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Special Birding Programs
-- Posted by tfairweather on Thursday, March 11 2010
OUTSTANDING SPEAKER SERIES
The Black River Audubon Society and Lorain County Metro Parks are proud to sponsor the “Outstanding Speaker Series” held at the Carlisle Visitor Center on March 13 and April 10. This series features two renowned naturalists who share a passion for birds and the out-of-doors. Both events are free, but seating is limited.
Letters from Eden by Julie Zickefoose
March 13, 7pm
Julie Zickefoose is a natural history writer, artist, lecturer, and NPR commentator. Educated at Harvard University in biology and art, Julie began her career with the Nature Conservancy as a field biologist before becoming a freelance artist. Her illustrations and writings have appeared in The New Yorker, Smithsonian, Country Journal, and Bird Watchers’ Digest.
Letters from Eden is a naturalist's journal, telling the countless small stories of the woods and meadows in flowing prose and lively watercolors. This book strikes a powerful chord with readers, evoking the seasonal rhythms and an awareness of natural events. Reading from her essays while showing her paintings and photographs, Julie reveals the deep connection with nature that keeps her walking her 80-acre Appalachian sanctuary outside Whipple, Ohio. [Copies of Letters from Eden will be available for purchase afterwards.]
Roger Tory Peterson: Yesterday and Today by Jim Berry
April 10, 2pm
Jim Berry, a field naturalist who grew up in Southern Ohio, turned his passion for natural history into a lifelong career. Earning a degree in Interpretive Work from The Ohio State University, Jim worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, serving as the director of the Hueston Woods State Park Nature Center, and later became the first park manager of Malabar Farm. He is currently the President of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History located in Jamestown, New York, the hometown of this famed naturalist.
Roger Tory Peterson was perhaps the greatest birder/naturalist of all time. His Field Guide to Birds, first published in 1934, is credited with launching the modern environmental movement and with moving bird study out of the shotgun era. Jim Berry traces the influence of this great American and demonstrates Roger Tory Peterson's impact on today's thoroughly modern birder.
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Red-winged black birds
-- Posted by tfairweather on Wednesday, March 10 2010
While many regard the American Robin as the harbinger of spring, the Red-winged Blackbird(RWB) is a more accurate indicator of the season.
RWB are back in full force at Sandy Ridge. The males familiar "Conk-la-ree" song can be heard from sun-up to sunset. They typically set up high in a tree and display their wing epaulettes, while the females skulk in the grasses and cattails below.
RWB are polygynous: males commonly mate with 2 to 4 females and can have as many as 15 mates. Nests are made of grass, and are usually attached to cattails, bulrushes, or other emergent vegetation close to the water. The female incubates 3 to 4 eggs for 11 to 13 days. She broods the young and brings them food. The male may help feed young at the nest of his primary mate, but additional mates do not generally get help from the male. The young leave the nest 11 to 14 days after hatching but stay on the territory for another two weeks. The female (and occasionally the male) feeds the young while they are on the territory and for up to three more weeks after they leave the nesting territory.
RWB are highly territorial of their nests and they don't care about the size of the "intruder". I've seen them chase off geeses, ducks, sandhill cranes, redtailed hawks, and bald eagles. I witnessed an unfortunate deer amble too close to a nest. A male RWB landed on its head and started hammering away. You could hear the pecking sound! (On a personal note, I know how that feels as I was attacked by a pair of RWB on a golf course. Luckily, I had a hat on).
So the next time your out in the parks, listen for the RWB. You know that spring is on the way!
Tim Fairweather
Park Manager/Senior Naturalist
Sandy Ridge Reservation
Lorain County Metro Parks
440-327-3626
owls and eagles
-- Posted by tfairweather on Wednesday, February 24 2010
It's nesting season now for owls and eagles. In years past, we've been lucky here at Sandy Ridge to be able to view both nesting Great Horned Owls and Bald Eagles.
Great Horned Owl (GHO)
As many as three active GHO nests have been observed here in one season, 2008. That is a very high density of owls for 100 acres of woods. The key to that success, and the owls tolerance for each other, is most likely the abundance of food available in the meadow, marsh, and woods at Sandy Ridge. GHO feed on a variety of animals from rodents to reptiles to other birds. We haven't located any nesting pair in 2010 at this time. We see the owls and hear them, but they don't seem to be using the nests from last year.
Bald Eagle
A pair of Bald Eagles have been nesting here for over 8 years now. They've built 2 nests; using the current location the last five years. Unfortunately last year the nest was unsuccessful. Soon after the eaglets hatched, the "mother" eagle was attacked by another female eagle and never returned to the nest(she later died). The "father" eagle tried to take care of the young by himself, but couldn't keep them warm and go get food at the same time, so the eaglets perished. The male soon after hooked up with another female(presumably the one that killed his former mate)and they appear to be egg sitting as of today. So if all goes well, in 30-some days we'll have eaglets.
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