Birdathon is Next Month!
Birdathon is Next Month!
by Lori Danielson
Get ready to join Eastside Audubon in May 2022 for our most rewarding fundraiser: Birdathon! You can participate in any of several birding trips, count birds as a family, or make a donation to support our chapter’s conservation, education, and advocacy work. Birdathon is like a walkathon, a bike-a-thon, or dance-a-thon. It’s a way to put the fun in fundraising by getting lots of people excited about conservation. Like a walkathon, participants gather pledges from friends, family, work colleagues, and others who want to help Eastside Audubon keep providing the great programs we offer the community. Instead of getting a pledge of $1.00 per mile walked, bird enthusiasts ask for a pledge for each bird seen by a person or team. Audubon chapters all over the country hold this entertaining and creative event during the month of May.
The pandemic forced a halt to this traditional chapter fundraiser over the past two years, but we’re working to revive it. We’ll soon post the list of birding trips and related activities, so please watch our Birdathon page and our calendar for updates. Flock with us this May to support the chapter!
Photo Credit: Mick Thompson.
Bird Photos for Slide Projector
Bird Photos for Slide Projector
As EAS prepares to move their location to another office, The Youth Education Committee has been reorganizing their materials and found a large box of bird projector slides that are no longer needed. They are old-fashioned slides used in slide projectors. If you are interested in taking the slides, anywho who can pick them up at the current EAS office is welcome to!
Please contact Mary Britton-Simmons for more information:
(425) 894-0100
marybs98272@gmail.com
President’s Letter: Springtime Events are Coming!
Photo of the Month
Wilson's Snipe
How to Look at Birds
Birding skills can be improved by looking at the whole bird before focusing on a single field mark. This theme is prominent in National Geographic Birding Essentials (Alderfer and Dunn, 2005). In the chapter on Identifying Birds the authors discuss the process of looking at birds using four attributes: size, structure, plumage, and behavior, which I summarize below.
Eastside Audubon Office to Move
Eastside Audubon Office to Move
At the end of June 2022, Eastside Audubon’s lease with the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church for office space will end. The church had asked us to reduce our office space by half by July 2022, down to approximately 210 square feet, in order to renew our lease. The board felt that such a significant reduction wasn’t feasible due to the amount of educational material, bird mounts and equipment we have, plus the need to have working space for our Executive Director, volunteers and interns. So we’re embarking on the search for a new office location.
We want to thank the church for providing our organization space for many years (decades!) and being a good partner and accommodating landlord.
We plan to continue using the church’s sanctuary for our monthly membership meetings when they resume in person, but we’re looking for new office and storage space on the eastside. We need your help in that search.
Do you have commercial real estate experience or knowledge of potential nonprofit space that could be leased or shared? If so, the board wants your assistance. Please contact Jeremy Lucas at jeremy.lucas79@gmail.com to learn more.
50 Years a Birder: A Look Back and Ahead
Get Involved, Meet People, Have Fun!
Get Involved, Meet People, Have Fun!
Eastside Audubon offers a variety of engaging volunteer opportunities for people of all experience levels. Volunteers are important and valued members of the organization and our volunteer positions can enhance your knowledge of conservation, birds, communication, leadership and nonprofit organizations. Whether you have a lifetime interest in nature or are just getting started, Eastside Audubon has a place for you.
Board Secretary
What you’ll do: Attend monthly board meetings (via Zoom) and take meeting minutes.
Requirements: Skill in taking notes and recording them in an electronic document. No prior experience necessary.
Schedule & location: Board meetings are held in the evening on the fourth Tuesday of the month, year round, via Zoom or at the Kirkland office of Eastside Audubon.
Engagement Coordinator
What you’ll do: Assist the board in recruiting and onboarding new volunteers. Follow up with people who have expressed interest in volunteering to match them with open positions. Help organize volunteer appreciation events.
Requirements: Enjoy talking with and meeting new people. Good organizational skills. No prior experience necessary.
Schedule & location: Flexible schedule, year round. Work from home or the Eastside Audubon office in Kirkland.
Monthly Sunday Walks Resuming at Juanita Bay Park
Monthly Sunday Walks Resuming at Juanita Bay Park
A favorite walk is resuming this spring at Kirkland's Juanita Bay Park. One-hour interpretive walks at 1 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month, led by Eastside Audubon's rangers, are your opportunity to learn more about birds and other wildlife at this shoreline park on Lake Washington. These easy walks take place on paved walkways and boardwalks and they're open to adults, children 6 years or older when accompanied by an adult, and people with disabilities. You don't need to register; just meet at 1 p.m. at the park's kiosk near the parking lot. See our website calendar for dates. Enjoy getting outside and learning more about this beautiful place so close to home!
Snoqualmie Falls: Protecting a Sacred Place
President’s Letter: You Can Make a Difference in Your Community
The place where I live is really important to me. Not just my house, but the quality of my neighborhood and community, my city and state. I want to live in a place where birds, animals and people flourish together, a place that’s safe, not polluted, has affordable houses, and that has thriving small businesses and well-functioning government and schools.
