The Hawk Trail

The opening of our Hawk Trail is the culmination of an AFFORRESTATION project that began in 2012. That year we dedicated five acres of land to return it to its ancestral native habitat. Over seven thousand tress have been planted and an acre size of wetland was built that year.

This project is now open to our guests to walk the 1.5 kilometer trail, and explore the trees, plants, wildflowers, animals and birds that now live on our property with us.

The project was undertaken with funding from Ducks Unlimited, and in partnership with the Essex Regional Conservation Authority (ERCA).

We have seen eighteen species of animals and wildlife, over fifty different birds, protected by numerous native Carolinian trees and dozens of native wildflowers, plants, and bushes.

Some of the things you might see on The Hawk Trail...

Birds

American Goldfinch
American Robin
Bald Eagle
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Belted Kingfisher
Blue Jay
Brown Headed Cowbird
Canada Goose
Cape May Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Cooper's Hawk
Eastern Wood-Pewee
European Starling
Great Blue Heron
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Harrier
House Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Killdeer
Marsh Wren
Mourning Dove
Mud Swallow
Nashville Warbler
Northern Flicker
Northern Mockingbird
Purple Martin
Red Tail Hawk
Red-Eyed Vireo
Red-Winged Blackbird
Ring Neck Pheasant
Ruby-Crowed Kinglet
Sharp Shimmed Hawk
Song Sparrow
Turkey Vulture
Warbling Vireo
Wild Turkey
Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Animals

Beaver
Cotton Tail Rabbit
Coyote
Field Mice
Fox Snake
Fox
Frog
Garter Snake
Ground Hog
Jack Rabbit
Mole
Muskrat
Raccoon
Skunk
Toad
Turtle
Vole
White Tailed Deer

Trees

Canifer
Red Cedar

Maple
Maple Silver x Red
Maple Sugar

Oak
Oak Red
Oak Pin
Oak White
Oak Swamp White
Oak Bur

Harwoods
Black Cherry
Black Walnut
Sycamore
Tulip Tree
Willow spp.
American Elm
American Beech
Choke Cherry
Eastern Cottonwood
Hackberry

Hickory
Hickory Bitternut
Hickory Shagbark

Shrub
Nannyberry
American Elderberry
Button Bush
Silky Dogwood
Red Osier Dogwood
Serviceberry

Come explore at your leisure. Enjoy the beauty and peace of nature. Feel the connection to what this land was almost two hundred years ago.

Then relax at the Vines Restaurant and Patio. Enjoy a glass or flight of wine. Take home some bottles of wine grown on this property.

Feel at one with Mother Nature.