Also, see Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, Funk Bottoms Important Bird Area, Funk Bottoms Birding Drive, Killbuck Marsh to Funk Bottoms Birding Drive, and Wayne County Shorebird Drive
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eBird Hotspot
Wilderness Rd.
Coordinates: 40.7347385, -82.0710897
eBird links: Hotspot map – View details – Recent visits
My eBird links: Location life list – Submit data
Photo by Ken Ostermiller
At the east end of Wilderness Road near a bridge, there are several peat pits on the north side of the road which often are drawn down in the fall to mine peat. The drawdown of water can create extensive mud flats which attract many shorebirds. Depending on water levels, the fields on the south side of the Wilderness Road near the bridge can also hold waterfowl and shorebirds.
The peat pits on Wilderness Road are privately owned by an Amish man who loves birds and birders and therefore has welcomed birders to bird from the two dirt lanes on the east and west sides of the pits. These lanes are maintained by the company mining the peat. This company has also welcomed and been extremely gracious to birders. The only requests of the landowner and mining company are that birders stay on the dirt paths, not block the roadways, and give preference and a wide berth to any workers in the area.
Further west on Wilderness Road, across from and just west of a farmhouse, the fields often flood and then dry up, producing habitat for migrating shorebirds. A scope is helpful in viewing birds all along Wilderness Road.
From Kent Miller
About Wilderness Road
Please note that Wilderness Road traverses privately owned lands. Please be respectful and bird from the roadside. See the tip above about birding the peat pits.
While not within the wildlife area itself, Wilderness Road is adjacent to Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area. The fields and ponds on Wilderness Road west of the intersection with Elyria Road are worth checking in all seasons.
From Ken Ostermiller
No restroom facilities.
