The Leaflet, July - August 2003

In early June, I joined my friends from Connecticut, Carol and Linton, at the 2003 American Birding Association's (ABA) national meeting, held this year in Eugene, Oregon. The six-day conference offered birding workshops, field trips, optical equipment and tour company booths, and evening receptions. With few exceptions, the primary attraction was the field outings to coastal, montane, high desert and urban habitats, led by local and nationally known guides.

As in the past, I was struck by the number of birders at ABA who seemed to view bird watching as the outdoor equivalent of stamp collecting. I was taken aback by how many fellow birders seemed to have minimal involvement or even awareness of the intimate relationship between present and future avian health and environmental conservation and advocacy efforts. And this from people who spend substantial time in the field trying to "get" the next species on their life bird list.

Back in April, Ross Brittain, Susan Hengeveld and I made a presentation to the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) on the close relationship between environmental health and economic opportunity. Sassafras Audubon remains committed to environmental advocacy and conservation, here at home and with important national issues. These are my introductory comments to Ross' main presentation.

"Good morning. My name is Bob Kissel and I have been a small business owner since 1986. For the last two years I have been President of Sassafras Audubon Society. Sassafras would like to thank Linda Williamson and the BEDC for allowing us to share our thoughts about the relationship between environment and economics in this place we call home."

"Sassafras was first chartered as a chapter of the National Audubon Society in 1970. At present we have over 700 members in Monroe and surrounding counties. Sassafras Audubon members are factory workers, students, senior citizens, members of the IU community, parents, business owners and public employees. Across this diverse membership, we share an appreciation and a desire to understand the incredible biodiversity of our lakes and ponds, flora and fauna, and forest and fields in our community. Sassafras regularly sponsors field trips, educational programs, community outreach and field research projects such as the startup last fall of Indiana's first Northern Saw-whet Owl migratory banding station."

"As importantly, Sassafras contends that the protection and stewardship of our environment directly affects the quality of our everyday lives, the people who visit us and companies that choose to locate and do business here. I would like to introduce business owner and SAS' representative to the BEDC, Ross Brittain. Ross would like to share some information and his thoughts about the close relationship between quality of environment and business prospects."

We will have Ross' presentation for you in an upcoming issue.

In March of 1811, Daniel Sullivan, Deputy Surveyor for the General Land Office was subdividing Township 6 North of Range 7 West (now Stafford Township) in present day Greene County. As he traversed north between Sections 9 and 10 (what is now SR 59) he noted, "set quarter section post in marsh, no bearings (no bearing trees)". Further north on the same line he noted, "Between sections 3 and 4 not run. This line is all in marsh." Other section lines in the area read similarly. So goes what was probably the first encounter of a European with Goose Pond.

By an act of Congress on September 28, 1850, all swamp and overflowed lands within Indiana and other states were granted from the federal government to the state governments. This Act, known as the Swampbuster, was intended to encourage the states to drain and make suitable for agriculture all of those lands classified as too wet for agriculture in their natural condition. Not until after this act was passed did the lands encompassing Goose Pond and Beehunter Marsh get conveyed to private owners. Most of the other lands in the area were bought shortly after being surveyed.

In 1876, Baskin Forster & Co. of Chicago, IL, prepared atlases of all 92 counties in Indiana. The atlas for Greene County depicts a large wetland area in Stockton and Stafford Townships labeled "Goose Pond." There is another wetland area in Washington and Grant Townships that is unlabeled but represents the Beehunter Marsh. Apparently the Swampbuster Act hadn’t yet encouraged the drainage of these two wetlands. That would soon change.

Beginning in the late 1800’s, efforts began to channelize Black Creek within the Goose Pond area. In other words, it was converted into a drainage ditch. Other ditches were dug throughout the Goose Pond area and the Beehunter Marsh. These ditches facilitated quicker drainage of water through these wetland areas by straightening and shortening the natural drainage features. Thus altered, water flowed more quickly through the system and what once was wet now became, well let’s say, damp. In the 1900s, underground drainage tiles were added to most of these areas to speed the removal of subsurface water. With these last modifications, conventional farming was now seemingly possible.

Unfortunately for these farmers, you can fool Mother Nature some of the time but not all of the time. Even with the best drainage structures that money could buy, farming was still subject to the vagaries of the weather and especially precipitation. With nearly flat topography, water moves very slowly downstream, even in the drainage ditches and tiles. Often this fact meant that the fields were too wet to work in the spring. A succession of farmers discovered this fact the hard way, culminating with the Wilder Corporation who purchased the property in 1990.

