PLANT SALE 2010

Darke County Parks' Annual

Native Plant Sale

SATURDAY, June 5th: 10am-4pm

The plants have arrived at Shawnee Prairie and are ready for their new homes... in your gardens! Native plants provide a nearly maintenance-free landscaping option that is full of color and offers crucial habitat for native wildlife. These plants (once established) are also pest and draught resistant... naturally! Increase the birds, butterflies, bees and many other fascinating creatures found in your yard by planting these native plants and grasses. Call the Nature Center at 937.548.0165 for more info.

This year's species list includes:

Butterfly weed

Sullivant milkweed

Foxglove beardtongue

Queen of the prairie

Sweet Joe pye weed

Bergamot

Yellow coneflower

Riddell's goldenrod

Cupplant

Prairie dock

Compass plant

Little bluestem

Big bluestem

Prairie blazing star

Cardinal flower

Leadplant

Blue false indigo

Purple prairie clover

Warblers!

Sorry for the long delay in posts... it's been a BUSY spring! On to the exciting news:

(http://www.ownbyphotography.com/traveldiaryp62.html)

WOW... just WOW.

This week's (May 18, 2010) Early Morning Discovery Hike broke all sorts of records. We broke the record for total number of bird species seen during our hikes; we broke the record for total number of warbler species seen; and we found a new species of plant we hadn't seen within the Parks before! What a morning...

(http://stokesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/wintry-nix.html)

We completed our extra-long hike this morning with a whopping 47(!) species of birds, 12 of which were warbler species. While this number was well over the previous record of species, it could have been even higher had we had more time to continue the hike as we barely made it into the woods for this week's hike! Had we ventured further into the woods and picked up many of the "usual" birds that are missing from this list, I'm certain we would have nearly reached 60 species of birds!

(http://www.ownbyphotography.com/traveldiaryp62.html)

The warblers are always a special treat for birders providing colors and challenge at the same time. The problem is that you never know when they will arrive and how long they will stick around for. Nearly all warblers pass through Ohio for only a brief time as they head north to the Boreal Forests for nesting, using our forests for rest and "re-fueling". Because of their need and desire to arrive at the breeding location as soon as possible to get the best site and food source, they tend to be "here today/gone tomorrow". All that being said, they were EVERYWHERE this Tuesday at Shawnee Prairie Preserve! We had many species (Blackpoll Warbler) that normally would just provide a fleeting glimpse sitting in plain view. Many of the more "quiet" species were belting out the tunes. It was the perfect storm for warbler-watching. A few of the favorite species seen include: Black-throated Blue Warbler; Ovenbird; Magnolia Warbler; Blackburnian Warbler; Bay-breasted Warbler; American Redstart and the Black-throated Green Warbler

(http://springvalleypark.org/html/birds.html)

In addition to the amazing birding, we also enjoyed some of the wildflowers blooming within the woods. We spotted several Waterleaf (northern or virginia) as well as Green Dragon in bloom. The best botanical find this morning though was the discovery of a "new to this park" plant, the Orange-fruited Horse Gentian! This intriguing plant has wonderfully reddish/purple flowers near the stem and so far is roughly 3' tall. Soon, the flowers will turn to a bright orange-colored fruit that will add a new element to enjoy this plant by! (like plants? check the reminder below...)

If you have some time this week, be sure to swing by your favorite Darke County Park and enjoy the abundant spring life that's out there!

Reminder:

Shawnee Prairie's Annual Plant Sale

Saturday, June 5th: 10am-4pm

We'll have 20 species of native plants for sale at the Nature Center to add a bit of "native" to your yard! Native plants are highly beneficial as they tend to require less watering (once established), have evolved to deal with the always-changing Ohio climate and provide excellent sources of food for wildlife! One day only, once they're gone, they're gone... so get here early!

Observation date: 5/18/10
Number of species: 47

Canada Goose 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Chimney Swift 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 5
Barn Swallow 1
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 1
Veery 2
Swainson's Thrush 2
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 4
Gray Catbird 2
European Starling 3
Nashville Warbler 2
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 4
Magnolia Warbler 5
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Blackburnian Warbler 3
Bay-breasted Warbler 3
Blackpoll Warbler 5
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 4
Ovenbird 3
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5
Indigo Bunting 4
Common Grackle 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Baltimore Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 2

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

Maple Sugarin' Time!

Join us March 6 & 7 for our annual Maple Sugain' on the Prairie event!

Starting bright and early Saturday morning at 7am, the Friends of the Darke County Parks will be hosting their fabulous Waffle Breakfast!

For a donation of $5/person, there will be waffles, sausage, juice, coffee and Ohio Maple Syrup a-plenty! For tickets, swing by the Nature Center, or get here early to buy them at the door. The breakfast will last from 7am-10:30am on Saturday ONLY.

Then, from 7:30am-4pm, join a Naturalist-led tour of our 'Sugar Bush Trail' as we learn the history and science of Maple Sugaring.

We'll travel through time and history discovering the origin of Maple Syrup, how we make it in our very own Sugar Shack and more! The Log House will be open and our pioneers will be busily preparing for spring and offering all visitors a sampling of early-spring foods. Be sure to visit the Gift Shop at the Nature Center for everything and anything Maple Syrup. We'll have maple-flavored dog bones for your pooch, maple candies for you, maple syrup for those waffles/pancakes at breakfast and Maple Peanut Brittle! These tours will also continue into Sunday from 12pm until 4pm.

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!