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Nature Study: Chum Salmon

For our family time on Saturday, we headed to Carkeek Park in Seattle.  We had a lovely nature walk through the woods, listening to the birds, looking at the trees and enjoying each other.



Button and the bird field guide

On our way back to our car, we noticed a fenced in area.  So, we decided to take a look.  We were excited to see that it was a breeding area for Chum Salmon!


Inside there was a little pool with tens of thousands of baby Chum Salmon.  The pool was an "Imprint Pond" where salmon that had been hatched in elementary schools and hatcheries in the Puget Sound region are brought to Carkeek to "learn" their native waters in a safe environment.  This "imprinting" is necessary so that they can find their way back in 3-5 years for them to lay their eggs after spending time in the ocean.  The pond has filtered creek water running through it, and it was fun to watch the salmon try to swim upstream.


We were loitering around the fence when a park volunteer came by to feed the fish.  She let us come in and get a better view.  Little Buddy even got to feed them!  The boys were so excited.



She told us how they wait for them to grow, mature, and imprint enough before they let them out in the creek near the imprint pond.  They release them at night so that they don't get eaten by predator birds immediately.  Then, between Thanksgiving and Christmas they all come back to spawn.  I think we will have to make a trip back then!
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