On My Way at Nature Remains

I am 21 minutes from Dayton looking down on Ohio from the plane. The brown earth of springtime lies open and bare before me. Along the meandering creek beds the greening has already begun. From my vantage point it looks like the bare brown heart of the earth is laid open with green arteries and veins flowing over its surface. It is the pulsing, pumping life of springtime and with it the breath of migration has begun. I will spend one night here before heading off to the New River Birding and Nature Festival.

Nina meets me at the airport and I find a slim soft spoken woman with wildly wonderful brown curls. We chatter all the way to her home like two little magpies in her car. It is an easy friendship. As the highway gives way to country roads I am looking out the windows trying to see whatever birds I can. My eyes drink hungrily of this foreign landscape. While the grass has already greened up, the trees are just starting to put forth their tender green leaves. A few trees still have their blush of red buds. In fact, I am amazed at all the tiny pink flowers of Eastern Redbud trees and the white lacy dogwoods in bloom. While I have come to love my desert home, these are the signs of spring that I miss.

The land around me is somewhat flat but soon gives way to rolling hills as we travel east. Small farms dot the roadside with ponds and trees and fields. A few are fenced with wooden fences looking like horse farms from Kentucky. The road is slender and winding as we drive into Nina’s yard. I am at Nature Remains.

Nina shows me the guest house where I place my stuff in the room. I quickly grab my camera and binoculars and we are off to the woods like two young wood nymphs. We barely step out the door when tree swallows swoop over head. The Eastern Bluebirds fly up to say “Hi” and a Carolina wren hops up to sing. Nina shows me her pond where a spotted sandpiper is probing the mud at the far end. I have never seen a spotted sandpiper before. Lifer! We wander past the old wise barn and out to the woods beyond. Cardinal pairs are everywhere and in the trees the Carolina chickadees chatter and call. While I have seen Mountain Chickadees and the more Common Black-capped, these are my first Carolina Chickadees. Lifer! All of these birds are my first Ohio birds.

We listen to the wind as it moves through the treetops in the woods. These are tall oaks and pines and spruce. There are ash and maples. These are the trees of my youth, the strength of the forest, and home to so many birds. At our feet the trilliums bloom, forest flowers, delicate and beautiful. Nina shows me her vernal pools, clear and dark in the forest, stagnant and green in the open field. We walk past the Tree Swallow nest boxes where the sweet female watches us unconcerned. She knows she is safe at Nature Remains. She knows that Nina is her friend.

I barely remember what we eat for dinner tonight. I only slept for 45 minutes the night before. I am so full of wonder and excitement. I am awed by this place I am at. Nina has a nature preserve as her backyard. We sit on the patio at dusk and hear the Barred Owl call. Then we hear its mate and we watch them move like ghosts through the forest above us. It is a magical moment and I am giddy with the memory of that haunting sound and the sight of the silent gray shadows moving through the tree tops as I drift off to sleep.

Birds Seen at Nature Remains 4-25-09

1. Red-shouldered hawk
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Solitary sandpiper*
4. Mourning Dove
5. Barred Owl*
6. Ruby-throated hummingbird
7. Red-bellied Woodpecker
8. Downy woodpecker
9. Hairy woodpecker
10. Eastern Phoebe
11. Blue jay
12. Tree swallow
13. Barn Swallow
14. Carolina chickadee*
15. Carolina Wren
16. American Robin
17. Eastern Bluebird*
18. Eastern towhee
19. Field Sparrow*
20. Song sparrow
21. Northern Cardinal
22. Brown-headed Cowbird
23. American Goldfinch

* Life Birds (Though I remember seeing Eastern Bluebirds when I was young this is my first official sighting for eBird)