a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
I found these beautiful bearded irises on Martin Luther King Way in Seattle’s Central District.
These little English daisies are soaking up the last of the sun before tonight’s 8:19 p.m. sunset.
They’re often called ‘lawn daisies’ and treated as weeds, but I still think they are pretty.
There was plenty of sunlight outside today (65°F/ 18°C).
Here are my pictures from Volunteer Park here on Capitol Hill.
Happy Earth Day.
It is a rainy day here in the city of Seattle (55 °F/ 13 °C).
There was a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) in the shallow waters yesterday, between Pier 91 and the Elliott Bay Marina.
Its patience was rewarded with a little snack.
These herons are common, year-round residents in Washington state, particularly in the Puget Sound region— which has one of the largest breeding populations on the West Coast.
As I opened the side door to my garage this afternoon, a little twig fell to the ground. I looked up, and there he was.
I took a photo with my phone, and then went into the house to let Mr. Raccoon get down from the tree and vamoose— which is what he did.
They are nocturnal, but you do spot them once in a while in daytime here in the neighborhood.
It was a cool, drizzly day here in the city (56 °F/ 13°C).
By late afternoon, it was time to get away from all the insanity in the news. I walked down to the Thomas Street Gardens P-Patch, where I found the tulips.
Note: A P-Patch is a parcel of property used for gardening.
The term is specific to Seattle.
The “P” originally stood for “Picardo”, after the family who owned Picardo Farm in Seattle’s Wedgwood neighborhood, part of which became the original P-Patch in the city.
[From WIkipedia]
These American robins (Turdus migratorius) were on my neighbor’s roof yesterday.
The one in the first picture is female, and the other one is male.
The male has a brighter, deeper reddish-orange breast and a darker, slate-gray head.
It was a coldish, rainy Sunday here in the city today with a high of only 46°F (8°C).
These pictures of a little dark-eyed junco in my backyard are from Friday.
The little feather ball of a bird bounce-bounce-bounced on the pavers, flitted up to the fence just for a second or two, and then it was gone.
Happy Friday.
Look what was in the fir tree in my backyard today, prey and all.
It is a juvenile Cooper’s hawk* (Astur cooperii).
It’s hard to tell if it’s a squirrel that the bird had caught, but that would be my guess.
*Identified with the help of Google AI, and matching the sound it had made, with its record on audubon.org.
I spotted a a Steller’s jay, a dark-eyed junco (a New World sparrow) and a robin in my back yard yesterday.
Later, there was a Northern flicker (a woodpecker) as well— just too high up in the tree for a good picture.
These beautiful cherry trees with their blossoms are on Capitol Hill’s 13th Avenue.
Mr Blue Jay* was at it this morning, stealing twigs from my Japanese maple for his nest.
*Steller’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
My time in Mazatlán was over on Friday morning 😢.
My stuffed axolotl from the Gran Acuario Mazatlán gift shop went into the suitcase with my clothes, and now I am at Mazatlán airport.
I will try to get a few airplane pictures before we board.
Update at Sat 12.30 am:
I made it home.
That connection to Seattle for international arrivals into LAX is quite something.
We arrived at the gate at LAX at 5.55 pm.
The flight to Seattle was going to leave at 7.40 pm.
First, there is a very long walk through a labyrinth of walkways and hallways to get to the US Customs and Border Control point. I said to a friendly official that they need to put more signs up for us, to which she replied – oh, but you should ‘just look for open doors’ if you don’t know where to go next.
(The problem was that I had no crowd to follow. A group of people in front of me on the airplane took so long to disembark, that the rest had disappeared completely out of sight by the time I stepped off.
Where did everyone go? 😱)
Anyway, there was no Global Entry kiosk open at Customs and Border Control (they are part of the partial government shutdown that still has not been resolved). So instead, there was a facial recognition photo check for everyone, regardless if you had Global Entry credentials or not. The camera did not recognize everyone and those were then directed to an official for a manual passport check.
Now I still had to pick up my bag from the international arrivals carousel for rechecking it for the flight to Seattle. That took a very long time as well, after which you get ejected into the public area at Terminal 6.
So now you go up the escalator, to go through the standard domestic flight security check again— which ate up the remaining time I had for the connection.
My flight to Seattle was already into boarding Group E by the time I had gone to the restroom and taken a few bites out of a sandwich and banana that I had bought hastily.
The Gran Acuario Mazatlán hosts over 250 species of fish. It is the is the largest aquarium in Latin America.
It contains a marine museum, the Gulf of Mexico Oceanic Fish Tank, a walk-through aviary, a boardwalk along the lagoon outside, crocodile exhibits, and a capybara petting area. The penguin area and flamingo area are currently closed.
A few clouds and bathers made for a little more interesting sunset than the ones we had last week.
This is Olas Altas beach by central Mazatlán.
There was a marine layer out on the ocean this morning as we made our way to Cerro del Vigía (‘Lookout Hill’).
We took the short cable car trip up to the observatory: the touristic park named Observatorio 1873, after the year of its construction.
By the observatory there is a small agaviario (a dedicated agave garden) and steps down to a bird sanctuary called El Nido. A few steps further down the hill there is an enclosure with iguanas and tortoises.
The last stop is the new whale museum called Museo Nacional de la Ballena (National Whale Museum) that opened in August 2025.
(Thanks to Bryan for the picture of the toucan and of the green parrot).
I thought the cherry blossoms here in my neighborhood appeared early this year— but I wasn’t sure.
Google AI confirmed that I was not hallucinating.
“Yes, some cherry blossoms and early spring flowers appeared early in Seattle in 2026, with sightings of blooming trees as early as mid-January, driven by a very mild, warm winter. While some early species bloomed early, the main Yoshino cherry blossoms at the University of Washington (UW) were projected to peak in late March, roughly in line with typical schedules.”
The daffodils are blooming as well.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
The crocuses are out here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
Spring is coming.
