Participate in the Eastside Audubon Christmas Bird Count

Participate in the Eastside Audubon Christmas Bird Count from Home on December 16

Eastside Audubon invites its members to join the Christmas Bird Count from their homes this year through the Feeder Watch program. Bird enthusiasts of all levels are encouraged to observe birds from their home feeders or backyards during the December 16 event. This activity contributes to the nation’s largest and longest-running community science data collection project.

Participants should monitor their feeder or backyard for two hours and record their observations. "Mornings are usually the best time for birdwatching,” says Eastside Audubon compiler Andy McCormick. “We don’t expect the person to be there every minute.”

A list of common birds will be provided, and birders are advised to use eBird.org to identify difficult species.

Participants should submit their reports online. They are also invited to join an online Zoom gathering at 6 p.m. on the event day to share their observations with fellow participants.

Anyone who doesn’t live within Eastside Audubon’s coverage area is encouraged to join one of the 15 Field Teams that will identify and tally birds within assigned areas on December 16. Learn more about the Field Teams.

CBC Feederwatch count circle. The shaded area is the Eastside Audubon’s designated area for the Christmas Bird Count.

Eastside Audubon at Salmon Days 2023

EASTSIDE AUDUBON AT SALMON DAYS 2023

Executive Director Amanda Leon and volunteers at the EAS booth

October 7th and 8th , 2023, saw the return of salmon to Issaquah Creek and the hatchery. That can only mean one thing…the return of Salmon Days!

If you are not familiar with Salmon Days, this festival brings vendors, arts and crafts, food, live music, and around 200,000 visitors together to celebrate the return of the salmon to the Issaquah Creek Hatchery. It is one of the largest festivals in Washington State. If you have never been to Salmon Days before, you owe it to yourself to check this massive event out when it comes back around in October 2024. But take my advice, get there early to find parking. I was fortunate to be one of the folks that volunteered to staff the Eastside Audubon table. This was my first Salmon Days, and nothing could have prepared me for the scale of this event. Parts of Sunset Way and Front Street were blocked off to vehicle traffic and lined with tables selling homemade items and food and providing free giveaways or just information. When I did have the chance to break away from the table and walk around, I felt like a salmon moving around in the sea of people that filled the streets. It was pretty awesome to see so many people participating in a community event that celebrates the return of the salmon. And yes, there are several opportunities to see the celebrities of this event by viewing the spawning salmon in Issaquah Creek!

The Eastside Audubon table was located on the Hatchery grounds, with several other nonprofit organizations as well as a few state government booths. The stars of our table were the four bird mounts we brought including a Barn Owl, Bufflehead, Pileated Woodpecker, and the most popular, the Red-tailed Hawk. Adults and children alike were thrilled to see what these birds look like up close. Children were especially excited when we would hit a button to play the call of the Red-tailed Hawk. Over the course of both Saturday and Sunday, we raised $113 in donations and signed up five new members. Thirty new folks signed up for the Corvid Crier and might even be reading this article right now. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us by donating and becoming involved in our mission of protecting, preserving, and enhancing natural ecosystems and our communities for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people!

I would also like to thank the sixteen volunteers that made this event possible by staffing the table and doing a phenomenal job in representing Eastside Audubon! They took the time to answer questions, talk about our work, and offer folks a chance to sign up and become more involved. Our volunteers really are at the heart of our work, and I want to thank everyone who helped out on Salmon Days and everyone who has ever helped us by volunteering for any event or program. If you would like more information on how to become more involved in volunteering with Eastside Audubon, please reach out to me at president@eastsideaudubon.org

-Jeremy Lucas

President

Viewing the Salmon

Salmon at Issaquah’s Salmon Day Festival

Join the 2023 Christmas Bird Count

Join the Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 16

Written by Andy McCormick

Registration for the 2023 Eastside Audubon CBC will be open on November 10 and there are openings for volunteers to join some CBC teams or to participate in feeder watching on Count Day. Go here to become a feeder watcher, join a field team, and join the Zoom celebration. We will have 15 field teams this year.

JOIN THE COUNT FOR FUN AND SCIENCE

The EAS CBC is an all-volunteer project, and we have three ways for you to participate. Our chapter has 15 field teams being led by experienced birders who are accepting 3-5 volunteer participants. We also support at-home feeder watchers who count birds at their home feeder or other locations within the 25-mile diameter circle centered on Beaver Lake in Sammamish. Everyone, whether birding or not,  is invited to join the Zoom celebration after the count.

