I thought some people might be interested in the summary of bird
sightings at Juanita Bay Park during 2007.

Juanita Bay Park is located at 2201 Market Street in Kirkland and can
be a great place to see a nice variety of birds at any time of the
year. I rarely bird the park without seeing at least 40 species,
while 60+ is typical during migration (high of 77). General nature
walks are led by volunteer park rangers the first Sunday of each month
beginning at 1pm in the parking lot. Birding walks are led the third
Tuesday of each month starting at 9am. There is a bird checklist on
the Kirkland Parks Department website though it isn't updated with
many of the newer sightings (most of which are included below). It's
easiest to view the gulls from Juanita Beach Park where they spend
most of each day and are quite approachable.

Also, nearly all of my personal sightings at the park (plus sightings
from other people) are online at www.ebird.org - you can view these
graphically by selecting the 'View and Explore Data' tab, clicking
'All birds at a location', narrowing the region down to Washington,
selecting 'Hotspots', and finally choosing Juanita Bay Park. It
doesn't have all the species seen here but can give you a decent idea
of what you can expect at various times of the year. If anyone visits
the park I'd be interested in hearing about what you see, especially
if it's something unusual.

This morning there was a Greater White-fronted Goose at Houghton Beach
Park near Carillon Point in Kirkland feeding on the lawn with a group
of Mallards.

Good birding,
Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA


Birds of Juanita Bay 2007

Juanita Bay Park had its best birding coverage during 2007 which
resulted in 160 species of birds being observed ? 161 if you include
the Lewis's Woodpecker seen just south of the park! Ten of these
species were new to the park checklist raising the total number of
birds seen to at least 187 species. The following is a summary of
some of the more unusual sightings of the year.

A Red-throated Loon showed up in the bay on Christmas which was the
park's third sighting. Pacific Loons were in the bay several times
late in the year including three on the last day of November. Both
are hard to find on freshwater. The park's first Clark's Grebe was
photographed while part of a flock of 360 Western Grebes in October.
The grebes appeared to have been pushed into the bay from the Sunday
boat traffic.

Swans showed up twice this year ? one group of Tundras in March and a
single Trumpeter in December. Greater White-fronted Geese were
sighted several times including a flock of 150 during April's
migration and several individuals in the fall. During fall migration
in October several flocks of Snow Geese passed over the park, while a
single immature bird was present for a week in late November.
Cackling Geese of both the minima and taverneri subspecies were seen
in November.

A Mandarin Duck was noted for the first time at the park in February,
though it is undoubtedly of a captive origin. The first Eurasian
Wigeon in several years was a male in late December. A female
American Black Duck spent October and half of November in the bay,
most easily seen over at Juanita Beach Park. American Black Ducks are
very rare anywhere in Washington. There is some chance it was an
escaped bird from captivity, but it showed no visible signs of that.
During the fall of 2004 a female American Black Duck spent a similar
time period in the bay and is likely the same bird. Could it spend
each fall there and have been overlooked during the past two falls? A
rare summer Cinnamon Teal was photographed in late July. Two male
Redheads joined the scaup flock in January while four more were seen
in late September.

A female Black Scoter, very rare on freshwater, was new to the park in
late January. Surf Scoters showed up several times including five
males in late March that lingered into April, plus several single
birds in the fall. White-winged Scoters made their first two
appearances in the bay during October. At least six different
Barrow's Goldeneyes visited the bay in both spring and late fall.
Red-breasted Mergansers also were sighted in the bay for the first
time with a male in March and two females on Thanksgiving.

Turkey Vultures were spotted overhead twice during their fall
migration. Northern Harriers were seen in January and April, in
addition to a couple fall sightings. Cooper's Hawks nested quite
close to park and raised three young. Peregrine Falcons visited the
park at least twice ? once in January and once in August. The two
reports of Soras were from May and August. California Quail nested in
the park with broods of sixteen and six chicks being seen in June and
August respectively.

Numbers of migrant shorebirds were lower than some years despite mud
being present at the north end of the causeway during the prime time
of late summer and fall. The only Greater Yellowlegs of the year was
in early October. Lone Spotted Sandpipers visited in January and May,
with as many as three at once present in the fall. Western Sandpipers
only made a few appearances in mid-August. A single Least Sandpiper
showed up in May while another visited in August.

Two adult Western Gulls would regularly visit the bay through April
and again starting in August. An interesting Glaucous-winged X
Glaucous Gull hybrid was present in late February. A few Thayer's
Gulls showed up from January through March, and again in December,
while Herring Gulls were frequently seen out over the bay and
sometimes on the beach. Larger-than-normal numbers of Bonaparte's
Gulls were in the bay through the summer and fall including seven in
early October.

This year yielded sightings of Mourning Doves in May and October.
They seem to show up just about every year at some point. A Barn Owl
was at the park in early February. A Western Screech-Owl answered a
whistled imitation of its call during a warm, sunny afternoon in
September. This is just the second record at the park though they're
likely present regularly. Barred Owls raised two owlets and were seen
regularly in the eastern half of the park in the summer and fall. A
rare Common Nighthawk was heard flying over at dusk in early June,
while three Black Swifts visited on cloudy day later in the month.
Black Swifts can be looked for (and seen regularly!) during cloudy
summer days, especially in June.

A rare Lewis's Woodpecker showed up just south of the park in
mid-October. Only a few are seen anywhere in western Washington in a
given year. There is a previous sighting at the park from September
1998. Hammond's Flycatchers were seen several times in the spring and
fall, mostly on 108th, including two in early May and a late bird in
October. A Dusky Flycatcher, another rare visitor to western
Washington and a first for the park, was seen well while calling in
the afternoon along 108th in early May. Another first for the park
was an Eastern Kingbird in June which is unusual in western
Washington.

Purple Martins returned to their gourds for the second year in early
May and stayed for a successful breeding season through early
September. The park's first Bank Swallow was with a flock of Barn
Swallows during an early September morning. They only breed in a few
locations in western Washington but seem to be increasing in this half
of the state so its appearance was not totally unexpected. American
Pipits visited the park several times in May and October with a high
count of six. The park's first House Wren was singing on the
firestation road in late July. The park's second Townsend's Solitaire
made a brief appearance in April where it was photographed on a bench
in the middle of the park. The park's third Northern Shrike was an
immature in December and the park's second Western Scrub-Jay showed up
in October.

A Cassin's Vireo was seen in May while a Red-eyed Vireo was seen
mobbing a roosting Barred Owl in September. Nashville Warblers were
seen twice, once in late April when they are most likely to show up,
and again in mid-October which is late. MacGillivray's Warblers were
seen twice ? once in August and once in September ? plus a third
sighting just to the south at Kiwanis Park in August. A flock of nine
Western Tanagers inhabited the firs in the parking lot in early May,
and a late bird was on 108th in mid-October. After three
White-throated Sparrows were seen at the start of the year there
weren't any more sightings until one showed up sporadically from
October through the end of the year, being joined once by a second
bird.

An interesting flock of blackbirds passed through the park in late
October that included the park's first Yellow-headed Blackbird, plus
two Brewer's Blackbirds ? rare visitors to the park despite being easy
to see in area parking lots (including Target in Redmond). Evening
Grosbeaks were another new addition to the park list with several
sightings in September.