On January 4, 2026, someone at Marina Park logged a bufflehead on eBird. On January 27, someone logged a common goldeneye at the same spot. Both are diving ducks, and both turned up at a park better known for its boat launch. Each record is one bird, seen by someone who stopped at the railing long enough to notice.
Juanita Bay Park sits at 2201 Market Street, where Market Street ends at the water. In the last week of October 2026, eBird reports from there counted 2,460 American coots. The same week's reports added 581 wood ducks, 336 gadwall, and bald eagle, bufflehead, pied-billed grebe and American wigeon.
From November through February, Market Street works as a single birding route. At the south end, West of Market's small shoreline parks look out on open lake, where diving ducks feed in ones and dozens. At the north end, the bay and its marsh hold the big numbers, and that is also where the free guided walks are held.
The south end is open water and diving ducks
The parks along West of Market's shoreline are small, and their bird records reflect it. These are short lists of birds that dive in deeper water.
Waverly Beach Park has its own eBird hotspot, with 87 species across 377 checklists. One February checklist there, dated February 17, 2014, gives a sense of what the lake off Waverly Way can hold on a winter morning. It records 35 common goldeneyes, 5 buffleheads, 4 pied-billed grebes, a western grebe and a bald eagle. On November 21, 2017, a common loon was recorded from the same beach.
Heritage Park's eBird hotspot lists 95 species. In 2026 that includes two bald eagles, recorded in June. The eagles stay all year. In winter, the birds that change are on the water.
These records all describe the same habit. Goldeneyes and buffleheads show up off these beaches in ones and dozens. Seeing them from a West of Market park works best in short visits on many days: a stop at Waverly on the way back from the morning coffee run, or a minute at the Marina Park railing at dusk. The City lists Waverly Beach Park's hours as 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., with two small parking lots. Those hours easily cover a winter sunrise.
The north end is the marsh, the flocks and the guides
Juanita Bay is a protected corner of the lake with wetland and woodland around it. Eastside Audubon's guide to the park describes boardwalks that put walkers right next to water birds. In fall and winter, it lists bufflehead, mallard, gadwall and ring-necked duck as wintering waterfowl, with canvasback possible. It says tundra and trumpeter swans spend the winter there now and then.
The volunteer naturalists who lead walks there go further. The Eastside Audubon Kirkland Rangers say winter brings loons and trumpeter swans to the bay. They count nearly 200 bird species recorded in the park, along with beaver, river otter and painted turtles. The Rangers started as a City of Kirkland volunteer program and have been part of Eastside Audubon since 2010.
The October count shows the scale. Waverly's best winter checklist had 35 goldeneyes. Juanita Bay's reports for a single autumn week counted 2,460 coots. The open-water ducks at the south end of the street are the same kinds of birds that collect at the north end. The bay simply gathers them into flocks big enough to count in the hundreds and thousands.
Chuck Guilford, a Kirkland-area birder and photographer, leads Eastside Audubon's morning bird walk there. The chapter describes him as a familiar presence on the boardwalks all year, and his sightings are public on his eBird profile.
The calendar from now to the count
By the middle of November, the free outings at Juanita Bay add up to a short season. It peaks with the Christmas Bird Count on the Saturday before Christmas week.
| Date | Event | Time | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, November 19 | Photo Walk at Juanita Bay Park | 7:20 to 9:30 a.m. | Free; register through Kenmore Camera |
| Sunday, December 6 | Kirkland Rangers interpretive walk | 1 p.m. | Free, about an hour, no registration |
| Wednesday, December 9 | Bird Walk at Juanita Bay Park | 7:20 to 11 a.m. | Bring binoculars |
| Thursday, December 17 | Photo Walk at Juanita Bay Park | 7:20 to 9:30 a.m. | Starts before the 7:52 a.m. sunrise |
| Saturday, December 19 | Eastside Audubon's 127th Christmas Bird Count | 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. | Free, open to all levels |
The two photo walks are led by Guilford with a representative from Kenmore Camera. They are free, but you sign up on Kenmore Camera's website. The December walk is set before sunrise on purpose, to catch wildlife in the half-light before dawn.
The December 9 bird walk is the longest of the guided walks. It is a leisurely round trip of about two miles, mostly flat, over grass, pavement and boardwalk.
The Rangers' interpretive walk runs on the first Sunday of every month at 1 p.m., all year and in any weather. After December 6 it continues on the first Sunday of January and February. Children six and older are welcome with an adult, and you just meet at the park entrance.
The Christmas Bird Count is the one event on the list that puts residents to work. Audubon describes it as the world's largest and longest-running community science project. December 19 will be Eastside Audubon's 43rd year taking part. Volunteer teams cover more than a dozen routes inside a circle with a 15-mile radius, and the chapter says participation is free and open to birders of any level. The event page lists registration as coming soon. Audubon and other groups use the count's results to judge the health of bird populations. A goldeneye seen from a West of Market railing that week counts toward the same picture.
Before the first cold morning
Some practical details from the people who run these outings:
- Meet at the upper parking lot. The morning bird walks and photo walks gather at the upper end of the Juanita Bay Park lot.
- Bring binoculars for the bird walks and a long lens for the photo walks. The photo walk listing suggests a camera with a 200mm lens, with interchangeable-lens or bridge cameras working best. It also lists charged batteries, fresh memory cards, rain protection and an optional tripod or monopod.
- Plan for the winter facilities. The park's restrooms are open in summer. In winter there is a wheelchair-accessible portable toilet.
- Expect paved paths and boardwalk, plus one rough stretch. The paved path and boardwalk are ADA accessible. The grass field on the bird walk route is uneven and unpaved.
- Check the weather before you go. Eastside Audubon notes that weather or closures can affect winter events.
The north end of Market Street will look different by spring. The City's September 2026 Park Board packet marks the Juanita Bay meadow project as completed and notes, in its June update, that the meadow was in bloom. The $19,000 project tilled and planted a native wildflower meadow. The City lists riverbank lupine, western yarrow, large camas, woolly sunflower and showy fleabane among the plantings, which provide habitat for birds, bees and butterflies.
The light at the water's edge on a winter morning is something Marianne Francis watches closely, along the lake and in the homes that face it. If a view of Lake Washington from your own windows is part of how you spend the season, Marianne would be glad to talk about it. Work With Marianne.