Black Phoebe
Remember to Clean Your Feeders!
Remember to Clean Your Feeders!
During the winter, with lots of birds possibly gathering at your feeders, it’s important to remember to clean them regularly in order to avoid the possible spread of disease. A recent (January 2022) update from Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife indicated they have been receiving some reports of dead or sick Pine Siskins and other songbirds. They went on to say,
“At this point we are hesitant to declare this an outbreak like last year's salmonellosis outbreak in birds, but we do want to remind people that if you find a dead or sick bird (common signs are that they appear tame, lethargic, and have fluffed out feathers) near your bird feeder, please take it down for a couple weeks to encourage birds to spread out and not spread salmonellosis to each other. Or, if you don't want to take your feeder down, you can thoroughly wash it every day. Information on salmonellosis in birds, as well as how to effectively clean feeders and report dead or sick birds to help us track this illness is in a blog post we originally posted last year at Frequently asked questions on salmonellosis in wild birds | by The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife | Medium.”
Seattle Audubon also has posted feeder guidance to limit disease. Please take some time this season to protect the birds you feed.
Photo of the Month
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Christmas Bird Count (CBC) 2021 Report
Misty Morning Bird Walk in the Snoqualmie Valley
Misty Morning Bird Walk in the Snoqualmie Valley – Jan. 16th , 2022
Written by Kendall Wiggins
Kendall Wiggins, Master of Education
On a foggy winter morning, it’s easy to miss the nondescript turn into the Snoqualmie Wildlife Area at Stillwater, located between Carnation and Duvall in the Snoqualmie Valley. One by one, cars pull off the highway into a tiny dirt parking lot surrounded by ponds and grasses. Here, among the reeds and water-filled potholes, a group of eager birders has gathered. The group comprises members of all ages and from many places, with a wealth of experiences to share. Chilly and excited, we set out along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, binoculars and scopes in hand.
Almost immediately, we are greeted by droves of vocal European starlings, red-winged blackbirds, and American robins perched at the tops of the bare winter trees. We spend time observing a mixed flock of ruby and golden-crowned kinglets, black-capped chickadees and brown creepers which seem to move with us down the trail. We wonder: Are we following them, or are they following us?
Throughout the walk, song sparrows, spotted towhees, and Pacific wrens keep us company as they forage in the brush and on islands of grasses in the ponds along the trail. Keen eyes spot chestnut-backed chickadees, Bewick’s wrens and a fox sparrow in the nearby shrubs. Intermittent Steller’s jays undulate between trees overhead and a common raven calls from behind the tall conifers. In the distance, double-crested cormorants fly above the Snoqualmie River as it winds its way through the valley.
Red-naped and Red-breasted Sapsucker Hybrid by Raghav Mehta
The trail is quiet for a while until we see a large flock of bushtits flitting through some low shrubs, accompanied by lone kinglets and chickadees. These adorable little birds lift our spirits as the fog begins to clear and we glimpse blue sky. Some group members continue ahead to spot the first waterfowl of the day, while others stick around and discover a sapsucker conundrum.
After many minutes of deliberation with many group members weighing in, we decide this bird is most likely a red-breasted and red-naped sapsucker hybrid, though its call was clearly that of a red-breasted sapsucker. A bald eagle watches the entire exchange from a tree across the field.
Cover photo credit by Mick Thompson.
November Photo of the Month
November Photo of the Month
Raghav Mehta is the November winner of the Eastside Audubon Photo of the Month Award. At the group’s recent meeting, the participants selected Raghav's photo that captured an encounter between a harrier and an owl.
Raghav was well prepared for the chance conflict at the Fir Island Farm Reserve in Skagit County.
“I spotted the owl at a distance through my scope and had the camera setup on a tripod hoping that the owl might fly towards me”, he said. “After a while, I saw a harrier gently glide in the general direction of the owl. The owl had spotted the harrier as well and tracked the harrier as it flew closer and closer to the owl's perch. When the harrier was about 6 feet from the owl, it decide to dive-bomb the owl to harass it in an attempt to chase it away from that territory.”
Raghav recently joined the EAS Photography Group. He is a self-taught photographer who has pursued wildlife photography as a hobby for the last 5 years.
“I find nature photography to be meditative and calming,” he says. “It takes a lot of effort and concentration to find a bird, absorb all the field marks and behavior, enjoy the beautiful colors and patterns, dial in the right camera settings, and then patiently wait for some magic to happen.”
To view more of his work, see his Instagram page.
The Photo of the Month award was instituted to recognize the work of the Photo Group Members. The group members meet monthly to show their latest photos and videos as well as share their knowledge of photography and wildlife. To attend the meeting, please join the group’s announcement list.
Photo details
The photo was shot on Canon EOS R5 with a Canon EF 600 mm f/4 IS III USM lens. The camera shutter speed was 1/800 of a second, ISO 500, and aperture setting of f/4.
Owl and Harrier by Raghav Mehta