Kah Tai bird survey dedicated to Eleanor Stopps

Admiralty Audubon has completed its two-year bird survey at Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park. Although everyone knows Eleanor Stopps was instrumental in the creation of the Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, it is less-common knowledge that she was involved in the creation of this much smaller but dearly loved urban nature park here in Port Townsend.

In 1978-1979, Eleanor Stopps and Admiralty Audubon's first president, Bernard Beck, undertook a one-year bird survey at Kah Tai to document the species observed so that the information could be included in the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant application to protect the area and turn it into a nature park. They documented 70 species.

The two-year survey (October 2009-October 2011) documented 98 daylight species utilizing the park that Eleanor helped create more than three decades ago. Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park has an historic bird list of 150 species now, using the list completed in 1979 as a starting point. We added the 150th species in July, a Western Kingbird.

If you would like to download a copy of the bird survey, which is dedicated to the memory of Eleanor Stopps, please go to the Admiralty Audubon website and click on the notice on the right side of the page for a pdf. It is about 2.7 MB. The handsome fellow above, a male Ruddy Duck in full breeding plumage, is on the cover of the report.