Gans Creek Recreation Area

8:00-11:00 a.m.

This year’s trip to the Great Blue Heron rookery is particularly important. Gans Creek Recreation Area (GCRA) has approved a mountain bike trail to be built in the park. We will be counting heron nests and the number of returning birds. We have kept records of nests and birds for 10 years, but this will be a baseline count to track any additional impact from the construction of the trail.

We will also bird the tree line between GCRA and Gans Creek Wilderness Area, the wooded area that leads down to the rookery, the mixed woods and open field areas that border the cross-country course, and wherever the call of birds leads us.

Most of the ~2 mile walk is on wide grassy paths. However, access to the active rookery is via an overgrown path that descends a steep hillside. If you are not able to navigate this terrain, you can continue to bird while others go down and back.

Meet in the Gans Creek Recreation Area parking lot at 8:00 a.m. The park is on the south side of E Gans Creek Road, about 1 mile west of the US 63 Discovery Parkway exit. Click for a map. Contact trip leader Louise Flenner (lflenner@hotmail.com  573-268-7468) with any questions.