Birding Festival-Birding Locations - Friends of Headlands Beach State Park

Headlands Birding Festival

Birding Locations

Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve

Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve (often included with the state park) is one of the best hotspots in Ohio. The preserve hosts huge numbers of migratory birds throughout spring and fall. Rarities are far too many to name, but include Black-billed Magpie, Gray Flycatcher, Northern Wheatear, Northern Gannet, King and Common Eider, and Ross’s Gull.

The preserve hosts a main trail, a boardwalk, and smaller trails through brush and woodland. The woodland is extremely productive during migration, hosting 30+ species of warblers, both cuckoos, thrushes, sparrows, and yearly whip-poor-wills. The main trail, the Fisherman’s Trail, can also be very productive for fall/winter lake watches along the breakwall, and especially morning flight counts, when birds fly off the lake and land in the brush along the trail.

Headlands Beach State Park

Known for having the largest bird list in Ohio (over 300 species), Headlands Beach State Park includes a large public beach connected to Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve. During migration, the beach can be productive for shorebirds such as Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Willet, and maybe even an Avocet or Whimbrel.

The woods in the state nature preserve (often included with the state park) can also be very productive for migrating songbirds such as both species of cuckoos, 30+ species of warblers, and Olive-sided Flycatchers.

Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve

Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve is known for its wetland and forest habitats. The marsh has recorded over 260 bird species, including many rarities such as ibis, Wood Storks, Nelson’s and LeConte’s, Sparrows, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, and Yellow Rails.

Key birding areas include the Wake Robin Trail boardwalk, where bitterns, rails, and Sedge Wrens can be found, as well as regular LeConte’s and Nelson’s Sparrows; the Zimmerman Trail, which can attract 30 species of warblers during migration; and the east end near Headlands Beach State Park, which is known for excellent shorebirds, including phalaropes. Additionally, the preserve includes a nature center with exhibits and guided programs.

Mentor Lagoons Marina and Nature Preserve

Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve hosts a variety of habitats critical to migrating and nesting birds. Over three miles of trails wind through woodland and border Mentor Marsh, hosting rarities such as Limpkin, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Townsend’s Warbler.

Connected to the preserve is a marina featuring boating, kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. A series of channels allow for kayak and canoe access into Mentor Marsh and around the marina. The channel into the marsh has hosted rarities such as Tricolored Heron, Snowy Egret, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and regular Nelson’s and LeConte’s Sparrows. Additionally, a banding station is active during migration, which provides banding demonstrations.

Lake Erie Bluffs

Lake Erie Bluffs offers a unique mix of habitats along Lake Erie shoreline. The bluffs, meadows, and forests attract a wide variety of species throughout the year. Some rarities include jaegers, Bohemian Waxwing, Cave Swallow, and Sabine’s Gull. During migration, the observation tower provides views for scanning migrating songbirds, raptors, and waterfowl. The tower has hosted thousands of migrating songbirds in a single day and immense numbers of migrating raptors.

There are too many to name, but notable counts include 90 Evening Grosbeaks, 557 Broad-winged Hawks, 650 Redpolls, and the Ohio high count record of 5580 Pine Siskins.

Painesville Township Park

A relatively new park, it has already hosted rarities such as Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Swallow-tailed Kite, and King Eider. Throughout spring and fall migrations, flocks of songbirds and waterfowl pass through, with the possibility of encountering species like crossbills, Cave Swallows, jaegers, Sabine’s Gulls, Glaucous Gulls, scoters, Red-throated Loons, Long-tailed Ducks, tundra swans, and snow geese, to name a few. In addition to migrating birds, the adjacent 535 property (a retired landfill) occasionally hosts Dickcissels and Grasshopper Sparrows in the summer/fall, and regular Snowy Owls in winter.

Fairport Nursery Road (State Route 535)

Fairport Nursery Road, just west of Fairport Harbor, is a retired chemical landfill. While the landfill cannot be accessed, the best vantage point is at a parking lot and small building on a hill. The expansive fields provide ideal nesting habitat for Bobolinks, meadowlarks, Dickcissels, Grasshopper Sparrows, American Kestrels, and other grassland birds. During winter, Snowy and Short-eared Owls can be found, along with Rough-legged Hawks, flocks of Snow Buntings, longspurs, and larks.

Rarities are many but include Western Cattle-Egret, Loggerhead Shrike, Chestnut-collared Longspur, and regular Upland Sandpipers.