On April 16th, 14 birders joined Laurie Voss, ABAS Recording Secretary and field trip leader, for a morning of birding at the “Burn”. Our primary target bird was the Smith’s Longspurs that are attracted to this location due the presence of foxtail, a weedy grass which disperses bristled seeds, that the birds eat.
On April 20th, 2022, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) announced it would be suspending the balloon release indefinitely. For the past 2 years, IMS has not done the balloon release due to COVID and reduced guest capacity. In 2020, a coalition of environmental organizations across Indiana, including ABAS, reached out to IMS to see if we could support environmental sustainability initiatives at the track. The balloon release tradition was a low-hanging fruit that the coalition desperately wanted to end.
Birders of all skill levels can participate in National Audubon Society's Climate Watch program. From May 15 to June 15 you can help gather information on specific species that will be accumulated and used by scientists to see how climate is affecting the birds. It's a small commitment and the benefits to the birds could be significant.
At 9:00 am on Saturday, April 9, 2022, 16 volunteers from ABAS, Indiana Wildlife Federation (IWF), and Teter Retreat and Organic Farm met to conduct a bird count on the property. The retreat and farm consist of 120 acres and is an outreach mission of the Noblesville First United Methodist Church. Much of the 40 varieties of mixed vegetables grown go to local food pantries, food banks, and feeding programs.
Lights Out Indy (LOI) is ready to kick off our 2022 season. Looking to build on the success of 2021. What made 2021 such a great year? LOI reached out to the City-County Council of Indianapolis and Marion County to support our initiative. We are pleased to announce that 16 members of that legislative body agreed to support LOI. This was followed by major downtown buildings agreeing to participate in turning lights out during migration.
On March 5th, 36 birders gathered for the annual Woodcock Walk at West Park in Carmel. Promptly at 7:00 pm we began hearing “peenting” sounds coming from multiple American Woodcocks. We soon saw their amazing and unusual aerial displays directly above us. The wonderful displays went on for approximately 30 minutes. In all, we counted five American Woodcocks displaying.
Timber Doodle. Labrador Twister. Mud Snipe. Bog Sucker. No matter what you call it, the American Woodcock is such an anomaly in the bird world. But, they are so much fun to find, listen to, and watch during their springtime aerial sky dance.
February 19 a caravan formed to visit four Carmel-Clay parks. Nine birders joined leader Chuck Anderson at 9:00 am at Flowing Well Park, the starting point of the planned Great Backyard Bird Count Caravan.
Welcome to our first featured article. This month we have a submission from Jessica Helmbold, the ABAS Education Chair. This was originally going to be our February program at Holliday. Unfortunately, we canceled that gathering due to COVID concerns. However, Jessica has shared a portion of what she was going to tell us about birds and their association with Valentine's Day. Click Read More or the title to see the full article.
Nine birders gathered at Washington Park in Michigan City at 8:00 am local time on January 8. The temp was in the mid-teens and a strong wind was out of the southeast, but at least we didn’t get sandblasted. All were greeted by Eric and Tina Rosier, the field trip leaders.