Second Saturday Hike, August 8th: "Birds and Blooms"!

Join Friends of the Blufflands on its Second Saturday Hike called "Birds and Blooms" on August 8th at 8:00 am. The hike will be led by Eileen Kirsch, retired from the USGS Upper Midwest Science Center as a bird expert, and Mike O'Brien, board member of Friends of the Blufflands and plant id'er extrordinaire!

The hike will begin at the lower Hixon parking lot and proceed on Hickory Trail to Savanna Trail, with an option to proceed to the top of Lookout Prairie. On the way, Eileen will identify birds by sight and by their calls. Bring your binoculars to catch a glimpse of some of the birds and your smartphones to use the bird call app Merlin. Mike will help with the bird identification and also be the one to identify the blooms along the way, as well as on the savanna and prairie. Maybe the indigo bunting, which is a regular on top of Lookout, will serenade the group- "Fire, fire, where, where, here, here...."!