LOOK UP …              the birds are coming

  By Bob Trace

Last year over 100,000 visitors traveled from around the world to observe the arrival of songbirds at Magee Marsh and the Ottawa Wildlife Refuge in Oak Harbor.  Point Place folks are lucky, they need go no further than Cullen Park and the Nautical Village pathway to witness the same arrival.  All you need is an inexpensive pair of binoculars a decent field guide and a natural curiosity of one of nature’s most amazing phenomena.

Point Place sits squarely in the middle of one of North America’s largest bird migration routes, the Great Mississippi Flyway.  Fully one-half of all of North America’s songbird species and over forty percent of all water birds use this great migration pathway.  Running from as far south as Patagonia at the southern tip of South America to as far north as the Artic Circle, this age-old corridor is once again prepared to accommodate the millions upon millions of seasonal travelers that will pass through the area over the next couple of months.  The largest concentration of songbirds (Northwest Ohio is known as the Warbler Capital of the World) is expected locally during the period of May 3-12 although these dates may change due to weather conditions. Waterfowl and raptors begin their northern migrations through the area around late February (ice permitting) and continue through April.  Because of our mild winter, the area has already seen the arrival of swans, common loons, egrets, herons and many species of ducks including the beautiful Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks.

 

So set aside a couple of hours, put on some comfortable shoes and a light jacket and enjoy one of Point Place’s best kept secrets … after all, we are the Best Place Anyplace.

 

 

March’s meeting will be all about Birding, primarily for us as a group, to learn what’s involved in birding.

The goal is to promote birding out here in Point Place including Nautical Village and Detwiller Marsh.

A lot has happened since the last meeting, come on down to the meeting let us share our good news!!

6:30 pm at the CrossPoint community Church!

Hope to see you at the meeting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 4th, we received the news that a grant that Visions of Cullen Park along with the City of Toledo, applied for was given to us by ODNR watercraft division!

The grant is for $850,000, which is for repaving the parking lot and changes in the launch/dock area. For more information and details of the grant, please plan on attending our next meeting, January 23rd, 2013.

This grant of $850,000 plus the grant to dredge the channel in 2o11 of $400,000 is a reflection of all the hard work and perseverance by the people from Visions of Cullen Park and City of Toledo, and show what can be accomplished in less than 3 years! The grants along with the “anchor”  and the “Entrance Way” projects this year, is showing the community that the “Diamond in the rough” is starting to give a glisten of sparkle!

 

Three men who didn’t want to be identified sit in Cullen Park overlooking the Maumee Bay in Point Place, as they do most afternoons when the weather is nice. ‘We’re just three friends discussing world problems on a beautiful afternoon,’ one said. From The Blade.

The plan was for the flag raising and dedication ceremony to start at 2pm Sunday. A few of us went there early to set up and get ready for people to arrive at the 2 o’clock start, but by 1:30, the Veterans and friends started trickling in, by 1:45  they were parking on the grass!

It was just over whelming and beyond our expectations as to the number of Veterans that attended, estimated at around 100. We had all 5 of the branches of service represented. The flag raising ceremony at Cullen Park was the continuation of the Veterans Day celebration, that Howard Pinkley had annually hosted in front of his flag shop on Summit St., with Howard’s passing in September.

The dedication part of this ceremony, was to dedicate the newly completed Cullen Park “Entrance Way” project that we took on a month ago. We worked with the City of Toledo Parks Division, to remove the no longer needed toll booth on august 31st., then beginning October 25th and complete on November 1st with the installation of the flag pole, all by Volunteers and donations. More information in post below.

Below is a YouTube video, shot by Eric Wildstein, of WNWO channel 24 of Toledo, Ohio.

Thank You Eric for documenting this historic and moving moment in time for everyone especially the community of Point Place to cherish for ever!

 

    On Veteran’s Day- Sunday, November 11^th, a ceremony will be held at 2:00 pm at the entrance to Cullen Park, to dedicate the new flag and to honor Veterans. The flag pole had been donated by Howard Pinkley a Veteran, to the Visions of Cullen Park group and the flag was donated by Howard’s daughter, Wendy. They have been placed at the entrance of the park where the former toll booth stood. The area was improved with plantings and nautical post with ropes, the bollards were donated by Ken Socie. This was totally a volunteer project by the members of Visions of Cullen Park and local Point Place/Shoreland community residents.

   Veterans are invited to attend along with the public who are encouraged to seek out veterans who may need a ride or assistance to attend.

  For further information, call Tom Stagner at 419-727-9001

The monthly meeting will include discussion  of the ” Entrance Way Project”, also discussion on future projects and suggestions.

Meeting starts at 6:30 pm, at the CrossPoint Community Church, and usually last for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the subject that is up for discussion.

 

 

 

 

 

We complete the revitalization of the entrance “Island” or formerly known as the toll booth stop and pay place on Thursday, with the installation of the flag pole !!

   The Entrance Way Project started back in august, by the City of Toledo removing the old and deteriorating blue toll booth. We then proceeded with a committee to come up with a design for that flat and barren concrete slab. We then brought the design to the attendees at the September and October  Visions of Cullen Park meetings. Approval of funds to be taken from our “Kroger funds” for the project, plus a few anonymous Point Place/Shoreland concerned citizens, have stepped forward with money to complete this project- thank you! The flag pole had been donated by Howard Pinkley back in June.

  We started Thursday morning (Oct. 25th), by renting a walk behind concrete saw at Home Depot. Volunteers Dave Zobler, Len Syreck and Bob Pulhuj, spent a long day cutting and loading 2  trailer loads, equaling about 2 tons of concrete, transporting it to a legal disposal site.

 

 Friday was another rental day, a trailer type post hole auger from Home Depot, to drill four 12″ diameter holes 42″ deep, for the 3 wood “dolphins” and a flag pole sleeve. There were a couple of surprises, first  was the all the sand and then “black gold” only 24″ down! Well the black gold quickly turned into black asphalt, the old original driveway to the park that was covered up when the park area raise to eliminate flooding back in the 1980’s. Again the volunteers, Gene Kidd, Lance, Hue, Dave Zobler and Bob Pulhuj worked through the Friday afternoon rain, mixing bags of cement for the flag pole and getting the wood post buried, so that the rain would wash the sand in around the post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday the 3 dolphins were finished and the plantings were put in place, along with a truck load of mulch was dropped off for us to rake in, donated by Jim Turski, of Point Place Lawn Care, that  put the “icing on the cake”, if you will, that made the area looked terrific, as if it had been there for years!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning the totally restored Bollard which was donated and installed by Ken Socie, along with the help of John Rudolph, Don Stader, Bob Pulhuj and Vee Stader. Rope was added to the dolphins and wrapped around the bollard show how it was used to tie ships to docks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday the flag pole was installed with the help of volunteers. It started by going to Howard Pinkley’s house and removing the flag pole out of the ground, that he had graciously donated.  Then there was the short trip down 131st and Summit street to Cullen Park, just over a mile. The volunteers installed new ropes and a battery powered solar light at the top, then in a matter of minutes the pole was uprighted and slid into the sleeve.

Project Complete!