Indiana Part 1

    Indiana. The US state known for its cornfields, hog farms, and cornfields. It also happens to be the birthing grounds of none other than me. As mentioned in several posts, I recently had a lovely opportunity to visit, my first foray out of California since I started my list list on July 14th last year. For my parents, it was a great experience seeing family friends well for me, it was arguably an even greater experience seeing wildlife of the great Midwest.

    We arrived late morning on the 22nd at the Indianapolis International Airport, where I got my second life bird of the trip right during landing: an EASTERN MEADOWLARK. Interestingly enough, this would be my only Eastern meadowlark seen for the duration of the 4 days. But why was this not my first life bird of the trip? Well, as we stopped at the Dallas / Fort Worth Airport for an annoying transfer in an already annoying red-eye flight that had an annoying delay, I spotted a COMMON GRACKLE next to the landing strip. Not surprisingly, this was just one of the many, many common grackles seen, as they become one of the most numerous native birds east of the Rockies.

    Next, a family friend picked us up and we went to his house in Carmel. After lunch, I immediately went out for a nice neighborhood walk. The first birds I saw were birds that I could never ever see in California, like European starlings, song sparrows, American goldfinches, great blue herons, American robins, mourning doves. Oh the variety. But seriously, my first bird of interest was a life bird the BROWN THRASHER. It was with a large group of robins, starlings, and grackles feasting on mulberries. Or do I call them mulberry berries? Or more accurately mulberry aggregate fruits? Hmmm. Anyways, no pictures were obtained as the notoriously shy bird retreated to the safety of a bush. Then, a butterfly flew by and unable to resist my childhood urges, I chased it, eventually finding out its identity as a life butterfly the white-spotted purple. However, as with the thrasher, the butterfly resisted my attempts to photograph it and fluttered away.

    I then walked to a little pond (one thing I love about Indiana suburbia: there is always a small body of water nearby), where I hunted for some dragonflies and damselflies, getting several new species to my life list but more importantly, some PICTURES.

Eastern forktail. Lovin' that color scheme.

Orange bluet. Oh the treachery in its name.

Eastern amberwing. These little guys are so pretty and their amber wings create orange shadows.

A beautiful calico pennant

A foursome I intruded upon. Oops. I believe that these are familiar bluets. But I cannot rule out Northern bluet. If someone wants to comment, PLEASE DO.

Common whitetail. This lovely species has a range that spans all of the lower 48 and I have seen it in California at Arastradero Lake. The only new Odonate seen that I didn't get a picture of (or I did but it is barely visible) was a black saddlebags that never stopped zooming around.

    The final stop on that little walk was in a small forested area. There, I waited around and got a pair of NORTHERN CARDINALs, two CHIMNEY SWIFTs flying overhead, and a GREY CATBIRD. However, none of the birds were willing to cooperate for a picture. The only bird that I managed to photograph was a subspecies lifer, an "Eastern" red-winged blackbird.

Look at that spiffy lighter area beneath the red patch not present on our western "bicolored" red-wingeds. Not to be confused with the similar-looking tricolored blackbird which is only found on the west coast.

    Later that night, we went to a small park after an overfilling but delicious dinner. I hoped to find nighthawks in the dwindling light but no luck. However, I did get to see a fantastic show of fireflies, a sight very rare in most parts of California. As we walked home, two large amphibians stood motionless on the sidewalk: an American toad and bullfrog. A few minutes later, it started raining. A few minutes later, it started pouring. Oh this warmth, humidity, bipolar weather that changes from sunny to torrential rain... I love it so much!

Great Plain skies

Changing weather

As the light faded, the flashes became even more frequent. This picture was my only successful attempt at capturing the light show and despite its blurriness, it ended up being...interesting.

The lumbering fireflies were very easy to catch. Thanks for the great show!

Sorry for the flash. The frog didn't seem to notice though. Nor did it notice when the person who discovered it was standing inches from it.

Same goes for the toad.

    The following day, I woke myself up at 6 am (technically 4 am because of jetlag) and went for a nice morning walk. Oh how my body loves how I treat it. The day was sunny and there was practically no evidence of last night's rain. All was worth it as I got a few life birds, including ones that would not be seen later during this trip.

At the dawn's early light, chimney swifts were drinking water from the pond, skimming the surface while flying, a wonderful sight to see.

Common grackle at feeder. Despite their ubiquity, I found it surprisingly hard to get pictures of these birds at all as they were wary of people and generally stayed at a distance. Perhaps the neighborhood doesn't take kindly to them because of their loud calling and seemingly unattractiveness. However, they are surprisingly beautiful when seen up close, with iridescent feathers glowing in shades of purple and green.

My first sighting of the RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, the only hummingbird commonly found east of the Rocky Mountains. 

Female red-winged blackbird

    Continuing my walk, I came upon the tantalizing entrance to a wooded path! Well anyways the woods themselves were not too interesting bird-wise other than my life bird the BLUE JAY, being filled mostly with starlings and grackles, but the Eastern forest was very nice to observe, with many grandiose trees. After leaving, I took a walk along the edge of the trees which yielded the best birds seen for the morning.

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If only my neighborhood had this...

Male cardinal singing his heart out

My first GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER! Thankfully this is the only Myiarchus flycatcher regularly found in the area so by range all the other members of this genus can be safely eliminated unless vagrants are taken into account. The great crested does have a darker gray area than its relatives but I guess I'm still in the gray area for identification (ba dum tsss) as honestly, I cannot flycatcher for my life. Shortly afterward, another life bird, the RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, appeared. However, no pictures were taken of the distant moving bird.

Here's a life bird that I should have gotten much earlier in California: the CHIPPING SPARROW.

Eastern cottontail

    I then returned to the house we were staying in and took a nice long nap, further ruining my sleep schedule. My next stop was the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The museum was quite nice, with many fascinating pieces of artwork that caught my fancy. The best part was the exterior garden that we walked in after viewing the exhibitions. Unfortunately, we did not get to walk for too long and missed out on some parts I hoped to see. I still did get two life birds, the first being one that I also should have seen earlier in California: the PILEATED WOODPECKER and the second being a common bird of the area: the TUFTED TITMOUSE. Both birds were reluctant to be photographed, with the pileated flying through the trees too quickly for a picture and the titmouse staying amidst dense branches.

Great-spangled Fritillary outside the museum. The Echinaceas were quite lovely too, with multiple sunset colors of pink and light orange.

Cooperative fox squirrel. Unlike the population at Stanford, the ones here are native.

Cooperative mourning dove

Ohio buckeye

Blurry red-bellied woodpecker.

    And that concludes part 1 of my Indiana trip. Stay "tuned" for part 2, which will cover Eagle Creek Park, the ultimate highlight of my 5 days. Until then, enjoy life and love nature!