Parks and Recreation

September 4, 2014 by Staff Report

GEAUGA PARK DISTRICT

For more information, contact the park district by phone at 440-286-9516 or visit www.geaugaparkdistrict.org.

All Aboard

All aboard the 34-foot Voyageur canoe, it’s time to relive the adventures of French Voyageur fur traders who plied the uncharted waters of the Great Lakes in the 1700s.

Voyageur Canoe rides take place Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to noon; 12:30-1:30 p.m. and 2-3 p.m. at the boat launch at Headwaters Park, 13365 Old State Road in Huntsburg Township.

This great opportunity to experience history first-hand will have participants paddling across the East Branch Reservoir while a hardy crew regales them with song. The trip will go on rain or shine, except in the event of thunderstorms.

Registration and a fee of $5 are required.

Calling All Monarchs

It appears the Monarch species is making small advances this year, with more being seen laying eggs and nectaring throughout the tall grassy fields of Geauga County. Plan to join Geauga Park District in celebrating this news by attending one of its popular annual monarch butterfly tagging programs.

Monarch Butterfly Tagging takes place from 12:30-4 p.m. on Sept. 7 at Swine Creek Reservation in Middlefield Township and then again on Sept. 14 at Frohring Meadows in Bainbridge Township.

As usual, tagging programs will include exploration of the fields to net and tag monarchs on their way to winter havens in Mexico, part of Monarch Watch’s study of this cross-continental migration, and perhaps more important now than ever before, from 1-4 p.m. An introduction about the monarch’s life cycle and migration will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Participants may also play an exciting life-sized board game dramatizing the hazards of this amazing journey. Nets will be provided, but participants may bring their own. Sun protection, hats and long pants are recommended.

Whirling Birdies

Witness the annual phenomenon of hundreds of chimney swifts swirling tornado-like and then plummeting into an old chimney en route to South America an unforgettable spectacle by all accounts.

The Bird Tornado Strikes Again on Sept. 10 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the gazebo on Chardon Square and Sept. 17 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the gazebo on Burton Square.

Chimney swifts are neotropical migrants, meaning they winter in the south and summer in the north. Though they once nested in hollow trees, America’s settlement and urbanization quickly introduced them to more convenient shelter chimneys, where they can use their glue-like saliva to adhere stick nests to the inner walls.

After nestlings have fledged into flyers by mid-summer, swifts patrol the skies by day and gather at dusk to room communally in uncapped chimneys of older homes, as well as institutional chimneys with incinerators rendered defunct by the Clean Air Act of 1972.

Migration always takes place in September and early October. At sundown, local swifts are joined by travelers seeking a “migratory motel” for the night. All together the birds gradually swell in the sky, swirling in ever-tightening circles and emitting twittering notes until, one by one, they begin to swiftly drop into the chimney.

Chimneys like these often hold hundreds of swifts for the night. Previous programs through Geauga Park District have ranged from almost 400 to more than 900 birds making their way in.

All ages are welcome; registration is not required.

Family Fishing Expo

Popular youth fishing experiences return to Geauga Park District thanks to the sponsorship of Geauga County Probate and Juvenile Court Judge Timothy Grendell and the Geauga County Park District.

Two Family Fishing Expo events are scheduled for families with kids ages 8-14. The first is Sept. 13 at Swine Creek Reservation in Middlefield Township and the other is Sept. 14 at Big Creek Park in Chardon Township. Both are from 9 a.m. to noon and registration is required.

There will be prizes for the children and fun for the family

Fishing expo families will enjoy instruction in the basics of fishing equipment, knot typing and fish identification, followed by a morning of fishing with the help of experienced anglers. Equipment will be provided or bring one’s own.