Day one:

The day started with chilly 29 degree temperatures, but clear star-filled skies.  Heavy rains the night before left standing water and overflowing ditches.  The quarter-mile walk to the blinds involved wading through ankle high water in spots.

We observed booming Prairie-Chickens from sunup to 8:45 a.m. and had a maximum of 17 booming males with 16 present all morning. A maximum of six females were on grounds at one time with at least eight altogether over the course of the whole morning.  Before sunup one or two Short-eared Owls were observed coursing over the field and at least three Northern Harriers buzzed the booming grounds.  One even landed on the ground amidst the chickens and sat there for about ten minutes.  Flocks of up to 100 Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles passed west to east by the blinds all morning and Eastern Meadowlarks filled the air with song.  One of the male chickens had a unique dance in which it held its head high with deflated sacs and spun around repeatedly.  The property personnel noted this to be rarely a seen behavior.

Upon leaving the blinds many Mallards flew up from the wetlands bordering the path.

After a greatly anticipated restroom visit at the headquarters we drove to the Robert Ridgway Grasslands Natural Preserve.  We walked the trail which wraps around an open wetland and through tallgrass prairie, some of which had been recently burned.  Coots, Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal and Pied-billed Grebe were spotted on the water but the prairie yielded little but singing Song Sparrows.

We drove around the block east of the headquarters and Steve Gifford photographed a very pale Red-tailed Hawk with an almost complete white head and underparts except for some random dark feathers.  The upperparts were not seen well.  A little further up the road, we encountered our first Loggerhead Shrike on a wooden fence.  There were high-fives all-around but little did we know that just around the corner was our second Loggerhead Shrike.  We followed the second shrike from an electrical wire to a fence, where we saw a third Shrike.  Still in shock and rejoicing at seeing three Loggerheads in such a short amount of time, we spotted a fourth on a small bush in the middle of a grassland on our way to try to see Smith's Longspurs.

We reached a large corn stubble field northwest of the headquarters and spread across the field in a line.  We began walking as if on a tiger hunt.  A good distance was covered in wet muddy soil and we were able to find six to eight Savannah Sparrows and a Vesper Sparrow.  At least four Wilson’s Snipe flushed ahead of us and a few American Pipits flew over, but no Smith’s Longspurs were seen this year.  

It was approaching lunch time and many participants felt a need to start the long trip home.  As some of us headed back to the cars at the headquarters four Ring-necked Ducks and two more Shovelers were spotted on a pond and just as we got to the headquarters we noted what appeared to be a dark-phased Rough-legged Hawk from the almost “black head and back”.  We could not see the front of it but soon it flew directly away from us and it became immediately apparent that it was some form of Red-tailed Hawk. Its upperparts were rather uniform blackish-brown and the tail was generally pale “whitish” with a rufous tinge.  Underparts were not seen well but as it banked to land in a distant tree it flared its tail which showed a distinct but not sharply emarginated dark subterminal band.   That’s all we could do with it unfortunately but it could have been a Harlan’s Hawk.

Our last bird at Prairie Ridge St. Natural Area was a Northern Mockingbird back at the headquarters.

It was a bit early for the large flocks of Pectoral Sandpipers and Golden Plovers, as well as Smith’s Longspurs, but no one was complaining after seeing the natural spectacle of booming Prairie-Chickens topped off with four Loggerhead Shrikes.

Day One Participants: Sue Arnold, Pete Banta, Alan Bruner, Steve Gifford, Tim Griffith, Cindy Leffelman, Ian Ruisard, Bruce Ruisard, Jean Starrick, Walt Starrick, Frank Williams, Jr., Susan Williams

Day Two:

On Saturday, a second group of IAS members attended the same trip to see the Prairie-Chickens.  It started out equally as cold and wet as the first day but as soon as we got into the blinds, we heard a Wilson’s Snipe or two winnowing.  Soon a Short-eared Owl made several passes close to the blinds.  Shortly before sunrise, the chickens started booming and emerging as dark shadowy figures for the surrounding corn stubble.  For the next two hours, we watched as the males showed off for the females and the females paid almost no attention to the males at all!

After talking to our host back at the headquarters, we headed out to the surrounding area to look for some other species.  We quickly found a Loggerhead Shrike and everyone got great views.  It is amazing that Loggerhead Shrikes are so difficult to find in Indiana yet they are quite easy just 1 hour west of the border.  As we continued on, we spotted some Rusty Blackbirds in a corn field and everyone was able to study the breeding males.  Like the Friday group, we searched for Smith’s Longspur with no success.  We were able to find some American Pipits and Savannah Sparrows.  We finished the day around lunchtime by watching a Great Horned Owl on its nest.

It was a fantastic trip and everyone enjoyed observing the chickens!  In all, we had 17 males and 9 females for a total of 26 individuals.  We had about 30 species on the day and everyone headed home very satisfied with their experience!

Day Two Participants: Kathy Feldman, Denise Hannum, Mike Hannum, Cindy Meyer, Ted Meyer, Eric Ripma, Rob Ripma, Sharon Sorenson, Charlie Sorenson, Laurie Voss, Gene Voss, Chad Williams

Author: Robert Ripma