Naturalist Trip - Juanita Bay Park

Please join us for a naturalist trip to one of our local urban parks in Kirkland! We are planning on a typical Western Washington Autumn morning surrounded by native and migrating birds, mosses and lichens, and perhaps some fungi. Prior experience is not required, but please let the leaders know if you don't have access to any of the equipment below or have questions about what to expect.

You can plan on bringing binoculars (extras may be available, but we don't have enough for everyone, unfortunately!), a scope if you have one, and a magnifying loupe. If you have any extra identification tools or materials, feel free to include those in your pack - I have listed below some apps and books you may or may not be familiar with, but will aid us in our identification process.

I highly recommend these apps if you don't already have them: iNaturalist (to take photos to identify plant life) and Merlin (to identify birds by sound and photo). A few extra apps just in case you want to join the naturalist nerd brigade: eBird (track your bird spottings in a checklist), Sibley (basically an online bird book), TreesPNW (helps to identify our native trees), and Washington Wildflower Search (search engine to try to identify our plant life - also for mosses and lichens!). My top picks for books (not necessary to bring them, but perhaps some light 'homework' before our trip): "Birds of the Puget Sound Region - Coast to Cascades" Paulson & "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska" Pojar and MacKinnon.

If there are any accommodations or supports that would make our trip more successful for you, please let us know!

We will meet at the parking lot for Juanita Bay Park at 8:30. Earlier in the day appears to be better for parking, but as always, carpooling is encouraged. The website does list that there are bathrooms just past the parking lot if needed.

We can likely expect wet and cold conditions with some slippery boardwalks, so please plan your gear accordingly. We do intend to make this trip rain or shine, but please make decisions based on your comfort level.