places to watch birds, especially those areas that include prime nesting and feeding sites near streams and wetlands. Take a bird field guide and binoculars on birding trips.
Other special events on Saturday include: the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society's Birdathon (a friendly competition to see how many species participants can identify in a day); the Prairie Appreciation Day celebrating the birds and butterflies of South Puget Sound prairies, sponsored by Thurston County Parks & Recreation, Friends of Puget Prairies and Nature Conservancy and the Central Basin Audubon Society's dedication of the Dodson Road Nature Trail in Grant County. The annual Yakima County Birdathon is scheduled for May 15.
To help birds, keep cats indoors. Cats annually kill hundreds of millions of birds, many which survive 2,500-mile migratory flights only to die in the paws of a well-fed cat. The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is calling May 8th the first "National Keep Your Cat Indoors Day," in conjunction with International Migratory Bird Day, to call attention to the need to change cat-owning behavior.
Drinking coffee from shade-grown coffee plantations also helps birds. Many birds that spend their summers in Washington depend on rainforest-like habitat for their winters in the tropics. Southern hemisphere shade coffee plantations support more birds than any other habitat, except undisturbed tropical rainforests themselves. Consult the Seattle Audubon Society's website to find out more.
Spring trout fishing opportunties continue to be good across the state. Those waters that produced well on the season opener two weeks ago are going strong, thanks to large WDFW hatchery trout plants. Waters that were a little slow earlier should pick up as air and water temperatures rise. Worth checking out, by county:
Asotin: Headgate Pond; Chelan: Clear, Lilly, Wapato; Clark: Battleground; Cowlitz: Horseshoe; Douglas: Jameson; Ferry: Trout; Grant: Blue, Park, Deep, Perch, Dry Falls; Grays Harbor: Aberdeen, Failor; Island: Deer; Jefferson: Anderson; King: Geneva, Langlois, Margaret, Rattlesnake, Walker; Klickitat: Horsethief, Rowland; Lewis: Carlisle; Lincoln: Fishtrap; Mason: Tiger, Haven, Wooten; Okanogan: Conconully, Fish, Blue, Pearrygin, Big Twin, Leader, Alta, Long, Round; Pacific: Black; Pend Oreille: Marshal; Pierce: Bay, Rapjohn; San Juan: Cascade; Skagit: Erie, Heart, McMurray, Sixteen; Skamania: Ice House, Kidney, Little Ash, Northwestern Reservoir, Tunnel; Snohomish: Armstrong, Bosworth, Howard, Ki, Riley; Spokane: Amber, Badger, Williams, Fish, West Medical; Stevens: Rocky, Starvation, Deep, Cedar, Loon, Deer; Thurston: Clear, Deep, Hicks, Long, McIntosh; Walla Walla: Fish Hook Pond; Whatcom: Cain, Padden, Silver, Toad, Baker.
Hatchery Spring Chinook up to 30 pounds are being caught in the north fork and mainstem of the Lewis River where runs are reaching projections. The Cowlitz River, Barrier Dam to Castle Rock, and the Klickitat River also are providing opportunity for large hatchery chinook.
South Puget Sound (south of Tacoma Narrows) is the first salt water area (May 1) to open in the 1999 summer salmon season because of the availability of hatchery chinook.
Hood Canal shrimp season will open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for four days in May: the 15th, 19th, 22nd and 26th. Sport fishers will be limited to one shrimp pot per person and must conform to regulations detailed in the 1999 rules pamphlet. Fishers also may harvest clams and oysters on Hood Canal's public beaches subject to regulations in the pamphlet and on the WDFW shellfish hotline at (360) 796-3215.
Crab pot fishing in area 8-2 (the waters of southern Saratoga Passage, Port Susan, Port Gardner and Possession Sound) is scheduled to remain open during the traditionally closed period from April 16 to July 15. This is a great opportunity for sport fishers to get out and enjoy spring time crab pot fishing prior to the general Puget Sound opening on July 16. Check regulations before fishing.
Halibut fishing, which opened in some areas May 1, is excellent off the Washington coast and in parts of Puget Sound. The large numbers of halibut along the west coast are due to conservative management of the fish in recent years and increased numbers of young fish. The season length, size limits, and pound quotas vary among the marine areas, so check the rules pamphlet carefully.
Ling cod fishing also opened May 1 from Seiku to Olympia. Tides this weekend (May 8-9) are extremely favorable ling cod fishing success. Soft tides allow anglers to fish on the bottom in rocky habitats that ling cod prefer. Keep in mind the daily limit one fish between 26 and 40 inches per day.
Clamming and volunteering on geoduck protection will mix well this weekend. WDFW needs volunteers to pull and clean geoduck predator exclusion tubes at the Shine Tidelands. Volunteers should call Teri King at the Washington Sea Grant office in Shelton - 360-427-9670, Ext.396. Bring a shellfish/seaweed license because Shine is one of the premier clamming areas in the state and there will plenty of time to get a limit before the tube pulling party begins. Shine Tidelands are on the west side of Hood Canal just north of the Hood Canal Bridge.
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