72 Microseasons of the Pacific Northwest

While chum salmon dominate the urban stream spectacle in late October and November, it is coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) that lead the way, slipping into suburban and urban creek systems from mid-October onward. Unlike chum — which crowd into tidal reaches by the thousands — coho push further upstream into the small, intimate streams threaded through Seattle, Bellevue, and the Willamette Valley suburbs. This makes coho the salmon that most urban residents experience close-up, sometimes within walking distance of their homes. In Seattle, coho can be watched at Longfellow Creek in the Delridge neighborhood, where the creek runs through a restored riparian corridor in Roxhill Park. At Kelsey Creek Farm Park in Bellevue, fish return to a small tributary accessible by a short walk from the parking lot. Piper's Creek at Carkeek Park in North Seattle hosts coho from October into December. The Issaquah Hatchery — 15 miles east of Seattle — is the region's most visited salmon watching site, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each fall; coho begin arriving in mid-October and peak through November. These are bright silver fish entering fresh water, still ocean-fresh and powerful, pushing upstream against the current in water sometimes only a few inches deep. Over weeks they will transform, their flanks darkening to red and green, jaws hooking, as they seek out gravel beds. Bald eagles, great blue herons, belted kingfishers, and river otters all converge on these streams during the run, creating an ecological cascade that makes even small urban creeks feel wild. After spawning, the carcasses fertilize the streamside vegetation, visible for weeks as whitened bones in the shallows.