On Saturday May 3, 2014 our volunteer crew planted a meadow at Middle Creek. It was a beautiful day and the work went quickly. On the Friday before Dave White, Jim Metzler and Ken Barshinger put a grid on the site, so planting would go on with a minimum of delay. It only took about one and a half hours to plant the one acre meadow.
i would like to thank Fred Habagger, Sharon Hughes, Jennifer Hanf, Jen Slater, Dave White, Ernie Peffley, Jodi Good and Chris Brown for all their help in making this event a success.
The maintenance crew from Middle Creek went over the site on Monday with a culti-packer to give good seed to soil contact. Now we wait to see what develops. The recent rains we have had should give the plants a good start. The first plants will be up in July and by the end of August some of them may be blooming.
After we finished planting and cleaning up my daughter Christine and I decided to tour around Middle Creek and see what was happening. It was a really neat experience. I observed things that were unexpected and I have never seen before.
The Bluebird boxes located closest to the meadow site are a side-by-side pair at one foot distance between them. Although the boxes are newer, this is the same configuration we put in place in 1998 when i was supervising the BB trail. The result that year was that Bluebirds used one box and Tree Swallows used the other one. This was the first time we actually confirmed that Bluebirds and Tree Swallows could successfully nest as close as one foot apart. This year the exact same scenario is playing out with the same two species sharing this site. As we were watching them the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows seemed to be taking turns sitting on the post holding the boxes. We will have to check with the monitor of these boxes to see if history repeats itself.
Our first stop on our "tour" was to look at the meadows SW of the Visitor Center that had been recently burned. As I scanned the area, my daughter said she saw something black moving along the edge of the meadow nearest the woods. It turned out to be a BLACK Gray Squirrel. It was hopping along the grass path and in and out of the burned area as if looking for some food. Soon a couple of hikers passed and it scurried into the woods. I had seen white squirrels in Washington DC many years ago, but as far as I can remember this was a first time I have ever observed a black one. That was neat to see.
As we slowly followed the tour road we saw Canada Geese sitting on eggs in artificial nests, some Mallards and lots of song birds including Bobolinks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Kingbirds, Bluebirds and Tree Swallows. We drove to the end of the road in the NE section of the property and were rewarded with a beautiful sight. As we were turning, we spotted some movement in a small tree along the edge of the road. On closer inspection it turned out to be a Yellow Warbler. This bird defines the color YELLOW---it literally glows. This beauty is all yellow except for a series of red steaks on its breast and for the next 10 minutes or so we watched as it flitted through the newly unfolding leaves of this plant that was no more than 20 feet from our car. I have seen this bird before, but never this close or with such vibrant color. Wow!
As we continued on our journey we were serenaded by male Red-Winged Blackbirds vying for the best territories to attract the females that will arrive soon. At the pull-off at the right angle turn near Stop #4 we stopped to bird watch. After sitting for awhile with not much action, a lone hen Turkey emerged from the nearby meadow, scooped up a loose acorn and casually walked over the road not 30 feet from us. When she reached the edge of a small pond, she immediately took off and flew to the opposite bank about 75 feet away. The landing site was a narrow dike about 3 feet wide, so as she made her approach she had to stop quickly. To do so she had to open her tail completely and it looked like one of the most beautiful FANS i have ever seen. The white, tan and brown colors of her tail feathers were absolutely beautiful. I have often seen turkeys fly, but i have never seen anything like this before.
With that memorable experience, our Middle Creek adventure was over for now and we headed home. If you do not have these kind of experiences you need to get out more---there is a big wonderful world out there just waiting for you.
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