Evansville Audubon Society
Our Mission...
to promote the awareness, appreciation, and preservation of birds and other
wildlife and their habitats through education and conservation.
Copyright 2011 by Evansville Audubon Society
If you wish to participate in any of our bird counts, contact Carol Pettys at 867-6231
or pettys1234@aol.com
Great Backyard Bird Count
15th annual count takes place Feb. 17-20, 2012
May Day Bird Count
Christmas Bird Count
Vanderburgh count takes place Dec. 17th, 2011
Project Feederwatch
Great Backyard Bird Count
15th annual count takes place Feb. 17-20, 2012
May Day Bird Count
Christmas Bird Count
Vanderburgh count takes place Dec. 17th, 2011
Project Feederwatch
Web Sites for Indiana Birders
Well-connected Hoosier birders may want to bird from the warmth of their homes during the worst of winter's chill. Some of the following Web sites should provide a few hours of enjoyment, so cuddle up to your PC and check 'em out:
http://www.indianaaudubon.org/ takes you to Indiana Audubon's site where you'll find a delightful section titled "Indiana Online Birding Guide" that offers, among other things recent unusual Indiana bird sightings.
http://wesselmannaturesociety.org/society/index.php takes you to the webpage for Wesselman Woods Nature Society. Founded in 1973 for the purpose of protecting the nearly 200 acre tract in Evansville, Indiana now known as Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve. Today, the Society is responsible for the management and daily operations of Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, as well as the west side property the Howell Wetlands, and the newest venture, Canoe Evansville.
http://www.stevepancol.com/ is the Web address for Steve Pancol, a topnotch Indiana birder who has spent uncounted hours developing birding auto tours through many parts of Indiana. The site allows you print out directions for a given tour, you'll have great details to guide you through.
www.wbu.com/chipperwoods, Web site for the Chipper Woods Bird Observatory in Indianapolis, includes Indiana checklists for birds as well as other fauna and flora. The photo gallery is worth checking as are the details about their banding efforts. Good links, too.
http://www.indianabluebirdsociety.org/ is a new Web site for the Indiana Bluebird Society. The site includes good photos, research summaries, and links to many related sites.
http://www.soarinhawk.org/ gives details about the Soarin' Hawk Raptor Rehabilitation program based in ort Wayne. The site also supports a falcon photo cam.
Some additional links less specific to Indiana but great for general knowledge and information will help you hone your birding skills in preparation for spring.
www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/tools/duckdist/duckdist.htm takes you to the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center site where you can learn to identify ducks at a distance. It's their waterfowl identification guide.
www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/migratio/migratio.htm is another section of the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center site that tells you everything you could ever want to know about migration.
Well-connected Hoosier birders may want to bird from the warmth of their homes during the worst of winter's chill. Some of the following Web sites should provide a few hours of enjoyment, so cuddle up to your PC and check 'em out:
http://www.indianaaudubon.org/ takes you to Indiana Audubon's site where you'll find a delightful section titled "Indiana Online Birding Guide" that offers, among other things recent unusual Indiana bird sightings.
http://wesselmannaturesociety.org/society/index.php takes you to the webpage for Wesselman Woods Nature Society. Founded in 1973 for the purpose of protecting the nearly 200 acre tract in Evansville, Indiana now known as Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve. Today, the Society is responsible for the management and daily operations of Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, as well as the west side property the Howell Wetlands, and the newest venture, Canoe Evansville.
http://www.stevepancol.com/ is the Web address for Steve Pancol, a topnotch Indiana birder who has spent uncounted hours developing birding auto tours through many parts of Indiana. The site allows you print out directions for a given tour, you'll have great details to guide you through.
www.wbu.com/chipperwoods, Web site for the Chipper Woods Bird Observatory in Indianapolis, includes Indiana checklists for birds as well as other fauna and flora. The photo gallery is worth checking as are the details about their banding efforts. Good links, too.
http://www.indianabluebirdsociety.org/ is a new Web site for the Indiana Bluebird Society. The site includes good photos, research summaries, and links to many related sites.
http://www.soarinhawk.org/ gives details about the Soarin' Hawk Raptor Rehabilitation program based in ort Wayne. The site also supports a falcon photo cam.
