Gans Creek Recreation Area

8:00 AM

Contact: Louise Flenner, lflenner@hotmail.com / (573) 268-7468

We will do our annual trip to the Heron Rookery to count returning birds and the number of nests available.  We have kept records of their return for the past 11 years, always on March 15. This field trip has been dubbed the “Ides of March” trip. The beginner mountain bike trail is complete in part of the area we usually bird. There are over 50 new trees that have been planted along it, and it has opened up access to some wooded areas.  We will continue to bird a part of the park that the trail covers and occasionally use the trail to access the wooded areas. We will not be birding the area of the proposed intermediate mountain bike 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.