Eaton Birding Society Beechwood State Park Field Trip

 Tree Swallow

Martens Tract

The Eaton Birding Society scheduled a field trip for this morning. They planned to visit Beechwood State Park to look for warblers and other Spring migrants. Charlie and Lisa Rouse will be the trip leaders.

After leaving home at 7:30 AM made my way to Martens Tract. There were several Tree Swallows flying about. The one above posed for me on the yellow entrance gate.

Before joining the group I completed cache #10 from the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Geotrail. The geocache was Maxwell's Silver (Steel) Hammer (Head) (GC2B4WK).

View near the cache.

Entering the Beechwood State Park parking lot at 8:30 AM, immediately noticed an American Tree Sparrow. Also near my parking space where some renovated camping facilities.

Judging from the vast number of cars in the parking lot figured the group had already stepped off. Seeing the trail I set out. After climbing a slight grade and turning left I came upon the group. Charlie mentioned that he knew I had arrived because he heard me lock the car. Shelia said that she knew by the sound it was a Doug-Dan bird.

For the next two hours and half hours we walked over the well maintained trails. Linda Clark Benedict graciously performed the role of recorder. The final tally contained 62 species. It was a banner day for myself in that thanks to the knowledgeable birders around me I was able to see and hear 15 life birds: the warblers (Black-throated, Blackburian, Blue-headed, Blue-winged, Cape May, Hooded, Magnolia, Nashville, Palm, Pine), Broad-wing Hawk, Eastern Towbee, Fox Sparrow, Northern Parula, and Ovenbird.

Some people were using the park's grounds for the weekend.

When the group headed to lunch I went to complete a geocache that I have always wanted to do in this park, Foxes Revenge (GC16X0D). This micro container hide has been a challenge for many over the years. On the way down the trail came upon a windfall that was huge. After circumnavigating it and using a photo clue I tripped on the cache.

Making my way home I stopped to do one more geocache that has been on my to-do-list for years. This time I approached the geocache from the trail entrance instead of on Rt. 104. Much easier this way. After completing Fifth Rd. Retreat (GCJ1TZ) drove home.

 

Another great day for birding.