New blog site

The Leopold Heritage Group blog is now being maintained at www.leopoldheritage.org. Older posts will remain here.

Leopold Bench Winner

At the May 21st Leopold Heritage Group program, all sign in slips from April & May programs were gathered together and a name was drawn for the winner of the Leopold Bench. It was made and donated by Jim Hilkin, utilizing the basic design created by Aldo Leopold. Kaye Hanna of Burlington won the bench - she attended the very first program in the Leopold Loft at Starr's Cave Nature Center when winners of the "Wild Words and Art Contest" were announced. Thanks to all who supported the 2009 series of lectures, outdoor hikes, film previews & readings. We will continue to bring information about local Leopold connections - such as the opening of the new Aldo Leopold Middle School, the Leopold Energy Fair, and more. Feedback to the blog or LHG committee members is welcome.

Photos from the Wildflower Walk

Leopold Heritage Group sponsored a Wildflower Walk on Sunday at Dankwardt Park. Here are some photos from the day.



Yellow violet



Wake robin (Sessile trillium)



Violets



Spring beauties



Spring beauties



Ellen Fuller, right, was our guide.



Blue violets

Bird watching at Starr's Cave

A group of 12 folks gathered in the parking lot at Starr's Cave Nature Center this morning to take a hike down the road with leadership of Chuck Fuller to spot resident & migrant birds in the area. Jerry wrote down 37 species - many which you can see daily in the area, others are passing through on their annual migration. Some were first identified by their
"songs", others by their habits of flicking their tails or "flitting" from branch to branch. We consulted the Sibley's bird guide regularly and challenged ourselves to trace a tree trunk or branch with binoculars so we could spot the tiny, colorful, treetop residents. Those who stayed beyond the gray rainy start were rewarded by a view of the great horned owl fledglings, yellow throated warbler, indigo bunting, water thrush, parula warbler and more, viewed from the bridge across Flint Creek in sunshine, as we concluded this Leopold Heritage Event. We also identified spring beauties, prairie trillium, rue anemone, dutchman's breeches spring blooms along the path - and a few of the dreaded invasive garlic mustard- which we pulled & deposited in the trash! Hope to see you tomorrow at Crapo park as there will be beautiful unique trillium, celandine, and other wildflowers to see with the guidance of Ellen Fuller at 2 p.m. The outdoors is a place to rejuvenate & appreciate - see you there! Lois Rigdon
April 25, 2009 Bird Walk at Starr’s Cave
1. Canada Goose
2. Wood Duck
3. Mallard
4. Double Crested Cormorant
5. Great Blue Heron
6. Broad-winged Hawk
7. Turkey Vulture
8. Mourning Dove
9. Great Horned Owl
10. Red-bellied Woodpecker
11. Downy
12. Northern Flicker
13. Eastern Hpoebe
14. Blue Jay
15. Northern Rough Winged Swallow
16. Black Capped Chickadee
17. Tufted Titmouse
18. White Breasted Nuthatch
19. Carolina Wren
20. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
21. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
22. Eastern Bluebird
23. American Robin
24. Brown thrasher
25. European Starling
26. Orange-crowned Warbler
27. Northern Parula Warbler
28. Yellow-rump Warbler
29. Yellow-throat Warbler
30. Common Yellow Throat
31. White-throat Sparrow
32. Northern Cardinal
33. Indigo Bunting
34. Red-winged Blackbird
35. Brown headed Cowbird
36. Common Crackle
37. House Finch
38. American Goldfinch
39. House Sparrow

Wild Words & Art - Winners are online

With apologies for the delay, a link to the page containing the first-, second- and third-place poems, essays and drawings from the Leopold Heritage Group's third annual Wild Words & Art contest. Click here to go directly to the page.

Winners to be announced Sunday

You can read winning entries in the Leopold Heritage Group's third annual Wild Words & Art contest at www.leopoldheritage.org beginning this Sunday. Winners will be recognized at a 2 p.m. Sunday event at Leopold's Loft at Starr's Cave Nature Center north of Burlington.

Trading a bluff for a hollow

By RANDY MILLER

rmiller@thehawkeye.com

As spring approaches, the clock is ticking on my move away from my beloved piece of the bluff high above the Case New Holland grounds.

We purchased the property on Highland Avenue nearly 13 years ago and recently realized we’ve lived there the longest either I or my wife, Jene, have lived anywhere in our lifetimes. It is home.

Over the years while working to restore the property built in 1895 by C.H. Mohland, a lawyer and businessman, we’ve been visited by many critters, including deer, which sometimes bed down in a cozy corner of the bluff on cold winter nights, and groundhogs that roll along in a bundle of fur and then magically stretch out to three feet tall when they stand erect to sniff the air.

Of course, raccoons have been a constant attraction and occasional nuisance over the years, including just Friday when they got into the trash for the umpteenth time. One spring we watched as a litter of kits grew up in the hollow of the tulip tree on the south side. They would sit in the crook of a high bough and stare at us in the evenings as we watched them from the second-story porch.

We’ve also had black snakes and moles and even a skunk that wandered around the corner of the porch one spring evening when Jene was sitting on the porch swing. She at first thought it was a cat and was going to reach out to pet it, then quickly exited the area when she realized it was not.

We will be trading the bluff, which I named Redbud Ridge because I have nurtured a dozen redbuds along the backside of the house over the years, for a piece of Bonn’s Hollow on South Main Street.

We need to downsize, to simplify, and the 1915 Craftsman-style brick house in the 1600 block is just right. The steep and heavily wooded piece of the hollow behind the house won’t be as large or as easy to traverse as the switchbacks of the bluff that I came to know so well, but it still will be a place to occasionally commune with nature, which is essential to my well being.

•••

The clock also is ticking on the third annual Aldo Leopold Wild Words & Art contest. The deadline for submission of poems, essays and drawings is 5 p.m. Friday, March 20.

Entries in the three age categories aren’t exactly pouring in yet, but like most writers and artists, procrastination seems to be in the DNA.

The theme this year is “The Outdoors and You,” chosen to focus on people’s personal interaction with the natural environment. Winners, to be chosen by a panel of teachers, artists and writers, will receive $50 for first place, $30 for second place and $20 for third place, as well as a copy of Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac.”

 The contest’s three age categories are: middle school, grades six through eight; high school, grades nine through 12; and college and adult. Entries will be accepted from Iowa, Illinois and Missouri residents living within a 50-mile radius of Burlington.

The contest is sponsored by the Leopold Heritage Group, with support from the Humanities Iowa Board, The Hawk Eye, the Aldo Leopold chapter of Pheasants Forever, Burlington Education Association and Des Moines County Conservation Board.

 For more information, complete contest rules and how to submit entries, go to the Web site www.leopoldheritage.org.

Winning entries will be published in The Hawk Eye on Sunday, April 19, and presented at a special event that day at Starr's Cave Nature Center.