We will explore the beautiful grounds of this historic estate that is threatened with partial destruction by the Lower Merion School District to convert it to playing fields (see https://preserveoakwell.com and http://growoakwell.com and http://saveoakwell.org). It has a stand of very old trees, including some more than 150-200 years old, one of which is the champion Red Oak in Montgomery County. Its adjacent sister property, Stoneleigh Gardens, a Natural Lands Trust site, is an eBird hotspot https://ebird.org/hotspot/L5815063 (which Oakwell is not, since it is private property), and between it and Oakwell 115 species of birds have been documented (see eBird list for Stoneleigh above), including, most recently, Barred Owl and Raven.

If the weather agrees with us, we could get a nice showing of migrants, but be prepared for Warbler neck :), since many of the trees are quite high. Some of the areas can be wet, so wear appropriate shoes. Because this walk will be on Day 3 of the City Nature Challenge (https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/about ) we will also be using iNaturalist to document birds and other living things, so please *DOWNLOAD iNaturalist* before arriving. We will teach you how to use it, if you have never done so!

Park at Oakwell.

For questions, contact Gregg at HomoAves@gmail.com or Liz at elizabethporter111@mac.com