We are looking for a few birders interested in leading other volunteers to record bird species at several Olympia-area city parks. The Olympia Stream Team is undertaking a project to gain a better understanding of the bird species found there and their changes over time. The idea is to start with three or four parks this year and expand in the future. The four parks chosen for a start are Grass Lake off Kaiser Rd. in West Olympia, Taylor Wetlands in Lacey, Black Lake Meadows off R.W. Johnson near the Community College, and LBA Woods near Boulevard and Morse Merriman in southeast Olympia.
Black Hills Audubon would provide leaders who know the birds and who would lead volunteers interested in learning the birds and participating in citizen science. We plan to have three visits to each park—one a month in March, April, and May—to record the winter birds before they leave and the summer migrants as they arrive. Ideally you would be quite familiar with the park you chose so that you could easily lead the way, and could lead all three walks at your chosen park; but if that’s not possible we can arrange for more than one leader at your park. I have volunteered to lead at LBA Woods, but a second leader would be very helpful.
Stream Team has arranged for an eBird class to be taught by Bill Tweit, a long-time WDFW. biologist who is well known as an expert birder. E-bird is an ideal repository for the collected data. The class will be on March 23, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Olympia City Hall, 601 E. 4th Avenue in Olympia.
If you are interested, please contact me by email at RWADSRK@nullGmail.com. (from Mar/April 2017 Echo newsletter, by Bob Wadsworth)