Brian Bell and I managed 48 trips to Marymoor Park this year, hitting most
of the Thursday mornings. Brian filled in many times for me while I was
away. Thanks Brian.

Marymoor Park is a King County park located in Redmond WA, sandwiched
between highway 520 (and the new Redmond Town Center Mall) to the north and
Lake Sammamish to the south. The area we bird comprises about 2 square
miles. The habitat is about equal parts grassy fields (some dominated by
reed-canary grass) and deciduous scrub. There are small areas of deciduous
forest (mostly cottonwood) but the areas are small. Except around the old
farmhouse (Clise Mansion), where we do not often bird, there are very few
conifers. Along our trail we have good access to the Sammamish Slough and
Lake Sammamish.

We totaled 113 species for the year, averaging 38+ species a visit (a number
which has remained constant over the years).

We added 5 species to our overall species list, which is now at 140 species.

The new species for 1998 were:

Greater White-fronted Goose Seen 3 times
Eastern Kingbird 6/11/98
Red-necked Grebe 4/9/98
Townsend's Solitaire 3/19/98
Barn Owl Jinx bird until this
year's 3 sightings

In general, birding was not as good in 1998 as in 1997, though 1997 was a
very good year. 1998 seems to have been more average.

Overall, water birds of all sorts were down slightly, especially ducks this
winter.

A few other trends:
American Bittern 0 compared with 4, 2, 12, and 7
sightings for 94-97
Blue-winged Teal 3 compared with 1, 1, 0, and 0
sightings for 94-97
Northern Harrier 1 compared with 12, 17, 13, and 15
sightings for 94-97

Violet-green Swallow 1/4 the total number seen compared with
95-97
Swainson's Thrush Twice the total number seen compared
with 95-97

All in all, it's still a nice place to bird :)

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