Reason for a Change-Mitch’s Blog

I was on Lake Monroe on Sunday, far back in the islands area north of Pine Grove in Jojo’s canoe. As we quietly moved towards flooded woods, I realized he was heading right towards a beaver lodge.

Coming back from our bike ride on Bottom Rd on Saturday last, Jojo and I spotted a snow goose grazing with some Canada geese in the field across from the water treatment plant. I checked with Dawn Hewitt at the HT, and she reported that Bloomington birders Jim Mitchell, Dave Crouch, and James Dodd saw the same individual at Griffey Lake. I understand that they are pretty rare in this part of the world at this time of year, normally snow geese are in Canada by now.

The squirrels in Dunn’s Woods are a happy bunch, but they must be very wary of the Cooper’s hawks in spring and early summer. But with so many people around, there is always something to eat, and all the squirrels look healthy.

I’ve counted and mapped all the nests in the woods, and at the beginning of this spring, there were over 30 nests visible. But I don’t think they are all inhabited, there seem to be no more than a dozen squirrels active in the woods. This guy is relaxing near Bryan Hall where someone threw down some cracked corn.

I was walking around last week when I thought to stop by last year’s hawk next in the woods, I thought I heard a hawklike squawk, then saw one fly into an upper branch about a hundred feet from the nest. This week I saw a pair, I am pretty sure the bigger one is the female, and she flew onto a branch with the male, and proceeded to eat what looked like a small mammal, while he kept watch.

Then today I saw what appears a new nest a few hundred yards from the bigger original, and I’ve seen the mom sitting on the nest, and the dad swooping down from the incredibly high beech tree and fly through the woods. If I stand on one of the pathways for a while, I am able to spot one of them, often after hearing them call. In a few weeks, the babies will be calling for food all day long, that is how I spotted them last year, and I will be keeping a close eye on their growth.

Two weekends ago, Jojo and I saw a courting display by hawks on the ridge overlooking Lake Lemon, and the week before I saw the same at Dubois Ridge Rd.

After lunch most days, I take a walk around the woods behind Bryan Hall, and I’ve become friends with some of the squirrels that live there. When I called this one, he scampered up a tree as soon as I gave him a piece of caramel popcorn), then sat on the shelf mushroom room while chowing down on his treat.

Last spring I noticed the family of Cooper’s Hawks in the woods, and even though they have long since moved out, their next became visible after the leaves fell. This nest is really different than the many squirrel nests in the forest, it is made entirely of sticks and is about twice the size of the squirrels’ leafy bowers. The snow scenes are from the Dec 15th snow in the woods.

Eileen and I had breakfast at Roots, it was packed and we had to sit at the juice bar to eat. Russel bent our ears for a while, but he had his chef’s coat on, and had to get to the kitchen.

We went to Griffey and walked up and back the north fork of the creek, avoiding the climb up the ridge, as we weren’t really sure where we were going, but we walked about 2 miles or so. I put an album of photos on here.

There was a great crop of mushrooms in the yard at the corner of Ballantine and Hunter, and our maple tree finally turned colors in the last week of October. Speaking of fall, here is a recent gallery of pictures featuring the leaves in Salt Creek Valley, Oct 29, 2007.

After a late breakfast, Eileen and I went out to Griffy Lake and rented a canoe, cheap at $5/hour. The lake is down and shallow at the east end. We paddled along the south shore, trying to stay in the shade where possible, and we pulled into the first little bay to find a turtle basking on a log. As we move along the shoreline, we came upon a several great blue herons, and what I assume was a green heron, its neck was short and Eileen saw its blue/green back feathers, plus it was right by the waterside. We also saw a kingfisher, and I am sure I heard a Cooper’s Hawk calling from the southern hills.

On our way back we came upon a heron on a branch, he took off as we came close, but then we came around a corner into a bay, and there was another heron fishing. We stopped paddling, and then the other heron came winging in from the south, squacking at the other heron, landing right there, then then both took off.

As we were leaving we saw this cool picture that represents the various watersheds in Monroe County.

There is a family of hawks living in the woods behind Bryan Hall on campus, the 2 juvenilles have been calling for a couple of weeks. They fly from branch to branch and tree to trees. I watch seen parents fly in, and once saw one feeding on a limb. Today I was following them around trying to shoot a picture when I heard a swooshing and turned to see an adult hit the bricks in a flurry of feathers, and then take off. David, and IT guy at Chemistry was sitting on the observatory steps and saw the whole thing as the hawk came hurtling through the bushes to grab an unwary cardinal.

There has been a marked decline in rodent population in the “fertile crescent”, which is normally filled with rabbits, chipmunks, and other rodents. The birds are much quiter too, maybe because of the constant calling of the juvenilles.

My problem was identification, by the juvenille call I first heard, I thought a red-shouldered hawk. Then I heard the adults sounding like red-tailed hawks, but the the juvenille tail feathers were white striped! I at first guessed Sharp-shinned, and a guy from Sweden I met in the woods thought maybe Cooper’s Hawk, but I just didn’t have enough experience to tell. I wrote to Dawn Hewitt at the HT, and she felt pretty sure it was a Cooper’s Hawk, as they have been known to nest in the area in years past.

Next day:
They seem to be gone, not calling in the trees.

Eileen and I went to Chicago for the 4th of July week, a bookend sort of time with Deb and Johnandrew’s wedding in Lafayette at the beginning and out neice Jessica’s Shower at the other end. We like to drive slow on the non-interstate roads, and so drove to Spencer and up SR 231 to Lafayette. The wedding was in an historic building amid other old buildings, Layfayette is obviously older than Bloomington, at least in the houses that have survived. We stayed the night, and headed towards Chicago by going east into Illinois and the Kankakee river. There are two roads that run parallel to the river into the city of Kankakee. On the north side are entrances to various parts of the state park, while on the south side are parking lots with access for fisherman and hunters. We took this southern road and pulled over to enjoy the cooling river current.

We found these butterflies were interested in the gravel that lead to the river, they just keep landing and spreading their wings in the sunlight.