Some additional links less specific to Indiana but great for general knowledge and information will help you hone your birding skills in preparation for spring.
www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/tools/duckdist/duckdist.htm takes you to the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center site where you can learn to identify ducks at a distance. It's their waterfowl identification guide.
www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/migratio/migratio.htm is another section of the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center site that tells you everything you could ever want to know about migration.
Birding Areas
Eagle Slough
As the saying goes, all of us together know more than any one of us alone. Special thanks goes to those many dedicated birders who took time to talk with us about their favorite birding haunts. We asked lots of folks this question: Aside from the notable Audubon State Park in Henderson County, Ayrshire Mine in Warrick County, and Harmonie State Park in Posey County, where are your favorite local birding hot spots? Almost to a one, our birders answered, "My own back yard!" We take that as a tribute to their successful establishment of backyard wildlife habitats — providing food (both native seeds and fruits as well as packaged bird seeds and suet), water (including water features and bird baths), nesting, and protection. And our birds thank them for that.
Still, we asked for more. The result, of course, is in your hands. This booklet of hot-spot descriptions includes specific spots (like ponds or borrow pits), general areas (like Howell Park Wetlands), driving loops (like the A.B. Brown Generating Plant Perimeter Auto Loop), and roads (like Boehne Camp Road). In every case, we have omitted naming those great birding spots that require permission from land owners to access private property, and we have made every effort to remind readers that trespassing on private property, even in the name of birding, is not recommended.
While preparing this list was a work of love on the part of everyone who contributed, a shadow of pessimism crept into the project. It came from birders’ two frequent laments:
— "Well, I used to get really good birds at site x, but now it’s been bulldozed/ logged/ subdivided/ developed /paved."
— "Used to be all these warblers/herons/sparrows nesting at these sites, but we haven’t seen any here in two or three years."
The laments were a sobering reminder that while we despair over the rain forest destruction in South America, our own habitat destruction is no less serious.
Perhaps for these reasons, this list of local birding hot spots is all the more precious. Arranged by county, including Vanderburgh, Posey, Warrick, Gibson, and Henderson, and by geographic proximity within counties, this list may well represent our last best hope for local bird habitat. On the other hand, we know this list is not a definitive compilation of the only remaining habitats. Considered a work in progress, the list needs your contributions as well; and we fervently hope changes in any future lists are additions, not deletions.
May you find birds in your binoculars at every turn.
Evansville Audubon Society
Eagle Slough
As the saying goes, all of us together know more than any one of us alone. Special thanks goes to those many dedicated birders who took time to talk with us about their favorite birding haunts. We asked lots of folks this question: Aside from the notable Audubon State Park in Henderson County, Ayrshire Mine in Warrick County, and Harmonie State Park in Posey County, where are your favorite local birding hot spots? Almost to a one, our birders answered, "My own back yard!" We take that as a tribute to their successful establishment of backyard wildlife habitats — providing food (both native seeds and fruits as well as packaged bird seeds and suet), water (including water features and bird baths), nesting, and protection. And our birds thank them for that.
Still, we asked for more. The result, of course, is in your hands. This booklet of hot-spot descriptions includes specific spots (like ponds or borrow pits), general areas (like Howell Park Wetlands), driving loops (like the A.B. Brown Generating Plant Perimeter Auto Loop), and roads (like Boehne Camp Road). In every case, we have omitted naming those great birding spots that require permission from land owners to access private property, and we have made every effort to remind readers that trespassing on private property, even in the name of birding, is not recommended.
While preparing this list was a work of love on the part of everyone who contributed, a shadow of pessimism crept into the project. It came from birders’ two frequent laments:
— "Well, I used to get really good birds at site x, but now it’s been bulldozed/ logged/ subdivided/ developed /paved."
— "Used to be all these warblers/herons/sparrows nesting at these sites, but we haven’t seen any here in two or three years."
The laments were a sobering reminder that while we despair over the rain forest destruction in South America, our own habitat destruction is no less serious.
Perhaps for these reasons, this list of local birding hot spots is all the more precious. Arranged by county, including Vanderburgh, Posey, Warrick, Gibson, and Henderson, and by geographic proximity within counties, this list may well represent our last best hope for local bird habitat. On the other hand, we know this list is not a definitive compilation of the only remaining habitats. Considered a work in progress, the list needs your contributions as well; and we fervently hope changes in any future lists are additions, not deletions.
May you find birds in your binoculars at every turn.
Evansville Audubon Society
Did you see a rare or unusual bird?
