(Video added 5:15 pm)
Exactly two weeks after more than 60 people gathered at Fauntleroy Creek to drum and sing in the annual ceremony calling the coho home, creek steward Judy Pickens says the first one’s shown up: “The first pair were sighted at about 1:00 this afternoon and we thought we heard another one coming.” Volunteers are watching the creek in the hours after high tide daily, and were scheduled to do so till late November. Whenever coho are known to be in the creek, the “salmon sock” shown in the photo below will be up on its pole at the creek overlook across Fauntleroy Way (and up the embankment) from the ferry dock.

(WSB photo from Fauntleroy Creek overlook, 10/25/09)
ADDED 9:58 PM: The official account from Dennis Hinton:

The first coho spawners to return to Fauntleroy Creek were spotted at 1 pm Sunday by Steve Zarnick and family.

Between 3 and 4 pm Judy, Phil, Patrick and I counted six coho in the creek. All fish were estimated between two and five pounds. The largest was a bright red-sided hooked-nosed male, about five pounds.

Usual window for the coho return over the past 10 years has been between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Recent rains and high tides have probably given the fish the push they need to get up the creek.