This morning we bicycled the newly opened, 4.5 mile long "Mahoning Valley Trail", in the extreme northeast corner of Stark County, from 9AM to 11AM. This is a wonderful trail for birders that also like to bicycle. Maintained by Stark Parks, it is a crushed stone compacted surface which makes for easy riding or walking. Numerous birding habitats are encountered. The Gaskill Road Trailhead is on the south end east of SR225 on the north edge of the city of Alliance. From here the trail meanders for two miles  north thru the bottomland woods of the headwaters of the Mahoning River, passing on a boardwalk under the SR225 Bridge. A curious Mink followed us for a short distance along the trail. The next 1.4 miles follows little traveled Rock Hill Avenue and then Greenbower Road, passing thru open fields and pines, crossing the Mahoning River, then bisecting the southern end of Berlin Reservoir, passing thru ideal shorebird habitat and an Osprey nest. The final 1.2 miles goes back to a scenic trail that takes you to a new spectacular trail bridge, that crosses the Deer Creek Reservoir Dam. From the bridge vantage point, Deer Creek Reservoir is viewed to the west, and to the east, below the dam, Berlin Reservoir is viewed. This area is part of the somewhat famous SR225 / Price Street shorebird site. Unfortunately, The Corps of Engineers have not dropped the water level yet! The north end of the trail follows the shore of Deer Creek and ends at the main parking lot. In our two hour ride we recorded 47 species of birds. Nothing remarkable, but still nice to find a new, accessible, birding location. A few of the birds seen were: Double-crested Cormorant (150+), Great Egret (20+), Osprey (2), Bald Eagle (2), Spotted Sandpiper (3), Solitary Sandpiper (15+), Pectoral Sandpiper (3), Yellow-billed Cuckoo (3), Black-billed Cuckoo (1), Pileated Woodpecker (1), Black-capped Chickadee (20+), and 5 species of Vireo including 1 Philadelphia. This is a neat short birdy ride!
 
Bob and Denise Lane / Damascus                                    
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