The Red-shouldered is a forest hawk, smaller than the Red tailed hawk but larger than the Cooper’s. Find a bottomland forest with an open understory, near water, and there you may see them. Fortunately their habitat needs are a perfect match for this little forest, so the noisy calls of at least one resident pair can be heard throughout the year. And they’re successfully raising young too – yesterday I was lucky enough to see this young Red-shouldered hawk apparently off fending for itself. Read More

Now that some rain has come, I have time to write about the lack of it. Instead of endlessly hauling jugs of water by wheelbarrow, up and down the trail to stressed plantings. Those of you living in dry and drought prone places are used to this, but here in the humid state of Kentucky, the hottest and driest September on record was tough. Particularly following the longest wettest period anyone can remember, during which we planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs. Like a stock market afflicted with irrational exuberance, it felt like the party would never end… Read More

If I ever start a band, that could be our name. And we’ll climb over every obstacle to reach the top, ’cause that’s what P-berry does. But of course we couldn’t do it without the Edge, and the legions of unwitting fans who enable our success. If any of this makes sense to you, then you already know Porcelainberry, Ampelopsis brevipedunculata – that urban scourge of a grapevine with the crazy colored berries. Read More

Another summer’s worth of images are piling up, and as usual I can’t work the best of them into just one blog post. Besides, no matter what story line I come up with, sometimes the best story is just a picture. So here goes – the summer of 2019 in one little forest – the visual edition.  Read More

Why is Adam Haas so happy? He’s just found his first transmitter-equipped Box turtle, and it wasn’t easy! The IU Southeast student works at a wildlife rehab center in Indiana, and is one of two “turtle trackers” you may see in the forest this summer. Adam and fellow tracker Nolan Sawtelle are assisting their professor, Dr Omar Attum, in a radio telemetry study of female Box turtles – the first ever at Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve. Read More

And it’s tomorrow! And it’s free! (Sorry about the short notice).

If you’ve been enjoying all the pics of butterflies on flowers, come out and see the real ones. Hummingbirds are here too, in the Jewelweed. Hope you can join us!

This is my front yard…

This is what’s happening in my front yard…

Some people say all this vegetation growing freely in my front yard makes the place look like it’s abandoned, like nobody lives here – I beg to differ!

Check out the new video from my friends Richard and Jody at the Beargrass Thunder show (featuring me, with a short cameo appearance by Squawk the Caique parrot).

https://www.beargrassthunder.com/post/growing-wild-with-rosemary-bauman

And while you’re at it, check out all their other great videos:

https://www.beargrassthunder.com/

For as long as I can remember, the unknown leggy bush sat in the swamp near the trail, languishing in the shade of a giant ash tree. Though I didn’t recognize it, I never bothered to figure out what it was since it had few leaves and no flowers. In the sunnier parts of the swamp, Lizard’s tail bloomed so profusely it was easy to ignore the bush. But then things changed… Read More

She saw me but she didn’t care. Like much of the forest’s wildlife, this urban bird had apparently decided I was no big threat. Among the dangers she confronts as a large visible fowl, in the city hunting is not one of them. So she could afford to relax a little. From the excellent vantage point of her log, she allowed me to watch her daily grooming ritual – the preen. Read More

It’s a first! The first ever video featuring Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve and  oneforestfragment, is now on the Beargrass Thunder show.

     https://www.beargrassthunder.com/

          Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve: An Epic journey

Thanks to my new friends Jody Dahmer and Richard Stottman, I agreed to do an interview style video about the forest, little realizing what this meant. Though I’ve taken great care to keep myself out of the limelight, the opportunity to share what’s been happening in our “urban wild” was not to be missed. There are two videos – a short one  that introduces the work of the Forest Stewards, and a longer one about the preserve.

Richard and Jody are working to revive an area along the South Fork in Beuchel, and have recently created the podcast to highlight environmental and nature related issues in particular. I hope you’ll check out all their great videos, and subscribe to the show.