Beverlybaynes
Mod Squad
I went on an Audubon field trip on Saturday, March 29, to Steuben County, Indiana, which is the northeastern-most county of all. It was a leaden gray, windy day (of course, the sun finally came out while eating an early supper once back in town) and pretty cold -- we even had an occasional snow flurry.
We zipped up the interstate to Fremont (it's about 45-50 miles) and started (after an obligatory stop at the McDonald's along the tollroad) at a place called Cedar Swamp, where I had never been before. It's a DNR property that encompasses two COMPLETELY UNDEVELOPED marshy lakes -- something very rare in this part of the world! And they were both ice-free.
We saw plenty of ducks, some mergansers and a few grebes on both lakes, and even picked up about dozen Sandhill Cranes on the lake furthest back. We could hear more cranes (they have nested here the last few years) but only saw the dozen. The wind was brisk and gusty enough that most everything else was in hiding, staying warm.
After a trip back to McDonald's for lunch, we cruised both Clear Lake and Lake James, two of the largest lakes in the area, both pretty heavily developed, snaking down small lanes for glimpses of water between tightly-packed lake houses. This is really 'Lake Country' for Indiana -- there are 101 lakes just in Steuben County, and many, many wetlands.
After our last stop along Lake James, our caravan of three cars split up -- one went on over to a fish and wildlife area called Pigeon River about another 30 miles west. My car and another went to the other side of Lake James to one of the jewels of the Indiana state park system -- Pokagon, where we spent some time checking out the feeders at the nature center and tracking down a lone Fox Sparrow at a site back in the campground -- making friends with a couple from Dayton, OH who had camped there for several days, putting up at least 6 different feeders, including suet, and smearing peanut butter on a couple of nearby snags.
In all, we totalled over 50 species -- not bad for a blustery March day in northern Indiana!! I missed the Eastern Meadowlark that others got, but scored an Eastern Bluebird that several missed.
Here's the list for the day (*means first for the year for me):
Common Loon
Pied-Billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck*
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck*
Mallard
Blue-Winged Teal
Green-Winged Teal
Ring-Necked Duck
Scaup sp.
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Red-Tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Ring-Billed Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Golden-Crowned Kinglet*
American Robin
Eastern Bluebird
European Starling
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow*
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-Winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-Headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
What a GOOD day!!
:t:
We zipped up the interstate to Fremont (it's about 45-50 miles) and started (after an obligatory stop at the McDonald's along the tollroad) at a place called Cedar Swamp, where I had never been before. It's a DNR property that encompasses two COMPLETELY UNDEVELOPED marshy lakes -- something very rare in this part of the world! And they were both ice-free.
We saw plenty of ducks, some mergansers and a few grebes on both lakes, and even picked up about dozen Sandhill Cranes on the lake furthest back. We could hear more cranes (they have nested here the last few years) but only saw the dozen. The wind was brisk and gusty enough that most everything else was in hiding, staying warm.
After a trip back to McDonald's for lunch, we cruised both Clear Lake and Lake James, two of the largest lakes in the area, both pretty heavily developed, snaking down small lanes for glimpses of water between tightly-packed lake houses. This is really 'Lake Country' for Indiana -- there are 101 lakes just in Steuben County, and many, many wetlands.
After our last stop along Lake James, our caravan of three cars split up -- one went on over to a fish and wildlife area called Pigeon River about another 30 miles west. My car and another went to the other side of Lake James to one of the jewels of the Indiana state park system -- Pokagon, where we spent some time checking out the feeders at the nature center and tracking down a lone Fox Sparrow at a site back in the campground -- making friends with a couple from Dayton, OH who had camped there for several days, putting up at least 6 different feeders, including suet, and smearing peanut butter on a couple of nearby snags.
In all, we totalled over 50 species -- not bad for a blustery March day in northern Indiana!! I missed the Eastern Meadowlark that others got, but scored an Eastern Bluebird that several missed.
Here's the list for the day (*means first for the year for me):
Common Loon
Pied-Billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck*
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck*
Mallard
Blue-Winged Teal
Green-Winged Teal
Ring-Necked Duck
Scaup sp.
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Red-Tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Ring-Billed Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Golden-Crowned Kinglet*
American Robin
Eastern Bluebird
European Starling
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow*
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-Winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-Headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
What a GOOD day!!
:t:
