Beverlybaynes
Mod Squad
Indiana is not a state most people would think of as a birding destination, but that's because they just don't know!!
Indiana is filled with some wonderful places where the birding can be just terrific.
To name just a few:
*Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, Seymour, IN and Big Oaks NWR, Madison, IN
*Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, IN
*Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Dunes State Park, in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties of NW Indiana, along the southernmost shore of Great Lake Michigan.
*Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, Medaryville, IN
Jasper-Pulaski in northwestern Indiana is probably the most well-known hotspot, and does provide the most spectacular wildlife viewing in the state. The property encompasses a marsh that migrating Sandhill Cranes use for stopovers in spring and autumn. In the fall, from late October to mid-November, tens of thousands of Sandhills can be seen there, dispersing in the morning to feed in the fields in the area, and regrouping for the evening, flying in by the thousands, to roost for the night. Spring brings smaller but still impressive numbers, and at this time of year, they are beginning their courtship rituals, so displays of dancing cranes are common.
And with the success of Operation Migration in the reintroduction of an eastern population of Whooping Cranes, Jasper-Pulaski will become a place to see this most endangered of birds. JP is a regular stopover for the ultra-light-led flights taking the birds south for the winter, and this spring, at least 5-7 birds were seen at JP on their way back north.
Muscatatuck NWR, in south central Indiana, is also a stopover for the Whooping Cranes. But in addition to that, Muscatatuck is also a delightful area of regenerating Indiana farmlands and river bottoms where warblering in the spring can be wonderful. There is a large herony in the closed wildfowl resting areas that has become the home to a pair of nesting Bald Eagles (two babies in 2003) in the past two years. The refuge is managed for waterfowl, and duck migration in the spring can be spectacular.
A unit of Muscatatuck to the southeast, near the Ohio River and the historic river town of Madison, is Big Oaks NWR, a new refuge made from the old Jefferson Proving Grounds. Wandering through the refuge is severly limited because of the huge amounts of unexploded munitions, but that is offset by thousands of acres of woodland and grassland that has remained more or less unmanaged since land purchase by the military began in the 1920s and 1930s. The largest contiguous grasslands in the state are found here, home to such specialities as Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrows and Bobolinks, among others.
The shores of Indiana's Inland Sea, Great Lake Michigan, can provide some of the most diverse birding in the state, and many rarities are found there. The Dunes are a highly unique ecosystem and pockets of the National Lakeshore can be found along the lakeshore from Chicago to Michigan. Dunes, bogs, swales, lakes, blow-outs, woods, fields, and more are all to be found among the highly industrial areas of steel mills, oil refineries and ports. And for those who want to spend a little time bird watching in a relatively controlled environment sitting down, watching the feeders from the nature center at Dunes State Park can be endlessly entertaining! Water's edge birding can be done with Indiana's only lighthouse in the background at Michigan City Harbor, at a migrant trap mere yards away from a riverboat casino at Hammond Marina, or at a beach at the southernmost tip of the lake (Miller Beach) with the towers of Chicago on the horizon.
There are many, many wonderful places in the Hoosier State to indulge in birding and lovely midwestern landscape.
A very thorough listing of birding sites has been developed and posted by the Indiana Audubon Society (unaffilitated with National Audubon) on their website. This birding site list is a wonderful way to start planning some birding in the Hoosier State!
www.indianaaudubon.org
Indiana is filled with some wonderful places where the birding can be just terrific.
To name just a few:
*Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, Seymour, IN and Big Oaks NWR, Madison, IN
*Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, IN
*Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Dunes State Park, in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties of NW Indiana, along the southernmost shore of Great Lake Michigan.
*Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, Medaryville, IN
Jasper-Pulaski in northwestern Indiana is probably the most well-known hotspot, and does provide the most spectacular wildlife viewing in the state. The property encompasses a marsh that migrating Sandhill Cranes use for stopovers in spring and autumn. In the fall, from late October to mid-November, tens of thousands of Sandhills can be seen there, dispersing in the morning to feed in the fields in the area, and regrouping for the evening, flying in by the thousands, to roost for the night. Spring brings smaller but still impressive numbers, and at this time of year, they are beginning their courtship rituals, so displays of dancing cranes are common.
And with the success of Operation Migration in the reintroduction of an eastern population of Whooping Cranes, Jasper-Pulaski will become a place to see this most endangered of birds. JP is a regular stopover for the ultra-light-led flights taking the birds south for the winter, and this spring, at least 5-7 birds were seen at JP on their way back north.
Muscatatuck NWR, in south central Indiana, is also a stopover for the Whooping Cranes. But in addition to that, Muscatatuck is also a delightful area of regenerating Indiana farmlands and river bottoms where warblering in the spring can be wonderful. There is a large herony in the closed wildfowl resting areas that has become the home to a pair of nesting Bald Eagles (two babies in 2003) in the past two years. The refuge is managed for waterfowl, and duck migration in the spring can be spectacular.
A unit of Muscatatuck to the southeast, near the Ohio River and the historic river town of Madison, is Big Oaks NWR, a new refuge made from the old Jefferson Proving Grounds. Wandering through the refuge is severly limited because of the huge amounts of unexploded munitions, but that is offset by thousands of acres of woodland and grassland that has remained more or less unmanaged since land purchase by the military began in the 1920s and 1930s. The largest contiguous grasslands in the state are found here, home to such specialities as Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrows and Bobolinks, among others.
The shores of Indiana's Inland Sea, Great Lake Michigan, can provide some of the most diverse birding in the state, and many rarities are found there. The Dunes are a highly unique ecosystem and pockets of the National Lakeshore can be found along the lakeshore from Chicago to Michigan. Dunes, bogs, swales, lakes, blow-outs, woods, fields, and more are all to be found among the highly industrial areas of steel mills, oil refineries and ports. And for those who want to spend a little time bird watching in a relatively controlled environment sitting down, watching the feeders from the nature center at Dunes State Park can be endlessly entertaining! Water's edge birding can be done with Indiana's only lighthouse in the background at Michigan City Harbor, at a migrant trap mere yards away from a riverboat casino at Hammond Marina, or at a beach at the southernmost tip of the lake (Miller Beach) with the towers of Chicago on the horizon.
There are many, many wonderful places in the Hoosier State to indulge in birding and lovely midwestern landscape.
A very thorough listing of birding sites has been developed and posted by the Indiana Audubon Society (unaffilitated with National Audubon) on their website. This birding site list is a wonderful way to start planning some birding in the Hoosier State!
www.indianaaudubon.org
