Earth Day Indiana 2010

We spoke with many members and friends at Earth Day Indiana on Saturday, April 24. This was the 40th Earth Day celebration and number 20 for Indiana. The event was held at a new venue - White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis. Earth Day Indiana will be held at the same site through at least 2013. Several thousand people - and hundreds of dogs - attended the wonderful event. More than 130 exhibitors were present. There was something for everyone. Amos W. Butler Audubon provided pop-up binoculars at our booth. They were extremely popular! We also led a bird walk at 2pm and saw a number of species including a Canada Goose sitting on nest and atop several goslings, Northern Rough-winged Swallows at a nest cavity in the concrete retaining wall along the White River, Double-crested Cormorant, and a brief glimpse of a Red-tailed Hawk that is nesting at IUPUI. Earth Day Indiana 2010 was a wonderful event. Thanks to all who stopped by and said hello. We will be at the Hoosier Outdoor Experience on September 18-19 at Fort Harrison State Park. Stop by to get your pop-up binoculars!

A Woodcock in the Freezer

"Why do you have dead birds in your freezer?", asked my son's friend after he had reached into a popsicle box and pulled out a dead bird in a Ziploc bag rather than the icy treat he was after. I don't recall my response, other than I spared him a lengthy explanation. Neither he nor my son expressed disgust about the 125 or more dead birds in the freezer in late fall 2009. They were just after icees, popsicles, fudge bars, and other cool treats. Most of the birds were stored in plastic bags. Some were loose and some were in the popsicle box.

All of those birds were donated to the Indiana State Museum or other entities by year-end as required. Now, a new year has begun and I have my first dead bird of 2010 in the freezer. It's an American Woodcock. It's quite beautiful and will make a good taxidermy mount for a local nature center. It, like the other birds that make their way to my freezer, is from the Lights Out Indy program. In 2009, volunteers with Lights Out Indy located a total of 526 dead and injured birds in Indianapolis, most downtown. The majority of the birds were dead and were salvaged so they could be used for mounts and study skins. Lights Out Indy will be out monitoring during the spring migration, salvaging dead birds that are found. Hopefully, the bird mortality will be reduced as participation in Lights Out Indy by building managers increases.

The American Woodcock in my freezer was killed at approximately 11am on March 22, 2010 after it flew into a window. No one saw the bird hit the glass but they heard it. They went outside to check on the bird. It was alive but quickly succumbed to the massive head trauma it sustained. It's a common story for those of us on the sidewalks monitoring for birding strikes. It's not pleasant but it is vital to the Lights Out Indy effort. The more we understand, the more we can do to mitigate the problem of bird strikes. We could use additional volunteers. If you are willing to help with monitoring, salvaging dead birds, or transporting injured birds to a rehabber, please drop me a line at dongorney AT yahoo.com. More information about Lights Out Indy is at www.lightsoutindy.org. Also, there will be a Lights Out Indy presentation at Holliday Park Nature Center, 6363 Spring Mill Road, Indianapolis, on Tuesday, April 13 at 7:30pm.

Finally, our new website!

It took awhile, but Amos W. Butler Audubon finally has a redesigned website. The site went live on March 31. Now that the site is up, comes the inevitable tweaks, additions, edits, etc. that will need to be done. We think it is a pretty cool website and hope you stop by and visit it at www.amosbutleraudubon.org.