The William Holliday Nature and Wildlife Preserve is part of Wayne County's Parks' system and consists of 500-plus acres of forests and wetlands that runs along a tributary of the Rouge River in Westland, a community of 80,000 in Wayne County, Michigan. The Preserve is located north and west of the Westland Mall and just east of I-275. ================================================================ On Apr 6, 2005, at 6:23 PM, Julie Craves wrote: Holliday Nature Preserve, right in your backyard, and definately under-birded. See: http://www.hnpa.org/ Julie A. Craves Rouge River Bird Observatory University of Michigan-Dearborn http://www.rrbo.org ------------------------------------------------- From: "Allen Chartier" To: birders@umich.edu Subject: [birders] RE: Good place to catch migrants thats really close to canton, MI Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 22:18:53 -0400 I've been birding at William Holliday Park for more than 25 years, before it was threatened with, then saved from development. Among the 126 species I've personally recorded here are migrant Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Hooded, Cerulean, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Lawrence's Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, and nesting Broad-winged Hawk. I have had days there (more than 10 years ago now) with the trees literally dripping with warblers, including 15 species in one tree once. Allen Chartier amazilia1@comcast.net 1442 West River Park Drive Inkster, MI 48141 Website: http://www.amazilia.net Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm -------------------------------------- From: John Lowry To: birders@umich.edu Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 9:56 PM Subject: [birders] RE: Good place to catch migrants thats really close to canton, MI I can vouch for Holliday. I covered it on a couple of May counts in addition to birding it a few more times when I lived in Livonia. I remember running into a large flock of Golden-winged Warblers in there once. Also, Newburgh Lake in Hines Drive - actually all along Hines Drive can be good, but Newburgh Lake can be excellent during migration. I think any of the feeder creeks to the Rouge that are still somewhat forested will be good during May. John Lowry john@kingbird.org Hamburg Twp. Livingston County -------------------------------------- From: Smileysmlc@aol.com Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 10:07:46 EDT Subject: [birders] RE: Good place to catch migrants close to canton, MI To: birders@umich.edu I'll just echo some of the other recommendations. The William P. Holliday Forest and Wildlife Preserve (its official name) is a must-visit location. The 540-acres that comprise the preserve stretch along the Tonquish Creek from Nankin Mills along Hines Drive, to nearly 1-275. It is very narrow in places, but the two largest contiguous areas are at the Koppernick Road entrance (west of Hix Road, north of Warren), and at the Cowan Road entrance (now called Central City Parkway), just northwest of Westland Mall. You probably won't see the numbers of birds which Allen attested to seeing over 10 years ago, but it is still a great place to visit. I was involved in the fight to save this area back in 1987 and 1988. The County and Westland wanted to build a golf course and condo development in the preserve, but we were able to defeat that proposal. Unfortunately, we weren't able to save much of the surrounding land from being destroyed in the years that followed, so wildlife has declined dramatically. On the plus side, the Holliday Nature Preserve Association (www.hnpa.org) was the springboard for forming the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy. SMLC's first project, in 1988, was to buy 40 acres on Koppernick Road adjoining the Preserve. This is a great habitat and we used to do bird banding on this parcel. The property starts on the south side of Koppernick Road, 1/4 mile west of Hix. It goes to the corner (where Koppernick turns south), and goes 1/4 mile to the entrance. The field habitat is largely overgrown by now, but it's still significantly different from the old growth habitat which makes up much of Holliday. Especially for the interior woods, make sure to get a map of the trails; many people tend to get disoriented (no maps are onsite). Another good access point for the Koppernick section is Westland's Hix Park, on the west side of Hix Road just north of Warren Road, immediately north of Tonquish Creek. Follow the drive back to a small parking lot. This part is owned by the City, but it's essentially a part of the County's Holliday Preserve. Trails are often wet, but this is a nice area for migrants, being younger habitat (it was a field in the 60s). The other recommended access point is the Cowan Road/Central City Parkway entrance. Check out the maps on the hnpa.org web site. [deletion] Jack Smiley President Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy www.landconservancy.com