BIGGEST WEEK YOU DRIVE / WE LEAD
Pearson Metropark You Drive / We Lead
participants after a great morning of birding! |
These trips allow you to drive yourself to the location where you'll meet an expert leader for a three hour birding experience. These trips are affordable, fun, and allow you to travel with as much of your birding gear as you like, whatever music you like, all in the comfort of your own vehicle!
You Drive / We Lead trips spend the duration of the 3 hours away from the vehicles. Please plan accordingly for weather, sunlight, wind, and insects. For accessibility information, please see the site guided linked next to each trips descriptions. For a list of all of the meeting locations with GPS pins and
Google Maps links, click the button below! |
We are excited to share the Biggest Week in American Birding Field Trip Site Guides! This exciting library of resources helps share information about one of the most popular aspects of the festival. In these site guides, you will find information about the locations the trips visit, accessibility information, meeting locations, target species, and how to get your eBird checklists following the trip. To access these, click the cover images next to each of the field trip descriptions or click the button below to visit the full library.
We're excited to provide accessibility information for our field trips with new icons listed next to each trip. Please use the dropdown menu below to access the full key of these icons.
Key
This field trip visits one site.
This trip has flat terrain.
This trip includes accessible trails.
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Site information is unpredictable. Leader's often choose the locations the day of the trip.
This site is wheelchair accessible.
This trip visits accessible locations.
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This trip has restroom facilities.
This field trip visits multiple sites.
This trip has uneven terrain.
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East Harbor State Park
Click the image above to read the site guide for this field trip!
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: East Harbor State Park 1169 N Buck Road Lakeside Marblehead, OH 43440 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED East Harbor State Park is the largest park in the Catawba Island / Marblehead Peninsula area. This vast park offers diverse habitat, attracting a great diversity in spring. From dense forested areas to lakefront beaches and rocky islands, you never know what you could find here. The trail running parallel to the coast provides excellent habitat for migrant songbirds and vantage points for lakefront birds.
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Howard Marsh Metropark
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Parking area west of the bathroom. Look for the Biggest Week sign. 401-621 S. Howard Rd. Curtice, OH 43412 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Howard Marsh Metropark opened in Spring 2018 and immediately had a special place in the hearts of birders. This amazing restoration took a farm field and transformed it into an oasis for migrant waterfowl, shorebirds, waders, and more! The park also became a breeding ground for sought-after species such as Sora, Virginia Rail, King Rail, Least Bittern, Marsh Wren, and much more. What likely brought the most fame to the site were the Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Black-necked Stilts that have returned to nest each year. In some years, the water level is drawn down creating great habitat for migrant shorebirds. In the Fall of 2022, the beloved park became even better as “Phase II” opened up on the opposite side of Howard Rd. This increase in habitat has continued to provide great birding.
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Maumee Bay State Park
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Maumee Bay State Park - "The Hill" Parking Lot Park Road 3 Oregon, OH 43616 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Maumee Bay State Park is the home base for The Biggest Week In American Birding Festival and a fantastic birding location! The You Drive/We Lead trip will meet at parking lot #7 near The Hill towards the beach. The wooded section of the trail provides good opportunities for many of the migrant songbirds passing through the area. If time permits, the group can drive to the parking lot for both the main and inland beaches. This site is often an excellent stopover site for many gulls, shorebirds, and waders. This variety of habitats can allow for a diverse species list for the morning. There’s no telling what surprises await birders along the lakefront on this outing.
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Meadowbrook Marsh
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Meadowbrook Marsh 8577 E Bayshore Rd Lakeside, OH 43440 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Meadowbrook Marsh is great for migrant songbirds, water birds, and raptors. Its location on the Meadow Brook and near the Sandusky Bay makes for a productive birding stop. The observation deck overlooking the Meadow Brook is a great place to add marsh birds, including Trumpeter Swan. The wooded portion of the trails can be excellent for migrant warblers. The open field areas can be productive for sparrows, flycatchers, and flyover raptors.
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Oak Openings Preserve Metropark
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Oak Openings Metropark Lodge 5440 Wilkins Rd Whitehouse, OH 43571 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Oak Openings Preserve Metropark is the crown jewel of the Metroparks Toledo system. The preserve is the largest of the Metroparks Toledo system at 5,000 acres. Oak Openings Preserve Metropark is known for its oak savannas and ancient sand dunes, making for a very special habitat for breeding and migrant songbirds. On this tour, The Biggest Week In American Birding guides will help you find an assortment of migrating warblers as well as locally rare breeders. Many of the species found here are difficult to find in the lakefront birding hotspots.
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Pearson Metropark
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Pearson Metropark 761 Lallendorf Rd. Oregon, OH 43616 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Pearson Metropark is conveniently located right off of Navarre Ave/Route 2 in Oregon, Ohio. This park has a great trail system through forest reminiscent of the original Great Black Swamp, providing nesting habitat for many species as well as stopover habitat for a large number of migrants. The beautifully manicured grounds contain tree species that tend to draw warblers, vireos, orioles, tanagers, and more! It is located farther from the the lakefront than most of the other most-visited sites in the area. In the event of north winds, it can be one of the most productive sites in the region.
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Pipe Creek Wildlife Area
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Pipe Creek Wildlife Area Corner of F St. and 1st St. Sandusky, OH 44870 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Pipe Creek is often considered to be one of Ohio’s top-tier spring migration sites along Lake Erie. This little peninsula of woodlands and marsh units extends into the Sandusky Bay and can attract a lot of migrant birds. The parking lot area and inital stretch of trail are dense with tall trees and understory, providing a great feeding location for many migrant warblers, tanagers, vireos, thrushes, and more! As the trail opens up to marshland, many sought-after breeding and migrant species are possible.
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Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Sheldon Marsh SNP 2710 Cleveland Road Sandusky OH 44870 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Located on the shore of Lake Erie, Sheldon Marsh can be one of the most active sites for migrant songbirds. The dense canopy consists of trees that should be blooming and hosting plenty of insects for migrants to feed on. Sheldon Marsh also provides nesting habitats for many species of songbirds and marsh birds. The dense, wet, wooded areas at this site can provide opportunities for many of the more difficult or highly sought-after species in the area. There are several vantage points to see into the ponds and marshes that can host waders, marsh birds, and waterfowl as well.
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Woodlawn Cemetery and Arboretum
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Activity Level: Easy
Time: 8:00 - 11:00 a.m. Meeting Location: Woodlawn Cemetery and Arboretum 1502 Central Ave. Toledo, OH 43606 Click HERE for Google Maps Fee: $30 Registration Required Limited to 25 participants NO TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED Founded in 1876, Woodlawn Cemetery captures beauty and history and provides excellent habitat for migrant songbirds! This 160-acre property is an important stopover site for many warblers, vireos, tanagers, and flycatchers that pass through the area. Additionally, the ponds are worth checking for various waterfowl and wader species. The open habitat is attractive to a variety of sparrow species as well. This site also hosts many irruptive species in the winter, including siskins and crossbills. Some species may linger into May, such as Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.
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