INAUGURAL BIRDING TRIP (at Ivy Creek)!

OVERVIEW

Hey, you, come close, and I shall share with you a secret, fervently censored and suppressed by the ODC officer corps. Indeed, it is a blasphemous truth — yet, truth it nevertheless is: there is more to the outdoors than ‘sending it.’ Shred-culture may attempt to convince you otherwise — but when one walks slowly, attentively through the woods (or better yet, sits still in silence) they notice that which asks for no attention; in doing so, their soul exalts and rejoices in a way entirely inimitable by means of shredding on a bike, or sending on a cliff face. The forest is deeply, vibrantly alive. More than just a playground, this is the outdoors that the birders know.

Join us Friday morning for a quick birding trip to Ivy Creek Natural Area. Birding is fun, I promise – like collecting Pokemon but IRL. But don’t take my word for it, come out and see for yourself. This park is only 15 minutes away and seems to be one of the biggest bird hotspots in the area. In the past few days, there have been lots of dope species logged there, including some owls and lots of birds of prey. Fingers crossed that we will also see some cool species.

Ivy Creek has several interconnected trail loops, all of which are relatively short (about 1 mile) and easy. Several of the trails go out to the river, so we will try to see some water birds as well. No prior birding experience is required (though would come in clutch because I am not always the most expert bird identifier), just be ready to stop a lot to look at birds and nature! The only piece of equipment necessary for birding is a pair of binoculars, but, luckily, between me and the gear room, we will have enough pairs for everyone to have their own. I will bring them for everybody and hand them out on the trip.

Also, there are some pretty helpful apps that I recommend for enhancing the birding experience. Merlin Bird ID is really awesome for figuring out what kind of bird you are looking at, and so is eBird if you wanna keep track of all the cool things we see. I can show people how to start a life list if anyone is interested.

The plan:
9:00 am – leave Echols (birds are most active in the morning!)
9:15 – start walking and BIRDS
10:45 – leave
11:00 – return to Echols

You shall bring:
-yourselves
-water if you’d like
-warm clothes (remember, we won’t be moving as much as normal hiking, so it might get chilly)