The Audubon Avengers Honeysuckle Eradicators (we go by AAHE)

It’s been awhile since our last blog post, but we’ve been busy! Marsh bird surveys are now over, and we’ve moved on to the next big thing: removing invasive plant species from our banding sites, a.k.a. clearing brush and pulling weeds. But before I get to that, here are some of Amy’s pictures from the marshes here in Presque Isle. Though we may not have always enjoyed getting up early in order to get out on the water before sunrise, once we were in our kayaks and paddling out into the sunrise, we agreed it was worth it. Most of the time. (I mean, when it’s in the 50’s and still dark out and you have to go heaving kayaks about and then wading into cold water, would you always be enthusiastic?)

Now I suppose we must get to the vegetation removal…. We’ve been focusing mainly at Fry’s Landing, and it looks like a disaster zone, but in a good way. Some areas were so completely over-run with honeysuckle that we basically clear-cut them. We’ve been kicking ourselves for not taking a before picture, because it looks completely different now, and we’ve only been working there about a week. Saturday we had a group of lovely, lovely Audubon volunteers come out and help us, and the work they did was fantastic. Fry’s Landing is going to look like a completely new place once we’re done with it, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the birds like it. Already we notice the gray catbirds, robins and yellow warblers flitting about in the newly-cleared areas, enjoying their new foraging grounds. The honeysuckle was so thick that nothing grew underneath it, so once we clear it there’s not much there but leaf litter filled with yummy insects. Every once in a while we also will uncover a tree that had been engulfed by honeysuckle, rescuing it from the thick tangled grasp of the all-encompassing noxious plant.

If you have a desire to wield some clippers in the good fight against the attempted world takeover of honeysuckle, please do join us in the park. Fellow honeysuckle eradicators are always welcome. We’ve got extra gloves and clippers, just bring your own bug spray, sunscreen, and water. And maybe some long-sleeves, if you don’t want to get poison ivy. ( I don't actually expect anyone to show up, but if you do I'll bake you cookies!)

Make sure to come out sometime in the fall to see what our site looks like when we’re done. The bird-watching opportunities are going to be fantastic, I guarantee (or your money back)!

Happy Birding!