Whenever I see Dan, our city's handyman/janitor, working on one of the civic buildings, I stop for a chat, because he knows what is going on nature-wise in the area.
This week, I had something to tell him, because as I was walking downtown, I looked to the east and saw some large birds winging their way over Seymour. At first glance, I thought it was a flock of geese, but then I stopped. A couple of fellows who had just parked their motorcycles in front of Frank's Den almost bumped into me. I pointed up, but they, too, reckoned those were geese and looked at me like I was crazy.
But those birds did not have the steady wing beats of Canada geese and any attempt to form a flying V never worked out. I waited for them and sure enough, they were white birds with black bands on their wings. They were pelicans, not something I'm used to seeing in Seymour. I first saw one when I was an adult and that was over at Green Bay.
Dan had news for me, too. There were bobolinks over on Cooper Road. I last saw a bobolink five years before, near Fence, near the Michigan border. When I was a child, we saw and heard them on the farm, but DDT took its toll. I loved them not so much for their song or their appearance but for their name. You can't say "bobolink" without a smile.
Bobolinks are making a recovery. Today, Gary and I took a drive to Cooper Road, which runs off Highway 54 east of Seymour and west of Oneida. Dan had said they were by the buffalo, and he was right.
The Oneida tribe has a bison farm on Cooper Road. In 2006, they built a buffalo viewing stand. After Gary parked the van, we walked up the path when a killdeer began to squawk and ran away from us dragging its wing. We watched where we stepped until we spotted the well camouflaged eggs in the middle of the path.
Dan was right. There were birds everywhere. We saw bobolinks on the fence wires. Tree swallows flitted here and there, red wing blackbirds whrrrrred at us, and a solitary cowbird watched the buffalo wander through the pastures. The cowbirds used to follow the buffalo herds across the Midwest catching the insects the big beasts stirred up, but in time switched their allegiance to cows and horses. This bird was going retro.
At the pond we found an avian bonanza. A pair of geese paddled across followed by their eight goslings who were growing rapidly. In only a few weeks they would all be ready for their migration south. In addition we saw a great blue heron, a great egret and a pelican. You seldom see any of these big birds, and here were all three in one pond.
It was the first time I visited the buffalo stand, but we intend to visit it often, especially during spring and fall migrations. Thanks to Dan.
This week, I had something to tell him, because as I was walking downtown, I looked to the east and saw some large birds winging their way over Seymour. At first glance, I thought it was a flock of geese, but then I stopped. A couple of fellows who had just parked their motorcycles in front of Frank's Den almost bumped into me. I pointed up, but they, too, reckoned those were geese and looked at me like I was crazy.
But those birds did not have the steady wing beats of Canada geese and any attempt to form a flying V never worked out. I waited for them and sure enough, they were white birds with black bands on their wings. They were pelicans, not something I'm used to seeing in Seymour. I first saw one when I was an adult and that was over at Green Bay.
Dan had news for me, too. There were bobolinks over on Cooper Road. I last saw a bobolink five years before, near Fence, near the Michigan border. When I was a child, we saw and heard them on the farm, but DDT took its toll. I loved them not so much for their song or their appearance but for their name. You can't say "bobolink" without a smile.
Bobolinks are making a recovery. Today, Gary and I took a drive to Cooper Road, which runs off Highway 54 east of Seymour and west of Oneida. Dan had said they were by the buffalo, and he was right.
The Oneida tribe has a bison farm on Cooper Road. In 2006, they built a buffalo viewing stand. After Gary parked the van, we walked up the path when a killdeer began to squawk and ran away from us dragging its wing. We watched where we stepped until we spotted the well camouflaged eggs in the middle of the path.
At the pond we found an avian bonanza. A pair of geese paddled across followed by their eight goslings who were growing rapidly. In only a few weeks they would all be ready for their migration south. In addition we saw a great blue heron, a great egret and a pelican. You seldom see any of these big birds, and here were all three in one pond.
It was the first time I visited the buffalo stand, but we intend to visit it often, especially during spring and fall migrations. Thanks to Dan.
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