Fellow birders,

         The recent post on field trips has led me to revisit another field
trip idea suggested to me recently by John Kiertshcer, of Envirotech
Consultants, Inc.  They restore wetlands and prairies, mainly in Ohio,
and they have some great success stories to their credit.  They
include;


        Big Island
        Hebron Fish Hatchry
        Columbia Station, Indian Hollow, and Carlisle Reservation in Lorain
County
         Hidden Hollow reservation in Medina County
         Edison Woods in Erie county.

        Many of you have no doubt birded some of these sites before, and are
familiar with them.   John  has said that he would be delighted to take
members of the Ohio birding community on a "Field Trip" or "Tour" of
some of these sites, including sites under various stages of
construction and completed.  This would provide people, birders, the
opportunity to see both how mitigated wetlands are created and how they
work, not to mention  a great opportunity to bird (a verb).

        Since wetlands, especially mitigated wetlands, has been a topic on
this list-serve before, and since it clearly relates to birding
habitat,  it seems like a decent idea to throw out there.  I, myself,
have had the opportunity to bird a number of these sites, and seen some
great birds.  Their employees. while monitoring the sites, have also
made some great sightings.

        If there is enough interest, John would  set up a tour route and date.
  He tentatively  suggests starting at Columbia Station and ending at
Edison Woods, where they are presently blowing holes in the woods to
create vernal pools.  Late May would b the best time.   He would, of
course, also provide critical insight into how the whole mitigation
process actually works.

        Feel free to comment, on or off the list, about the merits of this
idea.

Joe in the woods
Perry county

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]