Lake Padden & Padden Creek, Bellingham WA

I. Lake Padden

Lake Padden is a gathering place for outdoor loving Bellinghamsters (yes, "Bellinghamsters").  Think of it as a more peaceful and wild version of Seattle's Greenlake.  Like Greenlake, it is a city park and a place of recreation.  It fits Bellingham's description of itself: the city of subdued excitement.  On this day, July 13th, there were kayakers, people fishing, swimmers, sunbathers, dog walkers (and a dog park), joggers, and people strolling or gazing out at the water.  The footpath around the lake is about 2.75 to three miles.

Unlike Greenlake, Lake Padden feels removed from the city.  It is girded and swathed by alders and willow and Mountain Ash (aka Rowan) at the lakeshore, and a forest of fir and cedar which rises up on the surrounding hills.

a fairly young Douglas Fir stand on the north shore

II. The Padden Creek and Trail

Several trails lead away from the lakeside. One follows Padden Creek, which flows from the west end  and empties into Bellingham Bay.  This is an easy, gravel covered trail which gives a beautiful sense of what a diverse, regenerating forest can be.  At this time of year, the creek is just a trickle of water, but it has cut an impressive gorge over time.

The forest along Padden Creek is a mix of Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, and maples. Many of the trees are young - evidence of past logging, but their are a few that are a meter across and must go back to the beginning of the last century or the end of the 1800s.

The canopy is dense and the light is filtered.  On a hot day, it is a peaceful oasis.

About a half mile (a km) below the lake, the creek and forest continue on the south side, but the north side of the trail opens up into tiny farms...the sound of roosters and tthe sight ofpastures.

The forested part of the trail ends abruptly and becomes an Inter-Urban Trail which will take you down slope to Fairhaven and the bay, while occasionally touching or crossing Padden Creek.

III. Canopy

Although many of the Red Cedar and Douglas fir are 25 meters (80 feet) tall, the Big Leaf Maple can also attain the upper canopy.  

As the name implies, the Big Leaf Maple is known for its huge leaves.  Some of these are as big as a dinner plate.

In the understory, there is a different species of maple, the Vine Maple.  This is one of the first trees to show fall colors each year.  Its leaves become a dark red or rich orange.

The forest floor has a luxurient covering of Salal and Sword Fern, both shown in the following photo.

 IV. Epiphytes and Nurse Stumps

Padden Creek Trail is a great place to see nurse stumps.  These are the decaying remains of old trees that give their nutrients to the new trees growing out of them.  There are also epiphytes everywhere you look along the creek.  Ferns and mosses cover the trunks and branches of trees.  This will give the walker a small taste of what they can see in the Hoh River Valley rainforest in the Olympic National Park.

Every stump becomes the soil and the substrate for its own garden.  This stump holds a miniature forest of huckleberry and moss and one oddly placed stone.

This nurse stump of dead Red Cedar has two trees growing out of it: a Douglas Fir on the left and a Birch tree on the right.

This nurse stump also has two trees of different species growing from it:  a Red Cedar and a Western Hemlock (on the right).  As these trees mature, the stump will be recycled.  It will gradually disappear.

This was an 'off-shoot' of the originally tree, which is now dead.  This one is particularly weird in its cantilever trunk...new life growing out of old.

Vine Maple growing from a nurse stump.

Padden Creek Trail is a beautiful, easy walk.  It is just one of dozens of city park, greenway, and inter-urban trails you can take in Bellingham.

Merlins: Branchers and Fledglings!

Merlin in Flight

Falco columbarius suckleyi

by R. Stillman, after a photo by D. Drummond

Part I:  Protecting the Nest

On June 27th, I joined David Drummond (Merlin Falcon Foundation) in field observations of Merlins.  Our first view of Merlins this day was of the female.  You can see her in these photos waiting for the male and the prey he would deliver to her.

 David Drummond and I found the feathers from previous prey deliveries: Vaux's Swift, House Sparrow, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Barn Swallow, and Red Crossbill.  We also saw and heard other birds in this forest habitat: the singing of a Swainson's Thrush, American Robins, Winter Wrens (aka Pacific Wren), Bewick's Wren, and Red-Breasted Nuthatch.  There was a Hairy Woodpecker drumming nearby.  As I walked quietly near the prey delivery sites, I noticed the quiet agitation call of a Dark-Eyed Junco.  "Chip-Chip-Chip." (I must have walked too near to its ground nest.)  A Rufous Hummingbird buzzed by me, its wings making a sound like the sound that a card makes, when struck by the spokes of a spinning bicycle.  (Remember that trick?)

In this photo, the female has begun a long preening session, starting with the upper body and working down to her feet.

Preening under the right wing

Individual feathers get preened

Merlins recycle old crows nests.  This means that they often choose a nest near new crow nest sites.  There are many territorial squabbles at first, but by the time that the Merlins and crows are raising their young, they seem to have settled down to an uneasy truce.  At 11:05 I saw a sight that surprised me.  I saw merlins and crows cooperating against a common enemy.

A Bald Eagle flew within 20 meters of both merlin and crow nests.  The two crows and the female Merlin flew together and chased the eagle out of their territory.  The Crow-Merlin flight formation lasted only as long as it took to run off the bigger raptor.  They tail chased him out of sight.  I was astounded by the cooperation. 

Since the female was gone, the male immediately took over nest sentry duty.  Here you see the male, watching the nest and, of course, preening.  Notice the vibrant orange feet.  Females have paler digits.  

Notice the nicotating membrane (yellowish/pale), that closes during preening to protect the eyes.  

Here the male buries his beak into his breast feathers.  

This preen lasted from 11:25 to 11:45.  Here the Merlin's eyes are partly open.

Each wing was preened.

At the end of the preen, the male suddenly focused...

...and thrust himself into flight.

Part II:  Feeding Young

On July 3rd, David and I went to a different location and watched a male deliver prey to his nestlings.  If you look closely, you can see the passerine bird he caught, held in his taloned feet.

More often, the male would take the food to his mate, but this time she watched from another perch about a hundred meters away while he took the bird to the young.  She was making calls that would serve to distract potential enemies from what the male was doing.

After feeding them in the nest, he left and the young climbed out on a branch.  At this stage, they are called 'branchers' and will be ready to try their wings in a few days.  You can still see a little down on their heads, but they have their flight feathers.

The next stage for these youngsters is fledging and learning to successfully hunt.

III.  Fledging

On July 6 I went to the second nest site and it was abandoned.  On a nearby tree I saw one of the young merlins, now a fledgling.  It still had little tufts of down on the crown of its head.  The young must have fledged on July 4th (Independence Day!) or July 5th.  

This particular fledgling was perched in a tree normally used by the parents for food exchanges.  This was early morning.

This young bird is still dependent on its parents (despite the July 4th allusion).  They will continue to bring food for the fledglings; later showing them how to hunt dragonflies, then small birds.  Here you see the juvenile merlin pulling some cached food from behind the broken branch.

-temporarily satisfied, but ever alert-