Union Bay Natural Area — Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026

We encountered patches of frost and ice (Yessler boardwalk was thankfully mostly dry and has texture to prevent falls) with a few muddy areas near the ponds, but for the most part, now is a fabulous time to bird at The Fill. 

Be advised as of Feb. 3 the University of WA will start CHARGING for parking ($8/day or $4/hour depending on what else is going on at campus) so plan accordingly with alternate means of transportation, parking on the street (zoned at 2 hours at a time) or carpooling.

8 of us met to bird for 3 hours on a dry, cold, windless morning. We enjoyed 37 species and several "wow" moments with a pair of adult and 2 juvenile bald eagles, good looks at tiny, loud, very busy Anna's hummingbirds, northern shovelers doing their circular feeding, sleeping green-winged teals (bookending shoveler pair), and double-crested cormorants drying their feathers.

The "bird of the day" that caused us to work was a lesser scaup although I also loved seeing all the eagles.

No scope on this trip; it would have been handy to have as we saw a raft of over 1000 birds that, on examining a photo after the fact, taken with my 100-400 lens, yielded mostly wigeons, gadwalls, grebes and coots. Too far out (and into the sun!) for binocular identification.

This was a reschedule from December's Lincoln Park trip that got weathered out, and moved from Lincoln Park due to Revive-I-5. A great decision I'd make all over again. Union Bay is fabulous any time of year, so long as there's no wind.