Birds

Seattle Seahawks

August 15, 2011 by Corey 3 Comments

The Seattle Seahawks are, of course, a professional (American) football team, known as much for the inability to win it all as for anything else. Their one Super Bowl appearance, in Super Bowl XL, ended in a 21-10 drubbing by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fortunately for Seattleites there is another kind of seahawk that can be found within the limits of the Emerald City. The seahawk that I refer to is, of course, the Osprey, a magnificent, fish-eating raptor that can be found not only catching and eating fish in Seattle’s extensive waterways but nesting as well. In fact, a pair has even nested for the last couple of years on the railroad drawbridge just west of the Ballard Locks!

It was while visiting the Ballard Locks with the family, doing the tourist thing, that a random guy, noticing my interest in the gulls flying around, drew my attention to the Osprey nest on the bridge. Seahawks in Seattle! Is there any more fitting bird to see there, especially as preseason football gets underway? And though seeing the nest was nice it was even more of a treat to have one of the birds do a fly-by nearly right over our heads!

For more information about the namesake of Seattle’s football team check out this post. Otherwise, just enjoy these few Osprey images…

On a related note, for great video of Ospreys catching fish check out this link.

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Written by Corey

Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.