Salmon, Seabirds, Shorelines and Science!

December 3, 2015

Seattle ICO November outings

November typically marks the start of the rainy winter season here in the lowlands of the Pacific Northwest but with the right gear and the right attitude, the outdoors can be explored and enjoyed in any weather conditions! That's why we didn't let the torrential rainfall on back to back weekends stand in the way of hiking, bird watching and looking for salmon in western Washington's forests and estuaries!

Here are a few highlights from November Trips:
 
On the first weekend of November, the South Shore 5th & 6th graders had a great time at Wallace Falls and even learned a few things about salmon at the Wallace River Fish Hatchery.

Wallace Falls is a great shoulder season hike that works well rain or shine and we covered just about 5 miles round-trip. We hiked to the lower falls and had lunch at the shelter there, then hiked to the middle falls viewpoint, which was only another 0.3 miles. With all the rain, the rivers were swollen and the waterfalls were spectacular. 

Wallace Falls with Seattle ICO

At the hatchery, we were welcomed by an awesome guide and fishery biologist who obviously knew that slicing open salmon was a sure way to captivate kids. The guide lets the kids handle salmon then they cut them open and explain the biology of a salmon and their life cycle. Good gross fun that all the kids enjoyed. We finished with a quick tour of the hatchery facility where the kids get to see what a salmon looks like right after it hatches. The tour ends with the kids getting to feed older salmon in the outdoor ponds, which was very popular. We concluded with a special treat of smoked salmon - a first for many of the kids - before heading back to Seattle.

Bailey Gatzert Elementary headed to Vashon Island in mid-November. We had a great ferry ride to Vashon Island; the students were very well behaved and loved playing up in the front of the ferry, even in the rain. Once we got to the park, everyone had a fantastic time discovering things on the beach. One highlight was a recently deceased but still whole crab! We assembled lunches around noon and ate them under cool driftwood forts. We also played Frisbee on a grassy lawn, and then hiked a woodsy trail back to the vans. Because we caught an earlier than expected ferry, we also stopped at the play equipment in Lincoln Park (West Seattle) where the small zip line was a huge hit. At the end, we shared our favorite parts of the day back at BG and then students departed.
 
 
Despite a downpour and cold weather, Washington Middle School had a great trip to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in mid-November. We called the NWR ahead of time and they kindly waived the fee and reserved 18 pairs of binoculars and several field guides for our group. 
 
Seattle ICO at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
 
At the school we got right into birding with a fun game of bird call identification. Students listened to 'silly sounding' bird calls and had to match them to photos of five birds.  The American Bittern, Bald Eagle, Atlantic Puffin, Willow Ptarmigan and Northern Barred Owl were sampled and students were amazed at how the Bald Eagle sounded 'small, like it was laughing' and that the American Bittern sounded 'like a dripping faucet.

We were delayed leaving the school by some late arriving students but played Echo Location to pass the time. Once at the NWR we had a quick tour of the visitor's center museum and one of our volunteers gave a quick talk on how to identify birds and use the binoculars. The students were extremely interested and seemed to really enjoy having their own binoculars to use. 

Before beginning our walk we distributed a snack and two volunteers led the AH-HA! game to spot garbage which was a great success! We definitely left the paths cleaner than we found them. 

Our students managed about 3 miles total on flat trails and we were rewarded with several ducks, a bald eagle and a peregrine falcon and kestrel that an older and more serious birder let us take turns viewing through a spotting scope. Again, the students were very well behaved and inquisitive; other birders remarked on this and were happy to talk to the kids and let them use their scopes. 

After a hot lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken soup, we went inside to learn about the national duck stamp competition and played a few more games in an empty lecture room before heading back to Seattle.  Thanks to the rangers at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge for being so welcoming and sharing their knowledge with us! 
 
All of this rain is starting to turn to snow up high so stay tuned for our next round of trip updates from a snowy winter wonderland!  
 
See you out there!
 
Seattle ICO