News from Nature |
News From Nature April 2010
Greetings! There are many new happenings at the Bluebird Farm
Park! As of April 1st you can again have
lunch or dinner at Cynthia's Restaurant, and visit and
shop with Cherrie in the Gift Shop. Tour Susie's Museum of
Childhood and take a stroll along the trails to visit the
Carroll County Park Districts 55 acre's of springtime
refreshness.
Keep an eye out for the bluebirds. They are paired up now, and
as nesting season begins you'll most likely see the beautiful
male, flying back and forth from the grass to the choosen
nestbox, to capture the insects to feed the female as she sits
on the eggs, incubating them. His work is cut out for him! Once
the eggs hatch he must gather enough food for the female, the
babies, and himself! But if they are successful, and they start
a second nest, his duties may be shared. Sometimes, the first
set of babies help raise the second set!! A family effort!
Also, look for the tree swallows in the bird boxes closest to
the ampitheatre. They showed up from migration the first week in
April, and they love to perch on the top of the flagpole by the
parking lot. This bird lines its nest with feathers. It prefers
white feathers and travels all over to find just the right ones
to build its nest. It's very interesting that it only gathers
the type of feather that curls in a U shape. Then, the swallow
arranges the feathers so that they curl up and over the bird and
its eggs, forming a little tent that blocks the view of prying
eyes and also probably helps keep the eggs clean and warm.
The turkey vultures returned mid march and just as it gets dark
they return to their roost. Watch for them while eating your
dinner on the patio enclosure at the restaurant. They circle
many turns, just over the top of the courthouse, before diving
down to their sleeping roost.
With the early warm weather many of the flowering trees have
bloomed already. Some are blooming almost a month before they
normally would!
Some plants were damaged by the heavy snows here at the park. If
you've been here before you may notice an openess around the
restaurant and along arch bridge and creek. Thats due to the
weight of the snow bending and breaking trees and shrubs that
were growing too close together or with two trunks/leaders, and
the snow accumulation was just to heavy for the plant(s). Those
that made it through it are sturdy, and although they have lost
some branches, they will be ok with the natural pruning the snow
gave them.
The great thing about the snow was it kept the ground from
freezing and much of the melt water soaked into the ground
instead of just running off. Any plants under the snow had a
"blanket" that protected them from below freezing temperatures,
and the perennial plants have a head start with that natural
protection.
In early April Board member Ed Jones and I, along with a
geologist were looking at some of the rocks located in the
southwest portion of the park, when I noticed a white flower
close to the ground. I did a double take because it is a
endangered native plant called 'Bloodroot'. The botanical, or
latin name, is
Sanguinaria
canadensis .
What a awesome thing to know that its doing well here and since
there were several growing there it apparentley is reproducing.
Look it up on the internet and you'll find many interesting
facts about its past uses with native americans and its current
and future uses in medicine.
The rocks here are sandstone and some of the boulders have cut
marks where they were quarried for blocks for foundation stone!
Hopefully one day we can determine whether some of the
foundation stone in the origional buildings here at Bluebird
came from the same stones on the property!
BBFP manager, Chad
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