Size: 304.04 acres
Established: 2016 & 2023
Donor: Cheryl Barendregt
Status: Open to the Public
Protection: Donated & Purchased
Photo by David Wake
Background:
Hawk Cliff Woods is a stunning nature reserve fronting on Lake Erie near Port Stanley. Birders, nature lovers, and banders have been visiting this area for generations. As early as 1950, naturalists from London, Port Stanley, and St. Thomas organized public hawk-viewing weekends at Hawk Cliff, beginning a tradition of public education and awareness that continues to this day. Hawk Cliff has become internationally known as a “Hawkwatch” site and is world renowned as an observation point for over 20 birds of prey, a place for hawk banding and as a site to see migrating songbirds and Monarch butterflies.
Description:
The woodland here is one of the most significant deep interior forests in Elgin County. In the Maple-Beech forest, you will find Carolinian specialties, including the Tulip-tree and Shagbark Hickory as well as the Endangered Butternut and American Chestnut. Rare birds such as Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Wood Thrush thrive in the deep woods. There are multiple, separate meadows within Hawk Cliff Woods that host a variety of pollinators and meadow-specific plants, such as Skyblue Aster, Fox Sedge, and Big Bluestem. Hawk Cliff Woods has numerous plants and wildlife species that are designated as species at risk.
Hawk Cliff Woods has two trails open to the public. To know more about these trails, click here.
