Event Details
Birders of all skill levels are invited to Blackbrook Audubon's final monthly bird walk at Veterans Park. Blackbrook will wrap up two years of bird surveys here before changing the location in September. Park trails are level with asphalt, compacted gravel and boardwalk. The walk leaders will have a couple pairs of binoculars to lend.
Overcast skies and less extreme conditions during July's walk seemed to keep dragonflies from patrolling and turtles from basking at Granger Pond. The group of 11 did record 31 bird species including two Ospreys on the cell phone tower next to the park. Young Ospreys recently fledged from a nest there. They also saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird flitting among the Cardinal Flower, a muskrat munching aquatic plants and two bucks grooming each other. Some of them watched a Monarch lay eggs on Common Milkweed.
At 100 acres, Veterans Park encompasses the largest inland pond in Lake County, Granger Pond, and protects a remnant of original Ohio swamp forest. The property was once a sand quarry. The City of Mentor purchased it from the Granger family in 1970 and formed Mentor’s first neighborhood park. It's now managed by Lake Metroparks, which stocks the pond with catfish, bass, bluegill and rainbow trout. A valid Ohio fishing license is required to fish at Veterans Park.
Granger Pond's wide expanse attracts both fishermen and birds such as kingfishers, herons and mergansers. The list on eBird.org shows 211 species for this location. Just under a mile from Lake Erie, the pond and tree cover at Veterans Park offer birds inland shelter from stormy lake conditions.
Blackbrook Audubon will begin monthly Important Bird Area walks September 27 at The Rookery, 10110 Cedar Road in Munson Township. They will meet at 8:00 a.m. on the fourth Sunday of each month year round.
Blackbrook Audubon covers Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Counties as the local chapter of National Audubon Society. Contact Blackbrook Audubon at blackbrookaud@aol.com. Find updates on their Facebook page.
Photo: Green Heron by Laurie White