Things To Do |

Blackbrook Audubon wrapping up Spring Bird Walk Series with the Big Sit

Blackbrook Audubon will wrap up their six-week Spring Bird Walk Series on May 15 with the Big Sit.

Participants will have the option that day of perching in their chairs or at picnic tables, starting about 8:30 a.m. Blackbrook will provide coffee and doughnuts and asks that attendees bring their own mugs or cups, along with a brunch item to share if they choose, according to a news release.

The Big Sit will be in the far eastern parking lot of Headlands Beach State Park, near the entrance to Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve.

The Big Sit allows birders of all skill levels to search the trees and shrubs for warblers and other neotropical migrants as they pause to rest near Headlands beach before completing their migration to breeding areas in Canada. This activity is especially suited to those less mobile birders who would still like to experience group birding, the release stated.

The trailhead for the boardwalk crossing Headlands Dunes is close to the Big Sit area for those who would like to check the lake for birds or the beach for Piping Plover. Ohio’s Division of Natural Areas and Preserves has blocked a portion of the Dunes beach in hopes of encouraging plovers to nest here. A pair of Piping Plover, an endangered species, nested at Maumee Bay State Park last summer, a first for Ohio in 80 years.

Blackbrook Audubon plans to assist in plover monitoring should a pair construct a nest and lay eggs, the release stated.

New state park signs mark the entrance to Headlands Beach State Park, which is at the northern terminus of state Route 44, or Heisley Road. For more information on Spring Bird Walks or the Big Sit, contact blackbrookaud@aol.com.

Anyone needing binoculars may be able to checkout a pair at the Mentor Public Library.

Blackbrook Audubon covers Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties as the local chapter of National Audubon Society.