Evansville Audubon Society does not maintain a local hotline, deferring instead to the Indiana Internet site referred to as IN-BIRD.
Want to know about the thousands of sandhill cranes that began migrating across Indiana during the first week in March? Did you know that the sandhills cranes closest to Evansville were spotted along the Alcoa Highway near Sharon Road? Want to know who saw the first nesting mourning dove in late February? Did you know you could see a trumpeter swam in southern Indiana? Want to see pictures of some of these birds? That and more is available through IN-BIRD, the Indiana lists are supported by Indiana University.
IN-BIRD allows you to receive daily e-mails from folks all over Indiana reporting what they're seeing--or not seeing. To take advantage of the daily postings, you have to subscribe, but the subscription rate is priced just right: it's free. Before you make up your mind, however, you may want to see what IN-BIRD is all about. Go to the archive site at http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/in-bird-l.html and check out recent postings. They're arranged in reverse chronological order, the most recent first. Or you can use the built-in search engine to locate only those postings about sandhill cranes, for instance.
If you like what you see, subscribe at the same site. IN-BIRD replaces the phone-in Indiana Hot Line, formerly used for reporting rare and unusual species sighted in Indiana.
In addition, check out Indiana Audubon Society's online birding guide at http://www.indianaaudubon.org/guide/ for recommended birding hotspots throughout the state.
Evansville Audubon Society does not maintain a local hotline, deferring instead to the Indiana Internet site referred to as IN-BIRD.
Want to know about the thousands of sandhill cranes that began migrating across Indiana during the first week in March? Did you know that the sandhills cranes closest to Evansville were spotted along the Alcoa Highway near Sharon Road? Want to know who saw the first nesting mourning dove in late February? Did you know you could see a trumpeter swam in southern Indiana? Want to see pictures of some of these birds? That and more is available through IN-BIRD, the Indiana lists are supported by Indiana University.
IN-BIRD allows you to receive daily e-mails from folks all over Indiana reporting what they're seeing--or not seeing. To take advantage of the daily postings, you have to subscribe, but the subscription rate is priced just right: it's free. Before you make up your mind, however, you may want to see what IN-BIRD is all about. Go to the archive site at http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/in-bird-l.html and check out recent postings. They're arranged in reverse chronological order, the most recent first. Or you can use the built-in search engine to locate only those postings about sandhill cranes, for instance.
If you like what you see, subscribe at the same site. IN-BIRD replaces the phone-in Indiana Hot Line, formerly used for reporting rare and unusual species sighted in Indiana.
In addition, check out Indiana Audubon Society's online birding guide at http://www.indianaaudubon.org/guide/ for recommended birding hotspots throughout the state.
Credits:
Compilation by the Evansville Audubon Society of 70 Great Birding Sites in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson and Henderson Counties with special thanks to the following
local birders:
Carolyn Bennett
Midge Lechner
Paul Bennett
Yvonne Lingo
Dorothy Bonar
John Meredig
John Bonar
Charles Mills
Pat Burden
Gene Schroeder
Larry Caldwell
Jackie Schroeder
Ron Crawford
Virginia Simmons
Don Goodaker
Marietta Smith
Pat Goodaker
Charles Sorenson
Lois Gorrell
Sharon Sorenson
Glen Grant
Evan Speck
Nellie Grant
Tammy Turner
Nancy Hitch
Richard Vernier
Ted Hitch
Sue Vernier
Tom Westfall
Compilation by the Evansville Audubon Society of 70 Great Birding Sites in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson and Henderson Counties with special thanks to the following
local birders:
Carolyn Bennett
Midge Lechner
Paul Bennett
Yvonne Lingo
Dorothy Bonar
John Meredig
John Bonar
Charles Mills
Pat Burden
Gene Schroeder
Larry Caldwell
Jackie Schroeder
Ron Crawford
Virginia Simmons
Don Goodaker
Marietta Smith
Pat Goodaker
Charles Sorenson
Lois Gorrell
Sharon Sorenson
Glen Grant
Evan Speck
Nellie Grant
Tammy Turner
Nancy Hitch
Richard Vernier
Ted Hitch
Sue Vernier
Tom Westfall
Birding Festivals
Ohio Valley Birding Festival
Cache River Nature Fest
Ohio Valley Birding Festival
Cache River Nature Fest