Bird watching

One of the best places to bird watch in Seattle is on the shore of Lake Washington, at the site of an immense old municipal dump called the Montlake Fill. This area has an interesting history. In 1916, long before the days of environmental impact studies, Lake Washington was lowered 9 feet to construct the Ballard locks and link Lake Washington with Puget Sound. After the water gushed out to the Sound, the mud and marsh that emerged was considered a wasteland, so the University of Washington leased it to the city as a garbage dump for the next 50 years. When the landfill finally closed, this artificially created landscape became the Union Bay Natural Area and one of the premier birding sites in the state.

The local Audubon Society leads birding field trips here almost every weekend. Even if you don't spot many birds, it's a nice place to take a Sunday walk, like we did recently. The place is crawling with serious birders, so on a good day you just have to lazily point your binoculars in the direction of their spotting scopes to see many birds.