Having a difficult time farming the property, Wilder sought in the mid 1990’s to sell to the State of Indiana who wanted to create a Fish and Wildlife Area on the site. This proposition met with some strong local opposition. The state subsequently decided to abandon their plans. Wilder then turned to the federal government and placed over 7100 acres of the Goose Pond and Beehunter Marsh areas in the WRP (Wetland Reserve Program) in January of 2000. The WRP program allows landowners to place their property into a permanent conservation easement, usually consisting of marginal or degraded farmlands. These lands are thus protected from development and are allowed to revert to their natural state or, as in the case of the Wilder property, restoration is undertaken to help the process.

Restoration work undertaken thus far has included the location and removal of portions of the drainage tiles (to stop the subsurface drainage), planting of trees and prairie plants and bulldozing shallow water impoundments of 30 to 100 acres. Future plans call for more of the same as well as diking some areas to create deeper water impoundments between 200 and 500 acres in size. While these once great wetlands will probably never revert to their historic splendor, at least we will get a glimpse of once was.

The 2003 Birdathon was, as always, a great time for those in the field. Nice weather made this a year to remember and six teams met the challenge of 24 hour birding in the Monroe County limits. On May 3, some species were late, some were early and there were many surprises when the lists were tallied on Sunday. Thanks to Henry Wahl, SAS once again enjoyed the use of the Woodcrest Apartments party room for the potluck and tally after the event.

The winning total went to the Fish and Wildlife Partners, made up of wildlife biologists from the DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offices in Bloomington. They received the prizes supplied by Wild Birds Unlimited for finding 132 species. A combination of all the lists results in a total of 161 species found in one day in the county.

A few highlights of the birds seen include a Black-Crowned Night-Heron at Blackwell Pond, a Greater Scaup, Soras, several species of shorebirds, Bonaparte's Gull, Common and Forster's Terns, Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos, two Chuck-Will's-Widows calling at Leonard Springs Park, all six woodpeckers found in the area, six flycatcher species, six vireo species, all six swallows found in the area, a Brown Creeper, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes, 33 species of warbler (despite the scarcity of migrants), Savannah, Grasshopper, and Henslow's Sparrows, Blue Grosbeak, Bobolinks at Upper Woodall Road, and a Rusty Blackbird.
A few extra t-shirts are available for sale. The dark blue shirts feature a design by artist Charlie Harper that was used as a poster for International Migratory Bird Day in 2002. Contact Cathy Meyer, cmeyer@co.monroe.in.us if you would like to purchase one for $15.

Thanks to those who donated pledges during the 2003 Birdathon: Joan ten Hoor, Mike Fulton, Jim and Susan Hengeveld, Jess Gwinn, George and Mary Allen, Mike Clarke, John and Kathleen Clarke, Ragland Binkley, Karen and Alan Blackledge, John Clarke, Glenna Clarke, and Steve Clarke. It's not too late to send your pledge to the SAS P.O. Box!

Next year's Birdathon will take place May 1. If you have missed out on the fun, start planning now to participate.

When my wife and I signed up for an April rental within the perimeter of an elite, 27-hole golf course in Tucson, I realized I would be spending many early mornings on the “links” walking our dog and bird watching. I saw it as a chance to become familiar with a few local birds rather than “list building.” As it turned out the grounds were elegant. They straddle the bone dry Cañada del Oro, which is filled mostly with desert broom. Bicycle paths along the banks are landscaped with orphaned “construction cacti”: chollas, barrel cacti, an occasional saguaro, a great variety of prickly pears with some in bloom, and Hummingbird-attracting Ocotilla. The manicured fairways wrap around complexes of condos and single family houses and had been planted in the early sixties with now mostly mature native and non-native evergreens and deciduous trees. Ten ponds and small lakes “beautify” the course. On the perimeter and between some of the fairways exist expanses of southeastern Arizona chaparral, consisting mostly of mesquite, Palo Verde and stray grasses. There appeared at first blush a variety of ecological niches that might provide good birding, and to a limited extent this was the case.

Common urban birds included versatile and entertaining Long-tailed Grackles, White-winged Doves, Cactus Wrens, Lesser Goldfinches, Gila Woodpeckers, Anna’s Hummingbirds and Curve-billed Thrashers. I studied with delight Cassin’s Flycatchers, Say’s Phoebe and the spectacular Vermillion Flycatcher snag their morning meals. I enjoyed watching parent Gambol Quails guide their jostling hatchlings, half the size of barnyard chicks. I watched for hours a pair of Red-tailed Hawks and witnessed a Cooper’s Hawk grab a harassing Mockingbird, drop it to the fairway and squeeze it to death. Roadrunners, Verdins, Yellow-rumped Warblers (both Audubon’s and Myrtles) were abundant as well as sequences of migrating flocks of White-crowned, Brewer’s and Lark Sparrows. Hares, jackrabbits and coyotes were everywhere. The latter often came in packs of 4-6 and every morning they left the remains of the former two, as well as Mourning Doves, on the fairways as mementos for the golfers. Javelinas were evident from footprints.

