When: Wednesday, May 13th
Time: 8:30 AM to 12 PM
Leaders: Rachel and Allan Holland
Description: Enjoy a slow, relaxed morning of birding at Centralia’s Fort Borst Park, a large city park full of trees, birds, and history along the Chehalis and Skookumchuck Rivers. We will gradually meander along the park’s paved trails, with some sections of gravel or well-worn earth, enjoying summer resident species as well as spring migrants. Warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks, Osprey, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, finches, swallows, and more love to feed in and around the trees throughout the park. The trees in Borst soon change from standard evergreens and maples to a wide variety of specimens in the park’s large arboretum.
On the far end of our approximately 1.5-mile loop, we can stop at the Borst Home, a historic property that has been carefully maintained since it was built in the early 1860s. Though it is only open a handful of times per year, we can still marvel at its outer beauty and enjoy the other historic markers and recreations surrounding it, such as the replica old schoolhouse. There is a garden there with many vegetables and flowers that usually attracts hummingbirds, goldfinches, and juncos. We will also check the Osprey nest in the adjacent sports field.
If anyone would like a picnic lunch in the park, we can use some of the park’s many picnic tables to enjoy a meal before heading home.
**If the weather is 100% dry, we can also enjoy a few photographs and excerpts from the beautifully woven story of Mary Adeline and Joseph Borst from the rare and priceless book, Centralia: The First Fifty Years.
Meeting Location: The parking area adjacent to Fort Borst Lake (the small pond down and to the left from the one-way park entrance). There should be plenty of parking available there and in other places throughout the park. No passes are required.
Bring: Lunch or snacks (if desired), water, binoculars, camera (if desired). Dress for the weather; the park is fairly sheltered from wind, but not necessarily from rain.
Other Information: Restrooms are usually open on site (occasionally closed for cleaning), uphill from the meeting location. This is a popular public park, so expect visitors with dogs, children, fishing gear, and more. The birds don’t mind!
Directions: From Olympia, follow I-5 south to Centralia and take Exit 82. Of the two right-turn lanes, keep in the leftmost of the two as you turn right onto Harrison Ave, then take the first left turn onto Belmont Street, just past the 76 gas station. You will see the Fort Borst Park entrance sign straight ahead past the stop sign.
If you have any questions, contact Rachel at lightningdash09@yahoo.com .
Photo credit: Bullock’s Oriole at Borst Park, by Rachel Holland.
