Blackbrook Audubon plans field trip to Portage County

May 7—Blackbrook Audubon announced it will replace the evening speaker program on May 21 with a weeknight field trip to Eagle Creek State Nature Preserve.

Nature enthusiasts are invited to 10917 Hopkins Road in Garrettsville in Portage County at 6:30 pm to search for birds and blooms.

Blackbrook will have binoculars to lend and keep the pace slow with a stop at an overlook blind, according to a news release. Trails there are primitive like most state nature preserves with a natural surface and exposed roots.

There are no restrooms at this preserve, but Garrettsville is a couple miles away, the release stated.

Blackbrook asks anyone interested to RSVP at [email protected].

A tributary of the Mahoning River, Eagle Creek meanders through a wide floodplain dotted with beaver dams, small bogs and button bush swamps. Unique trees found here include cucumber magnolia and yellow birch.

Twenty species of ferns and 70 species of wildflowers spread before visitors at this preserve. Ebird shows 151 bird species recorded here.

Blackbrook Audubon covers Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake Counties as the local chapter of National Audubon Society.