Category Archives: Stewardship Notes

Spring Peepers

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Though it has come a bit earlier than normal, signs of spring are here! Wildflowers are blooming in many of the parks, birds are calling for mates, and the frogs and toads are quite boisterous. Typically, the first warm rain of the year will bring the amphibians out of the woodwork. It’s their sign that conditions are right, and it is time to start looking for “the one”! We have been hearing the “spring peepers” for a few weeks now, and this week we were able to capture some footage of an American Toad calling at the aquaculture ponds in Miami Whitewater Forest! American Toad Calling

Can you tell the difference between a frog and toad call? Check out the following link to hear what each species sounds like. http://ohioamphibians.com/frogs/frogspecies.html

Tracy Kump, Stewardship Technician

Great Year for Prairie Management

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This spring was a record year for controlled burning for the Stewardship Department burn crew. Not only did we control burn more acres than we have before, we got it all done before the end of March, which is a record in itself. We control burned approximately 403 acres of prairie in six parks, with the majority at Miami Whitewater Forest. We can finally say we are all caught up with our prescribe burning for the first time in years!

The Park District carefully uses fire as a valuable tool in managing this ecosystem. Besides controlling unwanted woody growth, burning warms the ground to promote early seed germination, adds nutrients to the soil and helps control exotic (non-native) plant species. Controlled burning is always conducted by a well-trained and equipped mobile crew of park employees to ensure safety.

Jim Mundy, Stewardship Assistant

High Rise Development at Miami Whitewater Forest is for the Birds

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Scott Peak and I spent the day on Thursday, February 2, 2012 installing some badly needed kestrel boxes in strategically placed locations at Miami Whitewater Forest. The kestrel, also known as a sparrow hawk, is the smallest native falcon that we have. The population of these pint-size birds has been declining for years across the country and even our own annual Winter Bird Count data has shown this decline.

The reason for the decline has been somewhat uncertain. Usually the first thing that is looked at is habitat loss; however that does not seem to be culprit in this case.

A few years back I went to a program on the kestrel by Paul Wharton and he believed that the problem is with the lack of nesting boxes in strategic locations. He theorized that nesting boxes placed on trees and in treed corridors caused too much of a competition between the kestrel and other species, like squirrels and starlings. He said he had proof of this because he has been placing kestrel boxes up all around the county in more open areas, and those kestrels seem to be doing fine.

Since then, the Stewardship staff has been placing nesting boxes on 16-foot, 4×4 posts in open grassland habitat areas in our parks for the American kestrel. Our goal is to help confirm Paul’s theory, and hopefully see an increase in the kestrel population during our annual Winter Bird Counts data in the future.

Land Manager Scott Peak lifts kestrel box into place.

This year we will have volunteers monitor these boxes during the nesting season to help determine the number of boxes used by kestrels and the number of fledglings produced. If the populations of kestrels in the areas with these newly placed boxes show an increase, then this will confirm box placement as one of the defining factors in preventing the decline of the American kestrel.

Jim Mundy, Stewardship

Which Way to Canada?

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On January 24, Stewardship Manager Assistant Jim Mundy received a call from a birdwatcher asking for help in identifying a swan he was observing in the Shaker Trace Wetland at Miami Whitewater Forest. After some discussion, the identification was narrowed down to just a few possibilities that included a Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus). Natural Areas Technician Scott Peak quickly went to the scene with volunteer birders and confirmed that six Tundra Swans had made a stop-over in the wetland on their migration back to their breeding grounds near the Arctic Circle. The next day, we still had three of the swans at the wetlands while three more were observed on Miami Whitewater Forest Lake.

 

Tundra Swan (photo from Wikipedia.com)

The adult Tundra Swan (also known as the Whistling Swan) is all white with a mostly black bill, legs and feet. With a wingspan of six feet and a length nearly the same, the Tundra Swan is a majestic sight. It prefers marshes, lakes, ponds, and as its name implies, spends the warmer months in the far northern tundra region near the Arctic and Bering coasts. As the cold of winter descends, the flocks head south. Some of the birds pass through our area on their way to the warmer climates of the mid-Atlantic seaboard. Twice a year, we have a chance to see them as they stop to rest on their long journey.

Annual Winter Bird Count

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The Park District has conducted an annual winter bird count in the parks for 38 years. The first bird count was in 1972 and only 4 parks were surveyed. Today nearly all the 21 parks and preserves are surveyed during this one day in December.

 

I’m sure some people wonder why the Park District would want people to come out to the parks to count birds in the winter. There are at least two reasons that I can think of. One, it is good to have activities outside during the winter months and two, this information can be used to see trends in bird populations and how they relate to various factors, such as weather, that you might not otherwise notice. For example, during the winter of 1977 and 1978 we had very harsh weather that really hurt our Carolinawren population. A graph created from the count data shows this dramatic decrease in the population and how long it took for the population to bounce back (Carolina wren graph).

 

Another species with a dramatic change is the wild turkey. From 1972 up through 1994 no turkeys were seen on the bird count. But starting in 1995, wild turkeys have been seen more regularly. A graph of the turkey counts shows the turkey population has been rising. Now we have a healthy population of wild turkey in most of our larger parks (Turkey graph).

 

Finally, when we compare the number of different species to the temperature for each count day throughout the entire 38 years of the bird count, we see an interesting trend. As the winter temperature has raised so has the number of different species seen (Species vs. Temperature). We can deduce from this that, if global warming is occurring, the birds are already showing signs of pattern changes and are not migrating as far south as they use too.

 

For a complete list of the birds seen during our last winter bird count on December 10, 2011, please click here.

 

If you have questions related to the Hamilton County Park District annual winter bird count please contact me at jmundy@greatprks.org.

 

Jim Mundy, Land Management