Trip Leader – Louise Flenner
Every year for the past 8 years I have counted the number of herons at the rookery on March 15. There are always some returning birds on that date. There are actually 2 rookeries. One is more visible from the higher ground (upper) and the other from the creek area (lower). The upper rookery was home to the largest nests which have been reduced from 10 in 2014 to a single nest last year. The lower rookery has 13 noticeably smaller nests.
On this field trip I would like to get a count of returning herons. We will also bird the tree line between GCRA and Gans Creek Wilderness Area. There is some good birding in the woods that separates the two rookeries. There are 6 ponds and Gans Creek that may attract some migrating birds.
The terrain between the two rookeries is an overgrown singletrack path that descends a steep hillside. Birders who don’t want to go to the lower rookery can easily continue birding around GCRA and find their way back to the parking lot.
Meet in the Gans Creek RA parking lot at 8:00 a.m.