Migrants have been moving through Juanita Bay Park in the last month, including a common loon, a red-necked grebe, and various warblers. The trees are leafing out, the red-flowering currants and Oregon grape are hosting hummingbirds, and the trillium are already dying away.
Bleeding heart is budding, and skunk cabbage is fading. A bushtit nest off the middle boardwalk fell to a predator, but the flickers are still in their stub, redwings are nesting in the cattails, eagles and ospreys are often in the park, mallards are showing off some ducklings, and the western screech owl has been reported with some regularity.
A marsh wren has built several round bulky nests in rosebushes off the causeway and has been singing his heart out to attract a mate, who will chose the nest that will be used of the several he has built. Violet green and tree swallows are back, and purple martins and barn swallows could arrive any day now. The beaver have left the west part of the park, and their old pond is now a mudflat with some shallow remnant water, but beaver are still elsewhere in the park. Muskrat and otter are seen periodically.
Eastside Audubon sponsored an event for migratory bird day mid-April, which was hampered a bit by the weather. A storm closed the tents up a half hour early, but attendance was good for such a cold, blustery day. The first Sunday walk for March had about 25 people, so three rangers split the group into more manageable groups.
The first Sunday in May gave us real springtime weather, and I will be interested in learning how big the group was. Many school groups have been in the park – from UW Bothell’s Restoration Ecology class to preschoolers from Inglemoor. The UW class was hosted by park restoration stewards.
On some days, two, even three school groups have been in the park for ranger-led tours. About 185 people turned out for the restoration area maintenance event on April 23, and the rain held off. A group of rangers and other volunteers went through the park the last Wednesday and picked up most of the litter.
May events
May brings additional events, including the Green Festival May 21-22 in Seattle, and field trips and group tours in our parks.
Public events include the Thursday afternoon steward maintenance work parties, the fourth Saturday maintenance party (9 a.m. to noon May 28); third Tuesday bird walk (8 a.m. May 17, meet at kiosk by the parking lot); and the third Sunday nature walk at Kirkland Watershed Park (1 p.m., 110th Avenue N.E. and N.E. 45th Street entrance). School and other group tours at Juanita Bay Park can be scheduled through the Eastside Audubon Society.
Janice Johnson is a volunteer in the park as a native plant steward and a park ranger.
