East Fork State Park Saturday, September 13, 2025 with Bill Stanley

Theme: Early Fall Migration

Location: East Fork State Park

Date: Saturday, September 13, 2025

Meet: 8:00 A.M. at the South Swimming Beach Parking Lot (see the directions below)

Leader: Bill Stanley, (513) 324-2796, tyrannus58@gmail.com

Come out and join us for what should be a great day of birding. The focus of the trip will be early fall migrants. The migration patterns of many types of birds overlaps around this date. Many neo-tropical song birds (including many warblers) should be found. Water birds of several families should also be seen. Harsha Lake and its shorelines attract shorebirds, long-legged waders, terns, gulls, grebes and ducks all of which 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 just beginning around now. Also consider that East Fork has a well-deserved reputation for attracting rare species. For instance American Avocets have recently been seen at South Beach and a Neo-tropical Cormorant seems to have been present all summer and continues to be seen.

Our trip leader, Bill Stanley, is a skilled and expert birder and an experienced naturalist. Bill is a long time ASO advocate and current board member. Many of you know Bill as he has led many field trips for ASO and several other local conservation organizations over the years. While East Fork State Park is a well-known birding destination in the Greater Cincinnati area, few people know the area as well as Bill does. East Fork happens to be Bill’s “local patch” as he virtually lives right next door to this large 4,870 acre State Park which is located in Clermont County, Ohio.

Bill plans to begin our trip at the south beach which is probably the best spot to find a diversity of water birds. From there, Bill will move to several other spots and habitats around the park. Bill is a well-rounded naturalist who, aside from birds, has a great interest in all aspects of nature and he will gladly share his knowledge on these topics. While we will drive to several spots around the park, we will mostly be on foot. But the walking will be moderate and at a leisurely pace over mostly level trails and roadsides. Bill 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 Bill.

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 right 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.

The Meeting Place can be found here: East Fork State Park South Beach

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

https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/east-fork-state-park

https://stateparks.com/east_fork_state_park_in_ohio.html

(Contributed by Jay Stenger)