I've only just caught up with my data entry and analysis of our birding
trips to Marymoor Park for 1997. I will soon finish my fourth consecutive
year of once-a-week bird trips to the park. Since the fall of 1995, I have
usually been joined by Brian Bell.

We saw 114 species at Marymoor in 1997, compared with 116 in 1996, and 114
in 1995.

We added three new species to our master list:
Red-breasted Sapsucker 2/5/97
MacGillivray's Warbler 5/8/97
American Pipit 9/25/97

At the end of 1997, we had seen 135-137 species at the park.

I keep counts of sightings. For most species, the counts have either been
fairly consistent year to year, or show evidence of our increasing birding
efforts. Because we do not do scientific counts with a consistant protocol,
it is tricky to try to interpret trends. However, some species do stand
out. In parentheses are the respective counts for 1997, 1996, and 1995 for
each species.

Pied-billed Grebe numbers were down in 1997, (187, 269, 300).

Wood Duck numbers were up (21, 6, 3), as were Ring-necked Duck (102, 86, 7).

Sharp-shinned Hawk numbers are also up significantly (15, 7, 4) while
Cooper's are flat (13, 13, 14).

Belted Kingfisher (20, 36, 45), Downy Woodpecker (43, 71, 124) and Pine
Siskin (59, 106, 132)were all lower in 1997.

One change which is not yet noticable looking at calendar years does show up
when looking winter-to-winter. Northern Harriers seem to have stopped using
the park. In the winter of 94-95, 22 harriers were seen, 13 of those prior
to March 1. In 95-96 and again in 96-97, 17 were seen (12 before March).
This winter, 97-98, only three harriers have been seen, the last on
10/16/97. This may be related to the development of the former Redmond Golf
Course into the Redmond Town Center mall. That property is right across
highway 520 from Marymoor, and the Harriers used to use swoop over both
parcels.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== MJCT_Hobbs at msn.com