Hello Tweets,

Our final monthly bird count for Eastside Audubon's year-long census of birds at St Edward State Park in Kenmore was scheduled for Sunday morning, and we arrived at the park at 6:45 a.m. in heavy winds amid fallen branches. There was no chance for seeing the Barred Owl in that weather so we tucked into Tully's in Bothell and waited over an hour for the wind to abate a bit. We returned to the park to begin the walk at 8:00 a.m. Carol, Nancy and I finished the count in the blustery weather four hours later and came away with a decent list of birds. If you are interested all twelve months' totals are logged in eBird.

You may also have heard that Bastyr University was proposing to take over and renovate the old seminary buildings in the park and we hoped the bird data would inform the state park about the bird population there and help to preserve habitat for them. Bastyr has withdrawn their proposal and the state is still looking for a new organization to take over the buildings. In the meantime, we will send the census information to the park manager for their records.

Thanks to Sharon Aagaard, Carol Ray, Nancy Hubley, and Linda Phillips for joining me in working on the census. Here is the list of birds for last Sunday.

> Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 22:18:50 -0500
> From: ebird-checklist at cornell.edu
> To: andy_mcc at hotmail.com
> Subject: eBird Report - St. Edward's SP, Jan 18, 2015
>
> St. Edward's SP, King, US-WA
> Jan 18, 2015 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
> Protocol: Traveling
> 2.5 mile(s)
> Comments: This checklist is for the Feb 2014 to Jan 2015 monthly survey of St Edward State Park in Kenmore, WA, on behalf of Eastside Audubon Society. The morning was overcast with light showers, temp around 50F, wind early at 40 mph with gusts to almost 60 mph, calming to steady wind at 25 mph around 10:00 a.m. for the rest of the morning. The birds census was conducted by Andy, Carol, and Nancy. Other critters: One mammal most likely a Muskrat at the edge of Lake Washington. The route we followed began at the North Parking Lot east to the trail by the storage sheds to about 50 yards past the intersection of the Entrance and Arrowhead Trails. Then south along the park road past the seminary building then east along the Water Tower trail for about 150 yards returning to the orchard area. Then along the right fork of the Orchard Loop and west along the South Canyon Trail to the lakeshore. Then north along the Beach Trail and up the North Trail returning to the North Parking Lot, finishing with a circuit of the seminary grounds.
> 26 species
>
> Mallard 6
> Bufflehead 13
> Common Merganser 14
> Pied-billed Grebe 4
> Horned Grebe 1
> Western Grebe 1
> Double-crested Cormorant 1
> Bald Eagle 1
> Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 9
> Anna's Hummingbird 1
> Downy Woodpecker 2
> Northern Flicker 1
> Steller's Jay 1
> American Crow 53
> Black-capped Chickadee 18
> Chestnut-backed Chickadee 12
> Bushtit 5
> Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
> Brown Creeper 2
> Pacific Wren 6
> Golden-crowned Kinglet 36
> American Robin 3
> Varied Thrush 2
> Song Sparrow 8
> Dark-eyed Junco 14
> Pine Siskin 18
>
> View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21409959
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) Andy McCormickEastside Audubon SocietyBellevue, WA