BE PART OF COLLECTING DATA FOR RESEARCH AND HAVE FUN DOING IT

The CBC is the world’s largest and longest-running community science data collection project. The 2023-2024 count period from December 14 to January 5 marks the 124rd CBC sponsored by the National Audubon Society. It will be Eastside Audubon’s 40th CBC.

Whether you participate by joining a field team, watching your feeder at home, or sharing in the experience of the day via Zoom, you can register for the event you want to join on November 10. Registration closes on December 9.

Greener Living Classes From City of Bellevue!

Greener Living Classes From City of Bellevue!

Learn how to live more sustainably!

City of Bellevue Utilities are pleased to offer free, interactive Greener Living in-person and live-virtual Zoom classes.  Participants are welcome to attend a single class, any combination, or all of the classes.  Attendees will receive a digital kit of resources, tips, and tools after each virtual class or tools to take home from in person classes. All ages are welcome; however, these classes are geared towards adults and children over seven. 

Registration is required to receive the link to the class.

To register contact the City at recycle@bellevuewa.gov or 206-949-1787. You may also find more information at www.bellevuewa.gov/greener-living-classes

Bellevue City Council Candidates Climate and Environment Forum

Bellevue City Council Candidates Climate and Environment Forum

Hello fellow climate activists.

Thank you all very much for your support of the Bellevue City Council Candidates Climate and Environment Forum on Tuesday! If you were not able to make it to the event, you can watch the recording below.

Together we made this event a huge success!  

• Together, we got over 100 people to attend in person!

• Together, we showed future council members (plus mayor Robinson, who was in the audience) how important climate change and the environment is to Bellevue residents!

• Together, through our questions, we helped to educate five of the seven future city council members on some important details of our concern!

• Together, through our questions, we also helped to educate the audience! 

Please also consider the future power of the coalition that we formed. Together we can do a lot more!

For example, right now, Bellevue city officials are updating the comprehensive plan for future growth. Together, we can influence how this update is tailored to address climate change and the environment.  We urge you to email city officials in support of the attached comp plan recommendations which People for Climate Action Bellevue sent to city officials in August.

Here are the email addresses that we suggest people send their supporting comp plan messages to:

Planning Commission:    planningcommission@bellevuewa.gov

City Council:                  council@bellevuewa.gov

City Manager:                  bmiyake@bellevuewa.gov

Planning Dept. Director:  mkatterman@bellevuewa.gov

Asst. Planning Director:   eaking@bellevuewa.gov

Watch the recording of the Bellevue City Council Candidates Climate and Environment Forum

Remembering Brian Bell

Remembering Brian Bell

Written by Michael Hobbs

Brian Bell, popular field trip leader, teacher about birds, and dedicated member of Eastside Audubon, Birds Connect Seattle (formerly Seattle Audubon), and the Washington Ornithological Society.

Brian Bell was a popular field trip leader, teacher about birds, and dedicated member of Eastside Audubon, Birds Connect Seattle (formerly Seattle Audubon), and the Washington Ornithological Society. He passed away unexpectedly on August 6, 2023. The following memorial was written by Michael Hobbs and originally published on Tweeters, the University of Washington list-serve for the birding community where Brian posted reports from his many field trips. (Ed.) 

To Tweeters,

 It is with a very heavy heart that I relate that Brian Bell passed away last weekend.

Brian arrived in the PNW in 1995, already a very serious birder. He came to us from the Sacramento area, where he had been president of Sacramento Audubon, led and arranged field trips, helped manage the 400+ acre Bobelaine Audubon Sanctuary along the Feather River, and was a co-author of Areas of Critical Concern, a book which identifies valuable natural areas in the greater Sacramento area.

Once arriving here, he continued his strong interest in promoting birding and teaching others, becoming a board member for Eastside Audubon and the Washington Ornithological Society (WOS), serving as Field Trip Chair for Seattle Audubon, and leading field trips for Eastside Audubon, Seattle Audubon, WOS, the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival, and the Gray's Harbor Shorebird Festival.

That's not just a few field trips.  He led probably at least 100 trips to Whidbey Island alone.  Brian led more field trips than any other birder I know, a huge commitment towards teaching people about birds and birding.  Always, he not only led a field trip, but turned it into a learning experience for the participants.

In addition to leading field trips, Brian also taught many classes for Seattle Audubon Society, Eastside Audubon Society, Shoreline Community College, and North Seattle Community College. The courses included: Beginning Birding, Birds of Puget Sound, Water Birds, Woodpeckers, Birding by Habitat, and Summer Birds of the Mountains. He was one of the early Seattle Audubon Master Birders.

