By Danielle Koagel

For The Enterprise

LYNNWOOD — As Duane Karna hoists his blond-haired grandson, James, onto his shoulders, the 2-year-old giggles and then screams, “Ducky!” at a pair of unsuspecting waterfowl in the nearby lake.

Perhaps he’s taking after his grandfather.

Karna, a Lynnwood Parks Board member, has been a bird-watcher for the past 30 years. With the help of friends Ted Petersen and Dennis Duffy, Karna has put together a wildlife guide to Lynnwood’s parks. The publication was released earlier this year.

“I wanted the parks to have a better image, particularly, Scriber Lake Park,” he said, “Bird life has always been interesting there and I thought that more people need to know about it.”

Karna is especially thrilled about the presence of green herons at Scriber Lake. He has observed two nesting sites of the small heron species known for fishing in ponds with baits such as worms and bread crusts. He has also observed a healthy population of Cooper’s hawk within the park and surrounding wooded areas.

Karna’s guide boasts 144 bird, 36 mammal, 10 amphibian, six reptile and 19 fish species. On his semi-daily outings, Karna says he usually observes approximately 40 bird species a week.

A former federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee, Karna said he now has more time to enjoy local wildlife. In his 30 years with the EPA, he worked in several different areas and was supervisor of the regional dive team.

Since his retirement, Karna has started to focus on what’s going on above the water.

“My interest in parks is not so much political, I want to actually get stuff done,” Karna said. He has already set several projects in motion.

Since the creation of the wildlife guide, he and other parks board members have discussed developments for Scriber Lake park, including, safer trails and bridges and the clearing of invasive plant species.

Karna is also developing plans to create another wildlife guide for Lund’s Gulch, an area that includes Meadowdale County park and straddles the border of Lynnwood and Edmonds.

Guides are an essential part of birding, especially for beginners to get to know the local birds.

“It’s not like tennis, where you have to play in a group,” Peterson said. “Birding is nice because you can enjoy in on your own or with a group of friends.”

Peterson acknowledged that it would be difficult to identify birds without the appropriate field guide and binoculars.

“Birders,” as bird-watchers often refer to themselves, keep track of their sightings by creating lists for various areas. The lists can contain a variety information, including the bird species, the number of times they observe a bird in the area, a description of the bird, and in what season it was seen.

Listing can be quite the competitive sport.

Karna, Duffy and Petersen all related experiences of hopping on a plane to pursue rare birds.

Petersen has traveled to Asia, Africa, South America and all over North America to observe birds.

Duffy said he discovered his love for birding through his business travels.

“I did a lot of traveling, sometimes to places where one would never dream of going on vacation, and often for weeks at a time,” Duffy said. “Bird watching kept me from getting bored during the non-working hours. It is an activity that can be pursued almost any place at any time, and the diversity of bird life always changes with location.”

Karna is a little less competitive. Although he enjoys birding, he usually only goes out a few times a week to observe birds. He considers himself a “junior bird man.”

“I think the person who has the most fun, wins,” he said.