Pioneer Night lights

Several families recently joined us at the Log House at Shawnee Prairie Preserve for our Pioneer Nightlights program. This evening was filled with lots of information about how our pioneer ancestors created their own “night lights”. Early settlers used a lot of candles and had to make their own. (During the program participates spent time making beeswax candles.)

In the 18^th century only the wealthiest individuals and churches could afford beeswax candles. Most families made their candles from tallow, which was made by rendering animal fat. While tallow candles burn they have a burnt hamberger odor and produce most soot than beeswax.

For more information on upcoming events please continue to follow our programs offered visit our website at www.darkecountyparks.org or sign up to receive our Nature Notes Quartley newsletter.

Great Horned Owl Sighted

January 26th's Early Morning Discovery Hike was W...I..N..D...Y and COLD. We had temps in the high teens and a steady wind of at least 20mph with much higher gusts, so needless to say, we high-tailed it into the shelter of the woods for the duration of our morning hike!

With cold temps and windy conditions, we didn't expect to see much in the way of birds as they would most likely be hanging out somewhere trying to stay warm and not blowing away. For the most part, our guess was correct, we had very few species on our hike, but we did have one amazing sighting that made up for the cold and the wind... a wonderful look at a Great Horned Owl!! This magnificent owl played hard to get at first, but after some patience on our part, we lucked out and it flew towards us, perched on an exposed branch, gave us a piercing look and then silently flew off deeper into the woods. Wow.

Needless to say, throughout the rest of the hike we spoke of the possibility of the seeing the owl again and the chance that he/she may be nesting in this woods. Generally usurping previous Red-tailed Hawk or Crow nests, Great Horned Owls will nest very early in the season (they are on the nest early as late January, brrrr) and are able to keep the eggs a comfy 98 degrees, even in subzero weather! It is not uncommon to see incubating female covered in snow while on the nest. While we didn't see it again during the hike, it was re-spotting Wednesday morning and we are hopeful that in the coming weeks we might find more evidence of our 'resident' owl!

That's all for this week's report. Stay warm and we hope to see YOU in the Parks soon!

**NewsFlash**

Volunteer Workshop

Saturday, Jan. 30, 10am

-or-

Saturday, Feb. 6, 3pm

All current volunteers or anyone interested in spending some volunteer time with Darke County Parks, please call the Nature Center (937.548.0165) and let us know what day you can attend. We'll spend the time with some general refresher courses, learn some of the new methods of doing things around the Parks and more! Please try to attend one of the workshop dates regardless of how much or little time you have to volunteer with us. Oh, did I mention there would be home-made chili afterwards??!

**NewsFlash**

Location: DCP - Shawnee Prairie Preserve
Observation date: 1/26/10
Number of species: 16

Canada Goose 10
Great Horned Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 2
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
European Starling 1
American Tree Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 7
Northern Cardinal 20
House Finch 8
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Spring Gardening Workshop 2010

The ground is frozen, Christmas is over and the New Year has begun. Why not think ahead to spring? Shake of those winter blues by joining Darke County Parks for the Spring Gardening Workshop. Sponsored by the Olde Thyme Gardeners, the annual event takes place on Saturday, February 20 from 9am-4pm at Shawnee Prairie Preserve Nature Center.

The theme of this year’s event is Art in the Garden! We are so excited to welcome, Teresa Muterspaw of Meadowview Growers as she will be sharing techniques on how to incorporate art into your garden; Janese Spencer of Spencer Landscaping will offer tips on landscape planning; Gina Miller of Miller Flowers will be showcasing their wonderful talent for turning an ordinary planter into an extraordinary piece of art and finally Steve Blessing from Green Vista Water Gardens will present the basics of installing a water garden into your backyard!

Greenville Art Guild has promised to bring a display of garden themed art work to enhance our lovely event. Each participant will also be creating a piece of art to take home and proudly display in their own garden!

Pre-registration is required and there is a fee of $25, which covers material costs and lunch. For more information or to register, please call 937-548-0165 or visit our website at www.darkecountyparks.org. The Nature Center is located at 4267 State Route 502 Greenville, Ohio.

Project FeederWatch 2009-2010!

It's on!

Project FeederWatch has begun for the 2009-2010 season and after just one day of counting, Darke County Parks has already logged 18 species and more than 60 individuals at our feeders!

Project FeederWatch is a citizen science program managed by Cornell University in which they study the winter populations of feeder-birds across the US. This is a great program that allows anyone who is interested in birds to spend a few minutes a day watching birds and helping scientists!

Feel free to join us each and every Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:30-11:30am at the Nature Center as we sharpen your birding skills while enjoying some fresh coffee, snacks and plenty of birds!

Fall Colors are Popping!

The autumn colors are at peak at Shawnee Prairie Preserve. With the rain today, many have fallen, but many more are still providing simply stunning displays of colors.

NOW is the time to take a quick hike and see this in person. So, without further delay, grab your camera, grab friends/family and head on out to your favorite Darke County Park!

Golden-red Sugar Maple Leaves

Blazing red-orange Oak Leaves

Views of the Log House

Come on now... shut down that computer and get to a Park. =)

Just a few upcoming programs to remind you about:

Habitat Healing with the Junior Naturalists

Saturday, Oct. 24th, 1-3:30pm

Do you know a 10-12 year old that loves the outdoors? Does he or she spend time wandering your woods or exploring your backyard? If you know a little nature lover, then Darke County Parks has a great opportunity available. Junior Naturalists is a series of monthly programs designed to give children a hands-on introduction to natural resource management.

Pre-register your child today for October’s Junior Naturalist program. Join us, Saturday October 24 from 1-3:30pm. The focus this month is “Habitat Healers”. The participants will learn about invasive plants and then head outside to do some habitat healing. Under Naturalist direction and supervision, the children will be removing plants that are not native to Ohio and clear a path for native plants to thrive. A materials fee of $4 is charged for each program and pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, contact Darke County Parks at 937-548-0165.

Park Explorations

Saturday, Nov. 7th 10a-4p

Grab a seat in the ‘great white van’ and let’s hit the trails. Darke County Parks invites you to join Naturalists for an Exploration of the Parks on Saturday November 7 from 10am-4pm. We’ll start at Shawnee Prairie Preserve and tour the county stopping at every Darke County Park along the way. Wear comfortable hiking shoes, bring a sack lunch, your camera and water; it’s going to be a busy and exciting day spent in the out of doors! Pre-registration is required as seating is limited. For more information or to register contact Darke County Parks at 937-548-0165

The Fungus Among Us

Feel like a fall walk in the woods? Look forward to joining Darke County Parks Naturalists for a Fungus Hike at Routzong Preserve on Thursday October 8 at 5:30pm. We will scour the trails at Routzong in search of fall mushrooms dotting the woodland floor. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungus and can be colorful and quite beautiful to identify. From sponges to gills, mushrooms are as fascinating as their names imply! Routzong Preserve is located on Routzong Road east of Greenville. For more information, please contact Darke County Parks at 937-548-0165.