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East Fork State Park Field Trip

September 25, 2021 @ 8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Theme: Birding Trip, Fall Migration
Location: East Fork State Park
Date: Saturday, September 25, 2021
Meet: 8:00 A.M. at the South Swimming Beach Parking Lot (see the directions below)
Leader: Dave Helm, (513) 403-4519, helmmd@icloud.com

Come out and join us for what should be a great day of birding. The focus of the trip will be fall migrants. The migration patterns of many types of birds overlaps around this date. Neo-tropical song birds (including many warblers) should be found even though this date is a bit past peak for them. Waterbirds of several families should also be seen. Harsha Lake and its shorelines attract shorebirds, long-legged waders, terns, gulls, grebes, loons and ducks and all can be expected around this date. Hawks, osprey & Bald Eagles are also likely to be seen and Broad-winged Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk migration is near peak on this date. Also consider that East Fork has a well deserved reputation for attracting rare species. Some examples seen just over the past few weeks include Neo-tropical Cormorant, Long-tailed Jaeger and Eared Grebe, to name a few.

Our trip leader, Dave Helm, is an exceptionally skilled veteran birder and naturalist and long-time ASO advocate. Dave has always been a regular visitor to East Fork SP and knows the area extremely well. Dave’s experience will certainly come in handy as birds should be abundant on this date.

Dave plans to begin our trip at the south beach which is probably the best spot to find a diversity of water birds. From there, Dave will move to several other spots and habitats around the park. Dave is a well rounded naturalist who, aside from birds, has a great interest in botany, butterflies and all other wildlife and he will gladly share his knowledge on these topics. While we will drive to several spots around the park, we will walk a bit during the morning but it will be moderate and at a leisurely pace over mostly level trails and roadsides. Dave will probably stay at it until birding begins to tail off around noon. So come out and see a diversity of birds on what should be a beautiful early fall morning. Restrooms are available in the park. If you have any questions feel free to contact Dave.

Directions: We will meet at the swimming beach parking lot located on the south side of East Fork State Park. We will meet at 8 AM on the far left side of the beach parking lot (when facing the lake); although at that time of day it shouldn’t be a problem finding our group. To get to the beach, enter the park from the south side and follow the park signs to the beach. To get to the south side entrance to East Fork SP from I-275, take exit # 65, SR 125 (Beechmont Ave./Ohio Pike) and go east about 9 miles to the junction of Rt. 222. Turn left onto Bantam Rd. (opposite Rt. 222) and follow the signs to the park entrance.

Visit the East Fork State Park website for a Park map and other info at:

https://stateparks.com/east_fork_state_park_in_ohio.html

Details

Date:
September 25, 2021
Time:
8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Organizer

Audubon Society of Ohio