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March Field Trip: Perry Lakes Park & Eiland Cahaba Outdoor
March 19, 2016, 7:00 am–5:00 pm
If spring is your favorite season of the year, and you enjoy both natural and cultural history, then this field trip is for you. While our first destination, Perry Lakes Park, is familiar, the Eiland Cahaba Outdoor Laboratory of Judson College will be a new destination for all of us.
Early spring at Perry Lakes Park, a site on the Alabama Birding Trails Black Belt Loop, features an abundance of wildflowers and early arriving neotropical migrants, such as purple martins, northern parulas and prothonotary warblers. The park also features several Auburn Rural Studio projects – unique structures that draw their inspiration from and complement their Spanish moss draped surroundings. We will have lunch at the pavilion before traveling to our next destination, located a short drive away on the east bank of the Cahaba River.
The Eiland Project is a 347-acre historic homestead that serves as an outdoor classroom for Judson College. Here, we’ll spend the afternoon exploring the trails and historic buildings, and trek to the Rock Bar – a sandbar on the Cahaba River that forms the western boundary of the property. We’ll compile a list of the birds we find here, to share with our Judson College hosts.
Meeting Place and Travel Plans: Our meeting place is the parking lot at the McDonald’s at 1731 Montgomery Hwy, Hoover, AL 35244, across from the Galleria. We will depart from here at 7:00 a.m. and caravan, via I-459 and AL Hwy 5, to Brent, where we’ll make a rest stop at the Wendy’s at 8:00 a.m., before arriving at Perry Lakes Park between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. (GPS N 32.69808 W -87.259219).
This will be an all-day trip, so bring a picnic lunch, drinks and snacks. Remember, weather this time of year can be changeable, so dress appropriately. Have a full tank of gas. Bring your binoculars and spotting scopes. For those who wish, supper may be shared at a local restaurant at day’s end.
Trip co-leaders: Greg Harber, 205-251-2133, home/evenings, or 205-807-8055, day of field trip only, and Matt Hunter, 205-915-8186.
