Summary: While in Indiana, I went out for some birding with my mom, my aunt and one of my sisters. In the Hoosier State, spring is ahead of my home in Minnesota, so I welcomed watching the song sparrows on territory singing for a mate (above). There were also a few field sparrows singing which had me excited about hearing them at Carpenter Nature Center in a few weeks--it's such a great song. My mom and aunts have monitored a bald eagle nest in Mooresville, IN for the last five years. They keep a journal on their observations and I smile when locals drive by, see my mom and say, "Hey, it's the Eagle Ladies. Hi!" Quite a few of the people who live near the nest have invited my mom and my aunts on their property to look at other birds. One is a bed and breakfast called Lake in the Woods. As we took the long driveway into their property, we passed a few beehives and then came to a whole bee yard with over 20 hives. Their bees were much more active, you could see workers going in and out of hives to look for pollen and propolis. I tried to get my sister, mom and aunt out of the vehicle to look at the hives, but they would not do it. I told them they would be fine, but they rolled up their windows. I swear, you blog about getting stung once or twice and no one wants to go near a hive. The owners of Lake in the Woods were very generous with their time and showed us around their yard full of chickens, guinea fowl, bees, a couple of pigs, and lots of great birds, including the above mourning dove. A pair took up residence last summer on their porch and fledged two broods. The pair of doves returned three weeks ago and got started again. I noticed some splashing on the lake behind the bed band breakfast and at first could not believe what I saw. It could not be what I thought it was. But when I got my bins and finally my scope on the splashing... ...I discovered that it was what I thought: a common loon--my state bird. I had to come all the way to Indiana to see the Minnesota state bird. The loon was in the process of bathing and darted and splashed all over the lake. I never saw these in Indiana when I was growing, but I wasn't often at a lake large enough for a loon either. Must be a migrant loon, on its way north, waiting for the lakes in the far north to open up. Apparently, this species is possible to see on larger Indiana lakes during migration. I got some video of it bathing, it really looked like it was having a good time. Nice day out.