He ran his own guiding business under the business name of Peregrine Northwest, helping out-of-town birders find our local specialties. He authored Birds of Washington State (2006, Lone Pine Publishing).

At the WOS conference in Moses Lake in 2019, I was honored to present the Zella M. Schulz Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of Brian’s long-term commitment to sharing his knowledge of birds with others. 

 In addition to all of that, Brian was effectively the co-founder of the Marymoor Survey.  When we first met, on the boardwalk at Marymoor Park in 1995, it wasn’t even a survey yet; just me, a beginning birder, walking around and keeping a list once each week.  

Brian started coming out with me almost every week and taught me everything he could. Suddenly, “I” was finding more birds.  He taught me the concept of birding by ear, and then tirelessly worked to actually teach me the bird songs and calls.  

And this continued for over 1000 surveys from 1995 through our survey last week!  He also covered for me on 125 surveys when I was sick, injured, or out-of-town. 

The common theme throughout this list of contributions is that Brian made a tremendous commitment to teaching others, an amazing gift that a huge number of people have benefited from. I am sure that Brian will be greatly missed by the PNW birding community. And, I can’t even fathom the reality that he will no longer be birding at my elbow every Thursday morning.

Save Coal Creek Update

Save Coal Creek Update

Wilson’s Warbler in Coal Creek Natural Area by Andy McCormick

Eastside Audubon and Save Coal Creek supporters are thrilled to report that King County will award a $9.2 million 2024 Conservation Futures grant to the City of Bellevue for the purchase of several properties near Lakemont Boulevard in south Bellevue, including the Milt Swanson property. This purchase is the long-desired goal of Save Coal Creek. The generous grant requires a 25 percent funding match by the city of Bellevue.  

Eastside Audubon was the first organization, after Issaquah Alps Trails Club started the Save Coal Creek initiative in 2019, to advocate for preserving the Milt Swanson property because of the value of its wildlife corridor. The property is wedged between King County’s largest park, Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, and Bellevue’s largest park, the Coal Creek Natural Area. A developer, Isola, has proposed a 35-home development for the privately-owned parcel, making acquisition urgent.

In summer 2020, Eastside Audubon’s Andy McCormick, Peter Marshall and others wrote a detailed comment letter about expected environmental impacts of the proposal for 35 homes, and requested that the City of Bellevue require an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). Andy McCormick of Eastside Audubon also used birding records to document the presence of 38 species of birds in the Swanson property area in 2022 and submitted this information to both the King County Council and the Bellevue City Council. Numerous other letters were sent to the city from the general public and other organizations, including the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. 

American Dipper in Coal Creek Natural Area by Hilary Barnes

Save Coal Creek steering committee chair Sally Lawrence reports, “As of this writing [August 17], we have not yet heard a legal decision on our SEPA [State Environmental Policy Act] appeal of the city’s January 2023 determination that a full EIS would not be required for the Isola proposal. However, even without a SEPA decision, this huge County grant provides a compelling path forward. Bellevue has enough parks levy money to make the match. 

“Please thank our King County councilmembers Claudia Balducci and Reagan Dunn for their amazing support for the County grant,” Lawrence said. “And please, write to City Council counciloffice@bellevuewa.gov to stress the importance of providing matching funds for this important conservation effort. This purchase is a no-brainer - a win for Coal Creek, its salmon and other wildlife, the hiking public, for local coal mining history, AND for the developer.”

Bellevue City Council 2023 Candidates Climate Forum

Bellevue City Council 2023 Candidates Climate Forum

If you live in the Bellevue area, there is an important election coming up that needs your support!

60% of the Bellevue City Council will be elected in November, and there is a Forum being held on September 19th at East Shore Unitarian Church to get to know the candidates and their priorities for the future related to Climate Change and our Environment before voting begins. Unless we act quickly and decisively today to curb Greenhouse Gas emissions, climate impacts will get much worse. The well-being of the climate and future generations is in our hands.

Attendees of the event will have a chance to enter in a drawing at the Door for some fun prizes, including:

• Two $500 coupons toward purchase of heat pump water heaters

• One $100 and four $50 vegetarian restaurant coupons

• A month subscription to Ridwell

We need a real live audience for this event. If you plan to attend, register HERE.

WHAT - Get to know the candidates for Bellevue City Council and their priorities for our future!

WHEN - September 19th, 2023 from 7-8:30pm

WHERE - East Shore Unitarian Church, 12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue, WA (Sanctuary Bldg.)

WHY - This is a very important election as 60% of the Bellevue City Council will be elected in November and we need as much support to help address Climate & Environmental issues in Bellevue.