Beverlybaynes
Mod Squad
So, just where does a three-day holiday weekend fit in? I pick here, and hope it's OK.
My weekend was in flux, due to a family medical situation that I thought would require several visits to Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapois. But those visits didn't happen, and I took advantage of the time to bird as much over the Eastern weekend as I could. And I was fairly successful in covering several locations throughout Indiana in the process.
I started from home around noon on Good Friday, and headed south with Indianapolis as my intended destination. A cell call while still north of the capital freed me from that, so I headed on south to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge near Seymour, about 90 minutes south of Indianapolis, arriving about 3 p.m.
Muscatatuck is approximately 2700 acres of regenerating Indiana woods, river lowland and farmland that is managed primarily for waterfowl (they have the Wood Duck as the refuge logo). Much of the acreage is closed waterfowl resting areas that includes a huge heronry (that includes a Bald Eagle nest established in 2002). I drive the 5-miles 'auto tour' that runs through or past marshes, wetlands, wet woods, farmland cultivated for waterfowl feeding, grasslands, and lakes. Several trails are available, but I did no walking, except into the terrific little bookstore at the nature center. The day was gloomy, and the refuge was fairly quiet. I left about 6 p.m. and drove to my sister's for the night, about 20 miles north, just outside Columbus, IN.
I returned early Saturday morning, about 6:30 a.m. and birded until meeting my sister for breakfast at 10:30, at which time we drove to nursery and herb farm some distance away. After returning home for naps and dinner, my brother-in-law and I went to a nearby private area in search of a reported Woodcock, but were successful only in finding hoards of ticks.
I also managed to locate, southwest of Muscatatuck, the newly-developing wetlands where Whooping Cranes made a stopover on their way back north, about 2 weeks ago. The photos on the Operation Migration website of their stopover in "Windiana" are of this location.
Sunday morning, I went to Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, where a bird walk is conducted every week, regardless of weather. And today, at least half the walk was through woods in a downpour. It was my first visit there, and I was greeted by a Pileated Woodpecker flying past at eye-level. Eagle Creek began as land purchases for a private nature preserve by the Lilly family (as in Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant). The land was deeded to Purdue University, which in turn sold it to the city of Indianapolis for its parks department, and today it is ranked as the 4th largest urban park in the nation (completely within the city limits of Indianapolis).
The visit to Eagle Creek resulted in a marvelous lifer: RED-NECKED GREBE!! That's #199 on my life list and an exciting addition.
On the drive back to Fort Wayne, I stopped at a fairly new area called Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve, which is (oddly) part of the Indiana State Museum, rather than the Department of Natural Resources. That's because it's a redeveloped remnant of the fabled (and nearly completely lost) Limberlost Swamp, celebrated in the books by American (and Hoosier) nature writer Gene Stratton Porter. Her first home after marriage is in nearby Geneva, a state historical site, and this preserve is part of that, hence it's museum linkage.
This place holds a special draw for me, as I grew up in a small town just 7 miles south of there. It's inception/development is a very nice story, which I'll tell very briefly: A man whose farm overlooks the area decided at the age of 46 (about a decade or so ago) that he no longer wanted to wake up to milking cows every morning. He looked north to farmland he could see from his house that was unproductive and often underwater, knowing that it was once swamp. He started doing some research, started college classes in environmental science (Ball State University), and today now works for the state museum. He has -- very nearly single-handedly -- worked for the purchase of this land, interested others in what he was trying to do, spent (and is spending) untold hours in dredging up and removing old drainage tile, keeps things moving along, and so forth and so on.
He is, more or less, the steward of this land, which 'opened' as a dedicated preserve in 1996. He is an absolutely dedicated and delightful man who cares as much for this land as it is possible to do so. I have had the privilege to meet him on several occasions, and have heard his slide and talk presentations. He is an ordinary Jay County farmer who saw the need for resurrecting this land and did something miraculous about it.
I could go into lots more detail about these places (it was my first visit to Eagle Creek) and will in the future, as I visit these places again. But for now, I'll just list what all I saw over three days througout Indiana, covering an area that ranges about 200 miles north to south:
Muscatatuck NWR, Friday 4-18-03 and Saturday 4-19-03:
Eastern (Rufous-Sided) Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Canada Goose
Pied-Billed Grebe
Northern Cardinal
Blue Jay
American Coot
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Red-winged Blackbird
Tree Swallow
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Wood Duck
Northern Flicker
Turkey Vulture
American Robin
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Eastern Meadowlawk
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Brown Thrasher
American Goldfinch
E. Starling
American Crow
Henslow's Sparrow (heard only)
Double-Crested Cormorant
Northern Mockingbird
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
White-Breasted Nuthatch
White-throated Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
Carolina Chickadee
White-crowned Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
In addition, from Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, 4-20-03:
Pileated Woodpecker
Common Merganser
Red-necked Grebe (LIFER!)
Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Dark-eyed Junco
Tufted Titmouse
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
In addition, from Loblolly Marsh, Jay County, 4-20-03:
Great Egret
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Did I add Tree Swallows? Everywhere!!
Not to mention the several Red-tailed Hawks spied along the highways throughout the weekend. Not terribly numerous right now, as they are nesting.
One last note: from the refuge bookstore grapevine at Muscatatuck: Bald eaglets -- two of them! -- reportedly hatched on Good Friday. I haven't seen confirmation of this yet. And couldn't try to confirm myself, as the nest is located in the heronry in the closed areas.
