On Saturday, May 23, Michael Leahy will show participants some of the highlights around a very special place in Clarion County – State Game Land #330, known as Piney Tract. Piney Tract is a 2,300-acre reclaimed strip mine located in central Clarion County that holds arguably the densest population of Henlow’s Sparrows and other grassland breeding birds in Pennsylvania and likely, the eastern United States. It has been designated as a Global Important Bird Area (#21).

We will walk a couple of areas here and then drive to a couple of other areas nearby to look for other birds. Some sparrow species to be expected are Henslow’s, Savanah, Grasshopper, Clay-colored and possibly Vesper Sparrows. Northern Harrier, Kestrel, Bobolink, Prairie Warbler, and Eastern Meadowlark are fairly common. Breeding populations of Upland Sandpiper and Short-eared Owls have been documented