We finally made it back down to the 5th Avenue Bridge to watch the salmon, and this time, we remembered to bring the camera.

We saw a few salmon brave the torrent coming out from the dam, and we weren't the only ones who noticed. We were able to get a bit of video of a seal hunting in the rapids. This was especially neat, because it had been very hard to catch a good close up view of the seals, as they usually move rather fast.

We also had the good fortune to see a river otter up close. He was a cute little critter, and reminded me a lot of my old ferret Finneagan, who also is in the Mustelidae family. But this guy was no domesicated animal. He played in the water, hunting small fish & scratching his back on the open barnacles that adorn the concrete walls of the channel there. Eventually, we lost sight of him as he went upstream towards Capital Lake.

The seals had caught a salmon as we arrived. It took about 10 minutes for all the hubbub to die down between the 4 seals who were sharing the meal. Then they joined the others to hunt closer to the bridge. They are hard to see from above the water, but you can tell where they are by the patterns the fish make as they flee. Many of the salmon bear bright pink spots where they must have narrowly escaped becomes a seals meal.

The Sunchild had fun throwing pebbles into the water, and watching how the fish responded. If there were fish near the impact, the fish would scatter, but if they were far away, they were come closer to investigate. The smaller the pebble, the less effect it had.