On December 5, an intrepid group of 15 birders was out on a frosty morning. If you haven’t been to the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres at Newfields, you need to give it a try. It’s a beautiful property with a 35-acre lake. As a former farm and later gravel quarry, Fairbanks Park has a history of disturbance that has resulted in a mix of early successional woodlands, some mature woodlands, wetlands, and a lake. This habitat diversity has created a property with the ability to host niche species of several different habitat types. Newfields strives to maintain that habitat diversity by invasive species removal and planting of Indiana native plant species in all areas of the Park.
On this Saturday the group had an immature Bald Eagle fly over and Pine Siskins among the 31 species they saw. Another highlight was a white-tailed deer and a nice buck at that. ABAS holds these hikes quarterly in conjunction with Newfields.
Photo courtesy of Chuck Anderson.