Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society members and friends visited the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cuyahoga Heights on Friday, July 31, 2009.

This was different from most of our field trips. We wore hard hats to see the process of cleaning sewage so that it can be returned to our waterways. The staff of the plant were very generous with their time and expertise. Wastewater treatment is a noisy, industrial and sometimes smelly process. Nevertheless in the space of 24 hours, an average of 125 million gallons of sewage are cleared of solids, digested by microorganisms, adjusted to a nearly-neutral pH, chlorinated to kill pathogens, and emptied as cleaned-up water into the Cuyahoga River.

18 observers
19 bird species.

Bird Species observed while on our tour:

Canada Goose
Green Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Willow Flycatcher
Barn Swallow
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow