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May 2007
> Bird Hike, EcoLab
5/24/2007, 8 p.m.
St. Francis Colonnade
> Bird Hike, EcoLab
5/26/2007, 8 a.m.
St. Francis Colonnade
> Bird Hike, EcoLab
5/31/2007, 8 a.m.
St. Francis Colonnade
>
View the monthly EcoLab calendar
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Knox Middle School
27 students
7th and 8th grade
Class - Native/Non-Native Species
Service Project: planting
Center for Inquiry
at IPS School 2
40 students
7th and 8th grade
Class - Native/Non-Native Species
Service Project: planting
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Mourning Warbler
May 10, 2007
Blackburnian Warbler
May 10, 2007
Ovenbird
May 10, 2007
Wood Thrush
May 10, 2007
Baltimore Oriole
May 10, 2007
Canada Warbler
May 17, 2007
Wilson's Warbler
May 17, 2007
Northern Waterthrush
May 17, 2007
Chestnut-sided Warbler
May 17, 2007
Solitary Sandpiper
May 17, 2007
Magnolia Warbler
May 17, 2007
Green Heron
May 17, 2007
Black-throated Green Warbler
May 17, 2007
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The beaver are building a new lodge on the east side of the peninsula on the north shore of the main pond.
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:: Note from the Director
 Team EcoLab Turns in 126 Species in 17 Hours for Birdathon
For Team EcoLab, the Annual Amos W. Butler Audubon Birdathon started at just after 4 a.m., May 14 in Starkey Park in Zionsville, Indiana where a group of Barred Owls hooted and cackled in response to a taped call—species one for the day. The EcoLab team, consisting of Dr. David Benson, Gordon Chastain, James Cole, and Marian College students Leigha Ridenour and Jessica Bassett officially met at the EcoLab at 6 a.m. We were met there by a film crew from WFYI who followed us for the next seven hours. It was like being on a reality TV program! They were in our faces or behind our backs with cameras rolling the ENTIRE time—even in the car! There is probably hours of footage of me staring vacantly up at a tree. And I got the pleasure of being "mic'd up" the whole time-every word I said might become part of this program. Yikes! I wonder what I said. This is guaranteed to make good television. Read the complete story.
Dr. David Benson, Marian College EcoLab director |
:: Natural History
You may have noticed lots of large black bags placed around the EcoLab. You might think by the smell of the contents that we are making a huge batch of pesto. But, no; these bags are filled with garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), a highly invasive wildflower that loves lowland forest. Each year volunteers and EcoLab staff work hard to remove every last individual in order to stop the spread of this noxious weed. If you see some along the trail, don't pull it unless you have something to put it in. Even after pulling, seeds will reach maturity and be viable. By pulling garlic mustard and leaving it on a trail, you may inadvertently spread the seed on the bottom of the shoes of the next hiker who happens along. It's scary stuff! |
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:: Cultural History
Jens Jensen, the 1912 designer of the "Riverdale" estate—now part of the EcoLab, often would divide his design into a more formal area near the estate and a less formal, more naturalistic portion. The EcoLab contains the more naturalistic Jensen planting. A portion of the more formal gardens can be found in the area of the St. Francis Colonnade, just west of Allison Mansion. If you look south of the colonnade you will see a circle of bricks. This circle is the outer boundary of a circular garden that contained a variety of flowers, grasses, and shrubs ringed by paths and surrounding a fountain.
On June 8 and 9, from 9 a.m. - noon, the Friends of Riverdale will be restoring this garden. Please join them for a fun time gardening followed by a tour of the estate. Refreshments will be provided and bring your own garden tools if you have them. Contact Deb Lawrence with questions.
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:: Environmental Education
Several school groups have recently visited the EcoLab to learn about wetlands, beaver, and native plants. Most groups this spring have also learned about native plants "hands-on" by helping us with the installation of plants in the main pond or in the area just east of Crooked Creek. The planting of emergents (plants that "emerge" from the water) will help encourage breeding and migrating rails, a secretive wetland bird species that need vegetative cover along the banks of ponds and lakes. According to James Cole, the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area coordinator for Indiana, who works in cooperation with Marian College, planting emergent vegetation along the banks of the EcoLab ponds also will enhance the habitat for transient American Bitterns and increase recruitment of American Woodcock, Willow Flycatcher, Blue-winged Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, and Common Yellowthroat. These plants were purchased with a generous grant from the Amos W. Butler Audubon Society Birdathon.
