I like Oak Openings and Secor Metropark. Wildwood is beautiful but it's always so crowded.
Pearson used to be in the running, but with all the trees that got taken down...just not the same.
It may seem wierd, but I'm a big fan of OLD cemeteries. Love to walk and read the headstones and try to envision how life was for those people.
posted by DoknowDocare at 07:45 P.M. EST on Thu Feb 23, 2006 #
Yes, I love cemeteires too, DoknowDocare.
Have you been to the Wolfinger Cemetery in Secor Metropark?
posted by historymike at 08:54 P.M. EST on Thu Feb 23, 2006 #
My parents are buried at Wolfinger Cemetary next to Secor Park. What a setting for eternal rest.
Very comforting when visiting grave site too - so peaceful.
Dave
posted by davldavis at 11:15 P.M. EST on Thu Feb 23, 2006 #
historymike, you need to go back and see the Northern Sawhet Owl that has been at Irwin for a few weeks now. It's here for the winter. This little owl is not much bigger than your fist. It will probably be puffed up a little to stay warm, making it look bigger, but it's a small bird. If you're familar with the Eastern Screech Owl, the Sawhet is smaller.
According the Toledo Naturalists' message board, the Sawhet was spotted in its "usual spot" today, Feb 23. It sleeps during the day. In fact, here's a cool picture of the bird taken today by someone else.
Pretty cool, eh? The bird is asleep with a meal ready when it awakes. To see this bird, I normally go down to Killdeer Plains in the winter, which is down below Upper Sandusky.
Here's another pic of the bird posted at the Toledo Naturalists message board:
Irwin is great. In the spring, the sounds of the frogs are amazingly loud. In a few weeks, if you go out to Irwin at dusk and stand on the boardwalk by Irwin Rd, you will be entertained by several male American Woodcock birds as they put on an arial display to attract a mate.
You will hear a "peent" sound repeated several times with a pause between each one. The bird does this while sitting on the ground. After each "peent", the bird rotates his body a little. Another "peent" and rotate some more. Wants to maximize area coverage with that "peent." Finally, the bird launches itself into the air. You can hear it flying because the bird's wings or his throat make rapid whistling sounds. The light will be low, so you will have a hard time seeing the bird, but you will definitely hear it.
Then you can tell when the bird is about to land because it starts making a different kind of sound, slower but sharper. The bird then parachutes down to the ground, landing in almost the exact same spot it was before. And it starts over with the "peent" sounds. Rinse and repeat. Over and over. And you will encounter several of these guys showing off for the ladies.
The warbler most likely to be seen in our area at this time of year would be the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I've seen them in the winter time at Oak Openings and Maumee State Forest, so it could be at Irwin Prairie too.
The Golden-winged Warbler no longer nests at Irwin. The more agressive Blue-winged Warbler continues to move northward and has displaced the Golden-winged from our area. You can encounter a handful of these coloful Blue-winged Warblers in the late spring and summer on their nesting territories at Irwin. Their song is two-syllable, low, buzzy, and insect-like that sounds like "BLUE-winged".
To see nesting Golden-winged Warblers, you have to go to central Michigan. I saw a Brewster's Warbler at Irwin several years ago. The Golden-winged and Blue-winged occasionaly mix, and the Brewster's is a hybrid that is seen sometimes during migration. A few Golden-winged Warblers can also be seen in migration at Magee Marsh. It's one of the most sought after birds by birdwatchers because so few are seen during the migration. A male Golden-winged is also an excellent-looking bird.
If you visit the Sawhet, try not to disturb it much.
One thing a bit interesting about Irwin Prairie is the fact that for some reason Irwin is a meetup place for gay men. I don't know why they pick Irwin, but if you're out there any time of the day when it's warmer, don't be surprised to see men "shopping."
A friend had an "encounter" while he was birding there a few years ago with his young daughter. He reported it to someone, but nothing, of course, is done.
