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!
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.
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.
As we race toward the summer solstice, life is busy in this little fragment. Though I keep planning to work on the next epic blog post, my images are documenting lots of (seemingly) little stuff. How to tie it all together? It occurred to me recently, the role of the forest stewards is akin to that of a financial planner – helping this forest “grow” its biological assets (pun intended). From what I’ve been seeing lately, we’re doing a decent job of it. Our client is working much harder though – survival is a great motivator. Read More
This is not my picture, but I was this close to a wild turkey today. I didn’t have a choice in the matter, since she burst out of the trailside undergrowth and confronted me. Apparently I had once again come too close to her chicks – if indeed this is the same momma turkey whose nest I stumbled upon two weeks ago, and who I startled with her chicks in a heavy rain last week. She had every right to be upset with me for the repeated disturbances, and it showed. Unnerved by her flapping and clucking and the look in her beady eye, I backed up but did not flee. She slowly retreated up the hill, and positioned herself atop a tall stump where she could see my every move. Read More
It’s shaping up to be a very busy summer in the forest for this blogger, which helps explain the scarcity of posts lately. So much going on, and so little time to write about it! But I can’t resist sharing yesterday’s birdy encounters, as well as the fact that my life is increasingly dominated by birds (more on that below).
Sweat bee, that is. As a kid that’s what we called them, for their habit of landing on a sweaty arm to get salt. We thought they would sting us, and the females can if riled up. Little did I know they were just one of 4000 species of bees native to North America. But Augochlora pura, the Pure Green Sweat Bee, has to be one of the loveliest of the bunch – and it’s common in this forest. Read More