Other school groups have helped plant native prairie wildflowers and grasses in the area just east of Crooked Creek. In this area we are restoring a turf grass field with scattered trees to a more habitat-friendly savannah. About 3,500 prairie wildflowers and grasses have been installed so far. The area has been seeded with prairie plants and later this fall small trees and shrubs will be installed. The restoration will provide good habitat for American Kestrel, Great Horned Owl (who nested in the area this year), and Red-headed Woodpeckers, a rarity in central Indiana. It is also a location that periodically floods. The new native grasses and forbs will slow the water's return to the river and keep larger floods from occurring further downstream. Funding for this project is thanks to Veolia Water.
Your class or group can participate in these and other projects as well. Check out our web site for information about field trips and to sign-up online at http://wetland.marian.edu. |
:: Volunteer News
Ecological Restoration
Thank you to the over 40 people of all ages volunteered to help at our April Volunteer Conservation Work Day! We planted 1,800 wetland plants in the margins of the main pond. Watch for them as they mature. This planting was funded by the Amos W. Butler Audubon Society Birdathon. Remember that the third Saturday of each month is a Volunteer Conservation Work Day starting at 9 a.m. at the St. Francis Colonnade. We will be planting emergents to provide habitat for secretive water birds in the north beaver pond later on this summer. Join us!
 The Marian College football team participated in a major planting project in April. The project involved expanding the prairie planting on the north shore of the main pond bordering the football practice field. This area provides important habitat for various sparrows, Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds, and actually helps reduce the number of Canada Geese using the pond and field. It's a wet prairie, so it holds water following a rain and therefore helps reduce flooding. Because it borders the football practice field, the football players (43 of them and their coach) volunteered to do the entire 2000 plant installation. The area has also been seeded with medium stature prairie plants. Veolia Water funded this planting project.
Citizen Science
Weekly bird surveys and hikes are conducted on Thursdays and Saturdays at 8 a.m., or you can contact James Cole, Indiana's Important Bird Areas coordinator, for more information.
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:: News from our Partners
Life Science Education Center at Marian College
Ben Davies, a 2007 graduate of Marian College's elementary education program has been hired by the LSEC at Marian College to work with Michelle Priddy as a science education specialist. Ben will provide programming in the EcoLab, teach science via interactive video conferencing, and work with teachers and students at the Marian College Summer Science Camps. Welcome, Ben!
For more information about LSEC, check out our web site at www.lifescienceed.org.
Amos W. Butler Audubon Society
Field Trip: Kankakee Sands Project (Newton County)
Sunday, June 3, 6 a.m.
To carpool, meet at the large truck stop/restaurant on the western intersection of I-65 and State Road 334 (Boone County) or 8 a.m. (EST) near the first stop of our itinerary—the Kankakee Sands headquarters. Leader: James Cole. Join us for the chapter's annual trip to see nesting grassland birds at this Important Bird Area. In the past three years, groups have thrilled to the sight of Upland Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope, Sedge Wren, Henslow's Sparrow, and Dickcissel. For more information e-mail James Cole or call 317.569.0546.
Field Trip: Big Walnut Nature Preserve (Putnam County)
Saturday, June 16, 6 a.m.
Meet at the main parking lot of Marian College at 6 a.m. to carpool. Big Walnut comprises some of the last old-growth woods remaining in the central till plain of Indiana. It is a beautiful setting in which to appreciate what the landscape in that region looked like long ago. We'll visit several spots in the nature preserve to enjoy the sights and sounds of such interior forest dwellers as Cerulean Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager. For more information e-mail James Cole or call 317.569.0546.
Indiana Important Bird Areas program
This May, an additional 14 sites, including Eagle Creek Park, were identified as Important Bird Areas in Indiana. With these combined 40 Important Bird Areas, nearly 1,000,000 acres of habitat in the state have been identified as crucial for the conservation of bird populations. The Indiana Important Bird Areas technical committee hopes to reconvene during the spring of 2008 to evaluate an additional 10 nominations. For a detailed write-up on each individual Important Bird Area in Indiana see: http://iba.audubon.org/iba/stateIndex.do?state=US-IN.
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