Montour Preserve
Montour
DESCRIPTION: This preserve surrounding the 165-acre Lake Chillisquaque has a variety of habitats that makes birding worthwhile all year. The lake attracts a nice variety of migrating waterfowl and a few shorebirds along the shoreline. It doesn't have any mudflats. American Woodcock can be seen doing their courtship rituals at dusk in the fields in the northern portion of the preserve. The woodlots and brushy fields are good for migrant passerines and wintering sparrows.

DIRECTIONS: From I-80, take Exit 224 and drive west on PA 54. When you get to the intersection with PA 254 at Washingtonville (about 4.5 miles), go another 0.5 mile and turn right (east) on Strawberry Ridge Road. Go 0.85 mile and turn left (north) on PPL Road and go 2.6 miles to the intersection with Preserve Road. Turn right onto Preserve Road and go 0.5 mile and turn left into the office and visitors center entrance. Continue past the visitor's center and up to the parking area at the west end of the dam breast and scan the lake from there. Return to Preserve Road, turn left (east) and go 0.4 mile, bear left at the Y (Sportsmans Road) and turn into the overlook parking area and scan from there. Continue north on Sportmans Road and pull into the picnic area on the left for another view of the lake. Get a map at the visitor's center and walk the trails to look for passerines. Side trip: From Strawberry Ridge Road and PPL Road continue east on Strawberry Ridge Road for 1.1 mile and turn left on Creek Road. Pull off to the left and scan the mudflats of the fly-ash basin for shorebirds. For security reasons, access is restricted, so you can only observe from the roadside; you cannot walk up along the embankment or around the impoundment.

 

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Posted: 2009-10-24 00:00:00
Updated: