Growing up with a forest in my backyard, I thought I knew all the sounds that Indiana spring nights had to offer, from the distinctive hoots of owls to the occasional chirp of bats. Apart from these somewhat rare springtime noises, it seemed like the forest, for the most part, held on to the blanket …
By: David Dornberg April 3, 2021 started out cold at 38F, but the morning was sunny with blue skies. Earlier in the week I had decided to pick-up some prepackaged wildflower seeds to plant for Shirley Heinze Land Trust. This was only my second nature outing in 2021. I would be driving to Valparaiso to …
By: Jim Haniford Well, here we are, a little over five months into Shirley Heinze Land Trust’s trail cam monitoring project at Meadowbrook Nature Preserve. We’re marking Earth Day on the west branch of the tributary of Salt Creek, a waterway that rambles carelessly through the bottomlands of the ancient moraine. The occasion is attended …
By Evan Kaiafas The sand prairie regions of Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois are filled with an incredible diversity of reptiles and amphibians. Many of these species are what I like to call “sand specialists” because, through evolution, they have become perfectly equipped to deal with the unique conditions of a sand prairie ecosystem. These …
By: Audra Ebling For much of my life, my sensory experience of springtime leaned heavily on sight and scent. The lemony yellow of a daffodil glowing against the still-dormant grass. The irresistible perfume of a neighbor’s lilac bushes, which managed to slow down my pace on my otherwise rushed walk to the train. These were …
By: Jim Haniford Well, here we are. It’s the fourth blog already. Hard to believe it’s been over a month since I started sharing these experiences with you. They’re the field notes of our ongoing campaign to monitor the American mink along a tributary of Salt Creek that snakes its way through Meadowbrook Nature Preserve. …
By: Jim Haniford A few scattered reports have come in from around the preserve about a small, furry creature, glimpsed for just a matter of seconds in each instance. One staff member saw it run out from the tall grass as she approached on a riding mower. Another encountered it running up a trail in …
This story is part of an ongoing wildlife monitoring project along a tributary of Salt Creek, Damon Run, that meanders through Meadowbrook Nature Preserve. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 to catch up! By: Jim Haniford Nothing prepared me for winter through the lens of the trail camera. Once Sarah fine-tuned its sensitivity, …
By: Jim Haniford As I mentioned in my first blog entry, we are in search of the American Mink (Neovison vison). In case you missed it, I wrote about a few random encounters that led to the initiation of a creekside monitoring project, enlisting the use of a trail cam in order to capture this …
