Birders Gather on a Great Morning for Bird Watching

with expert birder Joe Gyekis

Joe Gyekis led a group of 30 birders on a bright, crisp clear air morning. Joe, a skilled birder with long experience at ChicoryLane, guided guests on mowed trails along streams, beside pools, around wet meadows, not to mention through forests and overlooking grasslands. Especially pleasing were the soaring, kettling raptors high overhead. On the day, the group identified some 43 different species, both visually and by calls.

Pictured Below, Top Row L to R:

• Bald Eagle spotted above the upland meadow
• Great Blue Heron resting on a scrub pine
• Pair of Kestrels perched on their box
• Soaring Red-tailed Hawk

Pictured Below, Bottom Row L to R:

• The group crossing a footbridge behind the Calamus marsh
• Hosts Catherine & John always happy to give guests a ride
• The native grassland, great for spotting raptors
• Joe gathers the group at walk's end



Photos courtesy of Debra Rittelmann & Lauren Smith

If you missed this walk, Joe will be back on September 21 for a Fall Bird Walk, when we will be looking especially for fall migrants.

Preparing for a New Woodcock Grove

Woodcocks are favorites at ChicoryLane! We loved the old Aspen Grove, but it was showing its age and its large trees were beginning to lean and break. Reluctantly but with strong encouragement from our ecologist friends, we decided to cut it down and let it lay. We were assured that from the rotting debris a dense thicket of new growth would soon emerge, providing ideal habitat for our favored woodcock residents. We sure hope so. But for now, we watch and wait.

"Walking Willow" at ChicoryLane in Summer

ChicoryLane is an ecological reserve near Spring Mills, protected by a Conservation Easement held by Clearwater Conservancy. It is 68 acres of very diverse lands that we are actively enhancing ecologically. We hold outdoor events throughout the year.

The landscape is natural, but scenic. It includes wetlands and meadows, several streams, remnant and successional forests, and a grassland. This diversity of habitats is especially inviting to birds and butterflies. A system of mowed trails makes most of it accessible to walkers.

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