As salmon and steelhead move out of the delta they encounter the sand and gravel beaches of Puget Sound. Vegetation and driftwood along the shoreline contribute many of the same benefits as streamside vegetation, providing shelter and organic matter to marine life at high tide and upland animals at low. Residents of the beach include clams and other invertebrates, small fish, some ducks, shorebirds and gulls. High bluffs above the shore provide nesting areas for many birds, including peregrine falcons, swallows and owls. Eagles frequently choose nesting spots and perch trees atop shoreline bluffs for the same reasons people do, to get a view of the beach and shallow water.
Natural erosion moves sand and gravel from bluffs to replenish the beach below.
When juvenile salmon and steelhead have gained enough size and strength in the shallows, they enter the open water habitats of Puget Sound on their way to the Pacific Ocean. The most important characteristic of open water is that it is clean, which in turn affects the quality of all associated shoreline habitats it washes. The open water habitats of Puget Sound are full of life. On their way to the ocean, salmon and steelhead pass the rocky shorelines of the northern Puget Sound and San Juan Islands, which provide habitat for a myriad of species that attach to, or live on or above, the rocks. Next The Loss of Habitat in Puget Sound was published in April 1997.