Insight: Northwestern Wildlife
The fascinating wildlife of the Pacific Northwest ranges from red-tailed hawks, colorful snails, woodpeckers and black bears to salmon, seals, bald eagles, and beautiful hummingbirds.
Despite Seattle’s urban – and suburban – growth, wildlife is still at home in this corner of the Northwest. Though expanding residential areas have shrunk the number and extent of natural wild habitats, many species have adapted and made their homes in Seattle’s parks and fertile green spaces.
Inside the city limits, the most common creatures are eastern gray squirrels, opossums, raccoons and a range of birds including robins, seagulls, pigeons and crows. Beaver and otter sightings are also not uncommon, and harbor seals are the highlight of most cruises around the port. A little farther away – in the suburbs – chances increase of spotting cougar, deer or coyotes (they occasionally make a meal of someone’s cat or small dog). Black bears are seen at Tiger Mountain, near Issaquah.
Even closer to home, in November 2009, a cougar was captured in Discovery Park, after roaming the neighborhood for days. Two nesting pairs of bald eagles are known to reside in the Seattle area, and are occasionally spotted near Green Lake and Seward Park. Popular places for birds in the city include Lake Union, as well as Discovery Park and the Washington Park Arboretum, home to shorebirds and freshwater ducks.
Bears are frequently spotted on Tiger Mountain, east of Issaquah on Interstate 90, in the Seattle suburbs. Black bear cubs are agile climbers, and, unlike most young mammals, will follow their mother sometimes for as long as two years. Bear cubs tend to be alert, with a developed sense of smell and exceptional hearing, though they have only moderate eyesight.
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