To the birding community at large:

Yesterday morning Kari Osterhaug, an Ecologist with King County, was shot
and killed. She was 31 years old. Kari was a perennial lurker on Tweeters
and the epitome of a born naturalist. She loved all living things, and
spent some of her happiest days surveying bogs, wetlands and streams
chronicling the plants, fish, bugs, amphibians and birds that lived in them.
No matter what the survey, though, she always had her binoculars around her
neck, and would often make me jealous with tales of the fabulous birds she'd
seen while I was staring at the computer screen. She even had an office
bird list -- and since we work across from the stadia in Pioneer Square,
that's true optimism. Other than gulls, crows, starlings and rock doves,
her only bird was a stray house finch, about which she was very pleased.
Kari was always cheerful, energetic and ready to lend a helping hand. She
was the first person everyone in the office would turn to with the question
"Hey Kari! Yesterday I saw a ___ and it looked like ___, what was it?"
Usually, she had the answer, or could point you toward it. Kari and her
husband had spent a great deal of time salvaging native plants from
development areas and were turning their small yard in Shoreline into a
wildlife refuge. They even went so far as to drag impressive sized logs and
stumps out of a doomed forest stand to place around their small yard for the
birds and beasts. A friend and inspiration to all she met, Kari will be
sorely missed.

Katie Sauter
King County DNRP, Water and Land Resources
201 S. Jackson St., Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 296-0516
katie.sauter at metrokc.gov