Beverlybaynes
Tuesday 14th January 2003, 00:07
I spent yesterday birding in Steuben and DeKalb counties in northeasternmost Indiana. This trip is an annual foray we call the Raptor Cruise, and we go looking for wintering raptors, and anything else we can find.
The day started dark and very, very cold in a parking lot in Fort Wayne. It was 15 degrees as 4 of us had our ritual Krispy Kremes (still warm!), loaded all our gear into my car and headed north at 7:45a. We had expected others, but they didn't show.
Our drive up was greeted by a spectacular sunrise, the eastern sky awash in neon-coral. We were even treated to that cool thing you see occasionally, where one beam of sunlight will pierce the clouds and send a very obvious beacon of color straight into the heavens. Looked like a kleig light. How does that happen, anyway? Once the sunrise was over, the sky remained cloudy in all directions.
It was so cold the birds chose to stay in and sleep late, apparently. We saw nary but Starlings and sundry sparrows on our 40-odd-mile drive to our first stop, near Hamilton in SE Steuben County. Long-Eared Owls (a target for me) had been reliably reported in a stand of pines along the road just outside town, so we stopped and scanned for 10-15 minutes, creeping along the shoulder, but came up empty-handed. Not even whitewash. We did get our first Red-Tailed Hawk of the day at the location, tho.
We drove on east and south. This part of Steuben has fairly extensive grasslands (pretty rare in these parts), so we were looking for Harriers and anything else we could find. A light snow started falling. We were finding only an American Kestrel or two, and just a couple of Horned Larks, and a very odd-looking goose (do Greylags and Muscovy Ducks interbreed?) in a barnyard. It was really quiet.
We were soon joined by another car of three others who had planned to meet us up there -- gotta love those hand-held Motorola radios for making contact! The temps had risen just a bit, so we started getting a couple more Kestrels and some Cardinals.
Just before lunch in Angola, the clouds started to break, and we traveled one stretch of road that gave us another red-tail, some Downy Woodpeckers and some Eastern Bluebirds. We found another Kestrel a little further down that conveniently posed in a treetop so we could scope him. It was a lifer for one of the women in the second car -- and who ever gets tired to a close look at a beautiful male Kestrel?
Lunch was at Bob Evans in Angola, and we were joined by still one more person, who had overslept but still wanted to come along. One person left my car and joined her, and we were now a 3-car caravan.
(As an aside to the male vs. female ratio in birding, at this point we were 6 women, 3 cars, 2 men and 1 very-well-behaved dog named Patches.)
The sky had cleared over lunch, so we headed out to Hamilton for the owls again. We were encouraged by cawing crows as we pulled up on the shoulder, but 8 pairs of binos still couldn't find 'em.
We moved on to find some open water. Steuben county is known for its 101 lakes (and many more ponds and wetlands), but with the cold we were surprised to find quite a bit of open water on Hamilton Lake. It held 50-odd Canada Geese. We moved on to smaller, but far less developed Ball Lake, which was about 95% open. Mallards and Canadas again, on the water, but Dark-Eyed Juncos, White-Throated Sparrows, Tufted Titmouse, White-Breasted Nuthatch and Cardinals all were found near the public access area.
The bright sunshine was bringing more birds out, but we were still finding mostly just Kestrels and Red-Tails.
One car left us after a potty break in Edon, OH (no publics in Hamilton with the convenience store closed for rebuilding, darn it!) and we wandered southward for a grassland area in SE DeKalb County that's reliable for Northern Harriers and Short-Eared Owls. We got our first couple of Harriers while still in Ohio.
At our arrival in the DeKalb grasslands area, we found another group that had driven out to meet us (3 more women). The cold was kicking up again and it was bitterly cold, with the temps falling as the sun started to set. Up pulled two more vehicles (2 men and 3 women; this is a fairly well-known area so cars along the road here is a common occurence). We saw a couple of harriers, and a single Short-Ear made a very brief appearance that only a couple of people caught. I wasn't one of them, but I've gotten the owls out here on several occasions. At this point, I was much more interested in being in the car and staying warm. The wind was bitter!
With night upon us, we drove the last 20 miles back to the parking lot, and then home.
I don't have my copy of the trip list yet, but I know we counted 22 species for the day, including 16 red-tails and 13 kestrels ('way down from last year's nearly 30 red-tails). I was hoping for the Long-Ears and Snow Buntings, but struck out on both counts. Kept hoping to be surprised by a Snowy Owl (great habitat and not unknown in winter here), but no.
My carload of folks did lay plans for trip next month to Muskegon, Michigan, and its wastewater treatment plant. Bald and Golden Eagles and Snowy Owls (among other things) are being seen there, and an internet birding acquaintance has offered to show us around. Muskegon is right on Lake Michigan, with a large bay of its own where the Muskegon River enters the lake, so it should provide some nice birds. Just hope the weather cooperates (OK, the cold and wind off the lake is a given), as it's several hours away.