*sigh* What a good weekend!!
My weekend was in flux, due to a family medical situation that I thought would require several visits to Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapois. But those visits didn't happen, and I took advantage of the time to bird as much over the Eastern weekend as I could. And I was fairly successful in covering several locations throughout Indiana in the process.
I started from home around noon on Good Friday, and headed south with Indianapolis as my intended destination. A cell call while still north of the capital freed me from that, so I headed on south to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge near Seymour, about 90 minutes south of Indianapolis, arriving about 3 p.m.
Muscatatuck is approximately 2700 acres of regenerating Indiana woods, river lowland and farmland that is managed primarily for waterfowl (they have the Wood Duck as the refuge logo). Much of the acreage is closed waterfowl resting areas that includes a huge heronry (that includes a Bald Eagle nest established in 2002). I drive the 5-miles 'auto tour' that runs through or past marshes, wetlands, wet woods, farmland cultivated for waterfowl feeding, grasslands, and lakes. Several trails are available, but I did no walking, except into the terrific little bookstore at the nature center. The day was gloomy, and the refuge was fairly quiet. I left about 6 p.m. and drove to my sister's for the night, about 20 miles north, just outside Columbus, IN.
I returned early Saturday morning, about 6:30 a.m. and birded until meeting my sister for breakfast at 10:30, at which time we drove to nursery and herb farm some distance away. After returning home for naps and dinner, my brother-in-law and I went to a nearby private area in search of a reported Woodcock, but were successful only in finding hoards of ticks.
I also managed to locate, southwest of Muscatatuck, the newly-developing wetlands where Whooping Cranes made a stopover on their way back north, about 2 weeks ago. The photos on the Operation Migration website of their stopover in "Windiana" are of this location.
Sunday morning, I went to Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, where a bird walk is conducted every week, regardless of weather. And today, at least half the walk was through woods in a downpour. It was my first visit there, and I was greeted by a Pileated Woodpecker flying past at eye-level. Eagle Creek began as land purchases for a private nature preserve by the Lilly family (as in Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant). The land was deeded to Purdue University, which in turn sold it to the city of Indianapolis for its parks department, and today it is ranked as the 4th largest urban park in the nation (completely within the city limits of Indianapolis).
The visit to Eagle Creek resulted in a marvelous lifer: RED-NECKED GREBE!! That's #199 on my life list and an exciting addition.
On the drive back to Fort Wayne, I stopped at a fairly new area called Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve, which is (oddly) part of the Indiana State Museum, rather than the Department of Natural Resources. That's because it's a redeveloped remnant of the fabled (and nearly completely lost) Limberlost Swamp, celebrated in the books by American (and Hoosier) nature writer Gene Stratton Porter. Her first home after marriage is in nearby Geneva, a state historical site, and this preserve is part of that, hence it's museum linkage.
This place holds a special draw for me, as I grew up in a small town just 7 miles south of there. It's inception/development is a very nice story, which I'll tell very briefly: A man whose farm overlooks the area decided at the age of 46 (about a decade or so ago) that he no longer wanted to wake up to milking cows every morning. He looked north to farmland he could see from his house that was unproductive and often underwater, knowing that it was once swamp. He started doing some research, started college classes in environmental science (Ball State University), and today now works for the state museum. He has -- very nearly single-handedly -- worked for the purchase of this land, interested others in what he was trying to do, spent (and is spending) untold hours in dredging up and removing old drainage tile, keeps things moving along, and so forth and so on.
He is, more or less, the steward of this land, which 'opened' as a dedicated preserve in 1996. He is an absolutely dedicated and delightful man who cares as much for this land as it is possible to do so. I have had the privilege to meet him on several occasions, and have heard his slide and talk presentations. He is an ordinary Jay County farmer who saw the need for resurrecting this land and did something miraculous about it.
I could go into lots more detail about these places (it was my first visit to Eagle Creek) and will in the future, as I visit these places again. But for now, I'll just list what all I saw over three days througout Indiana, covering an area that ranges about 200 miles north to south:
Muscatatuck NWR, Friday 4-18-03 and Saturday 4-19-03:
Eastern (Rufous-Sided) Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Canada Goose
Pied-Billed Grebe
Northern Cardinal
Blue Jay
American Coot
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Red-winged Blackbird
Tree Swallow
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Wood Duck
Northern Flicker
Turkey Vulture
American Robin
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Eastern Meadowlawk
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Brown Thrasher
American Goldfinch
E. Starling
American Crow
Henslow's Sparrow (heard only)
Double-Crested Cormorant
Northern Mockingbird
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
White-Breasted Nuthatch
White-throated Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
Carolina Chickadee
White-crowned Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
In addition, from Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, 4-20-03:
Pileated Woodpecker
Common Merganser
Red-necked Grebe (LIFER!)
Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Dark-eyed Junco
Tufted Titmouse
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
In addition, from Loblolly Marsh, Jay County, 4-20-03:
Great Egret
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Did I add Tree Swallows? Everywhere!!
Not to mention the several Red-tailed Hawks spied along the highways throughout the weekend. Not terribly numerous right now, as they are nesting.
One last note: from the refuge bookstore grapevine at Muscatatuck: Bald eaglets -- two of them! -- reportedly hatched on Good Friday. I haven't seen confirmation of this yet. And couldn't try to confirm myself, as the nest is located in the heronry in the closed areas.
*sigh* What a good weekend!!