Nonetheless there was something disquieting about this golfing oasis. I should have seen more at migration time. There were few flowers and no feeders for the different needs of hummingbirds and orioles. The many ponds produced only a lonely Pied-billed Grebe, some Coots and Mallards, a one-day stand of 20 Ring-billed Ducks and a lone Snowy Egret. Only one of the ponds had cattails, while the rest had manicured banks of mowed grass. Except for grackles and starlings the fairways were green but boring. The cactus plantings were too sanitized to offer an inviting niche and the sand and stony-bottomed river with its monotonous thickets of desert broom sheltered only quails, Verdins, and Abert’s Towhee. While Tucson’s many golf courses are profligate in their use of the common aquifer, there is only a modest natural benefit to show for it, except for a lush urban desert landscape. Yet if golf courses did not exist, these acres might be more barren with housing developments and shopping malls. I concluded my monthly walks wishing that PGA quality golf courses hired staff biologists with an environmental perspective and executive authority.

In most personal hobbies, there are junctures at which a decision is made, willfully or at times unwittingly, to move to a higher level of commitment or to maintain/lessen one's involvement. Bird-watching is no different. All this and more became apparent in late May when I joined Jim and Susan Hengeveld in six days of searching for southeastern Arizona bird rarities. My prior trips to the high desert and mountains south of Tucson yielded most of the region's usual specialties. In pursuit of a rarity, the target species may be highly variable year to year, present only for the briefest time and often represented by a single individual. Such a search entails logistical planning, financial decisions, sleep deprivation, palpable anxiety and second-guessing and the possibility of tangible disappointment. But all that can evaporate instantly with a clear "life look" of your rare bird species.

Following lunch in the car, we headed east of Tucson to Reddington Pass in pursuit of our first rarity, Gray Vireo, a bird of semi-arid and mixed conifer hillsides. After four unsuccessful hours of being bounced around on this steep, rocky, and sun-crisped mountain road, we understood why Gray Vireo is rated "how lucky can you get" in Rick Taylor's bird-finding guide for southeast Arizona. After spending the night in a funky 1950's era A-frame motel in Oracle Junction, we left at dawn for famous Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains with hopes of seeing a single pair of Flame-colored Tanagers (FCTA).

With information from the AZ/NM bird list-server, we positioned ourselves under the Sycamore trees near the blue house of Madera Kubo rentals. Despite six hours of standing, craning upwards and trying to discern the song and calls of the FCTA from the more numerous Hepatic and Western Tanagers, we came away with a careful look at the more subdued female FCTA. The deep orange male FCTA was seen only briefly and sporadically by the crowd of birders gathered. Our consolation "prize" was the nightly ritual of a pair of Elf Owls from their telephone pole knothole roost. In a case of "that's how they get you," we returned early the next morning and were able to view the critical field marks of the very showy male FCTA within a mere 90 minutes.

Following a close encounter with a male Elegant Trogon during our leisurely hike up Madera Canyon, we made our most impulsive, plan-busting decision: drop everything and drive 350 miles to New Mexico for a chance to see an ultra-rare Thick-billed Parrot (TBPA). Not seen in the wild in the U.S. since 1938 (there had been an unsuccessful reintroduction program 1986-93 in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeast Arizona), this resident of north Mexico's mountain forests appeared on a ranch near Truth or Consequences. The 60 square-mile ranch in Engle, New Mexico is owned by Ted Turner, apparently an avid outdoorsman and conservationist. We arrived almost six road-weary hours later but were warmly welcomed by Armendariz Ranch managers Tom and Linda Waddell.

Some 200+ birders from over 20 states (we were the first from Indiana) had already checked this strikingly large forest green bird on their North American list. As is the case with such rare vagrants, the question remains as to whether this bird is wild, released, or an escapee. Discussion amongst birders and parrot experts, including Helen Snyder from the Arizona reintroduction program, was lively on the AZ/NM list-server. Regardless of the decision by the New Mexico rare birds committee, our trip for the TBPA was wearing, enjoyable visiting with the Waddells, and yet somehow unsettling in seeing this so out of place Parrot.

After dragging all the way back to SE Arizona, we were able to add the rarities of Buff-collared Nightjar near California Gulch, Lucifer and White-eared Hummingbirds in Sierra Vista area feeders, but missed Black-capped Gnatcatcher at Lake Patagonia. Our second venture to see the most rare Gnatcatcher was thwarted by someone who threw a rock through our rental car windshield at our motel in Nogales. While our Arizona trip was fabulously successful, I'm sure we'll return for another round of birding the "needle in the haystack."