I've had a couple "encounters" at Irwin. The most dramatic encounter was two springs ago, one evening while I was waiting for the Woodcocks to fire up.
I was on the boardwalk west of Irwin Rd. but near the road. A car stops along Irwin Rd visible to me. A guy gets out and he opens the trunk of his car. I thought maybe he had car trouble. That's how naive I was about what was happening. Like George Costanza said, "It's signals, Jerry."
Since I didn't respond to the trunk-lid-up signal, the dude starts torking on his johnson by grabbing himself on the outside of his pants, and he does this while pretending to look in his car's trunk. Another signal, I guess, that I was suppose to do something. I held my ground. I'm trying to ignore the dude while making sure he doesn't reach into his car's trunk and pull out a gun.
The sun was low in the western sky, behind me. Just like a cowboy movie, right? Have the sun at your back. He was lit up, but I'm sure to him I was just a silhouette because he was blinded by the sun.
When a car would go by on Irwin, he would stop with his "signal" and then start up again after the car passed. From what I saw, I don't know how he didn't injure himself. He was really going to town on that thing. Ever use one of those old, water fountain hand pumps like you might find at a campground? He had that kind of motion going on. He must have had a hard day a work and was looking for some relaxation. I'm there to watch birds, and I wasn't going to leave, no matter how bad the entertainment got.
He must have got tired of me playing hard to get because he walked to the front of his car and then further up Irwin Rd to where the boardwalk meets the road.
I'm thinking, no way. He's not coming toward me. He was. I always carry a little penknife that has a locking three-inch blade. When he got on the boardwalk, I turned my back, got my knife out, opened it up, made a fist around it, put my fist with knife in my jacket pocket, and turned back around to face him. I knew I could get in at least one good slash if necessary.
So "my date" is walking toward me, still blinded by the sun. He stops about 20 feet from me. He finally got a good look at me and realized I wasn't who he was expecting to meet. He had that, "Oh, shit" look. He turned and went back to his car and drove off. The other encounters I've had at Irwin were less dramatic but still obvious to me because I know what's going on.
I don't care about a person's sexual preferences. I support same-sex marriage. I voted against Issue 1 in 2004 that wanted to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. But I don't like encountering that kind of behaviour in a public nature preserve.
I don't visit Irwin as much as I used to. My favorite place to go for a walk is Kitty Todd nature preserve, which is not too far from Irwin. It's only open from May through October.
My second favorite is Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge any time of the year. On the third Saturday of each month, they open up ONWR so you can drive through it. It's called an auto tour, and you go through areas that are normally off-limits to the public. The normal public areas that are open every day still provide you with a few miles of walking or biking.
posted by jr at 11:34 P.M. EST on Thu Feb 23, 2006 #
Beautiful Owl. I tend to spend hours walking around Wildwood in the spring, summer, and fall. Toledo excells in public parks much moreso than other more economically viable cities. This is something we should be proud of and continue to improve.
posted by junta330 at 12:37 A.M. EST on Fri Feb 24, 2006 #
I love Secor Park/Irwin Prarie. Not as crowded as Wildwood. The old tombstones at Wolfinger Cemetary are intersting, but I just feel sort of creepy taking pictures of them. Can't wait for the warmer weather so I can get back out with the camera.
The gay thing would bug me. I'd yell at the guy. Nothing wrong with being gay, but theres a time and place you know. If worse came to worse I usually have a monopod attached to my camera. An extremely strong 6 foot piece of aluminum. My hands are shaky as hell, the monopod really helps.
w00t! image tag being used!
posted by Bruno at 05:49 A.M. EST on Fri Feb 24, 2006 #
It's funny that jr mentioned the "signals" anecdote - there was a guy in a pickup truck sitting in the Bancroft lot the whole time I was in the park (about an hour).
posted by historymike at 10:30 A.M. EST on Fri Feb 24, 2006 #
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