By the way, this trip was Sunday, January 12, 7:30a to 6:45p. And we logged about 160 miles along the way.
The day started dark and very, very cold in a parking lot in Fort Wayne. It was 15 degrees as 4 of us had our ritual Krispy Kremes (still warm!), loaded all our gear into my car and headed north at 7:45a. We had expected others, but they didn't show.
Our drive up was greeted by a spectacular sunrise, the eastern sky awash in neon-coral. We were even treated to that cool thing you see occasionally, where one beam of sunlight will pierce the clouds and send a very obvious beacon of color straight into the heavens. Looked like a kleig light. How does that happen, anyway? Once the sunrise was over, the sky remained cloudy in all directions.
It was so cold the birds chose to stay in and sleep late, apparently. We saw nary but Starlings and sundry sparrows on our 40-odd-mile drive to our first stop, near Hamilton in SE Steuben County. Long-Eared Owls (a target for me) had been reliably reported in a stand of pines along the road just outside town, so we stopped and scanned for 10-15 minutes, creeping along the shoulder, but came up empty-handed. Not even whitewash. We did get our first Red-Tailed Hawk of the day at the location, tho.
We drove on east and south. This part of Steuben has fairly extensive grasslands (pretty rare in these parts), so we were looking for Harriers and anything else we could find. A light snow started falling. We were finding only an American Kestrel or two, and just a couple of Horned Larks, and a very odd-looking goose (do Greylags and Muscovy Ducks interbreed?) in a barnyard. It was really quiet.
We were soon joined by another car of three others who had planned to meet us up there -- gotta love those hand-held Motorola radios for making contact! The temps had risen just a bit, so we started getting a couple more Kestrels and some Cardinals.
Just before lunch in Angola, the clouds started to break, and we traveled one stretch of road that gave us another red-tail, some Downy Woodpeckers and some Eastern Bluebirds. We found another Kestrel a little further down that conveniently posed in a treetop so we could scope him. It was a lifer for one of the women in the second car -- and who ever gets tired to a close look at a beautiful male Kestrel?
Lunch was at Bob Evans in Angola, and we were joined by still one more person, who had overslept but still wanted to come along. One person left my car and joined her, and we were now a 3-car caravan.
(As an aside to the male vs. female ratio in birding, at this point we were 6 women, 3 cars, 2 men and 1 very-well-behaved dog named Patches.)
The sky had cleared over lunch, so we headed out to Hamilton for the owls again. We were encouraged by cawing crows as we pulled up on the shoulder, but 8 pairs of binos still couldn't find 'em.
We moved on to find some open water. Steuben county is known for its 101 lakes (and many more ponds and wetlands), but with the cold we were surprised to find quite a bit of open water on Hamilton Lake. It held 50-odd Canada Geese. We moved on to smaller, but far less developed Ball Lake, which was about 95% open. Mallards and Canadas again, on the water, but Dark-Eyed Juncos, White-Throated Sparrows, Tufted Titmouse, White-Breasted Nuthatch and Cardinals all were found near the public access area.
The bright sunshine was bringing more birds out, but we were still finding mostly just Kestrels and Red-Tails.
One car left us after a potty break in Edon, OH (no publics in Hamilton with the convenience store closed for rebuilding, darn it!) and we wandered southward for a grassland area in SE DeKalb County that's reliable for Northern Harriers and Short-Eared Owls. We got our first couple of Harriers while still in Ohio.
At our arrival in the DeKalb grasslands area, we found another group that had driven out to meet us (3 more women). The cold was kicking up again and it was bitterly cold, with the temps falling as the sun started to set. Up pulled two more vehicles (2 men and 3 women; this is a fairly well-known area so cars along the road here is a common occurence). We saw a couple of harriers, and a single Short-Ear made a very brief appearance that only a couple of people caught. I wasn't one of them, but I've gotten the owls out here on several occasions. At this point, I was much more interested in being in the car and staying warm. The wind was bitter!
With night upon us, we drove the last 20 miles back to the parking lot, and then home.
I don't have my copy of the trip list yet, but I know we counted 22 species for the day, including 16 red-tails and 13 kestrels ('way down from last year's nearly 30 red-tails). I was hoping for the Long-Ears and Snow Buntings, but struck out on both counts. Kept hoping to be surprised by a Snowy Owl (great habitat and not unknown in winter here), but no.
My carload of folks did lay plans for trip next month to Muskegon, Michigan, and its wastewater treatment plant. Bald and Golden Eagles and Snowy Owls (among other things) are being seen there, and an internet birding acquaintance has offered to show us around. Muskegon is right on Lake Michigan, with a large bay of its own where the Muskegon River enters the lake, so it should provide some nice birds. Just hope the weather cooperates (OK, the cold and wind off the lake is a given), as it's several hours away.
By the way, this trip was Sunday, January 12, 7:30a to 6:45p. And we logged about 160 miles along the way.