[birdky] Re: CAPERTON SWAMP
- From: "Ben Yandell" <by@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Birdky" <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:54:11 -0400
I do hope that everyone caught that Brainard was kidding. Actually, I would
be put the issue of "too many birders" in Louisville or Kentucky or the U.S.
in the "good problem to have" category.
I know from watching others' posts to BIRDKY that having a favorite place
that you repeatedly bird is common. I highly recommend picking somewhere
and keeping good records about what you see after repeated trips different
times of the year. I keep threatening to write an article called "The Joy
of Keeping Records."
As for the thinly veiled implication that I might be a bit of a data freak,
I'll just point out the following in my defense:
* I've only been to Caperton 464 times.
* My total time there = 1,480.90 hours (minimum = 1:25; maximum = 8:20;
substracting any breaks, of course).
* Minimum starting temperature was -4; maximum was 94.
* Number of bird species seen per trip has ranged from 12 to 75, with an
average (mean) = 34.31).
"Detail-retentive personality." Please.
Ben Yandell
Louisville
-----Original Message-----
From: birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Palmer-Ball, Brainard (EPPC OOS KNPC)
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 8:39 AM
To: 'SMarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Cc: BIRDKY (E-mail)
Subject: [birdky] Re: CAPERTON SWAMP
Ben didn't mention that Caperton Swamp is his personal birding preserve and
that all visitors must call or email Ben before they go to make sure that he
is not planning to be there simultaneously or within four hours of their
visit :o)
Actually, the story of Caperton is an interesting one ... it has always been
a "swamp" but nowadays is more an area of young woods and edges with a small
pond that sometimes holds water where the swamp used to be. Back in first
half of the 20th Century, Caperton Swamp was well known for it's marsh and
accompanying marsh birds, which included nesting Least Bitterns and
Blue-winged Teal, and it was the first location in the state to have a
nesting population of Willow Flycatchers (see Mengel's Birds of Kentucky, p.
315).
Caperton was dealt a major blow when the Transportation Cabinet bisected it
in the 1960s with Interstate 71; a small portion of the old swamp persisted
up against the Ohio River bluff, but the main swamp was drained and the pond
put in it's place. At that time, most of Caperton then became a dry, open
field with a few scattered trees. Over the years it has grown up. I believe
it was in the 1970s, that a local conservation group called Riverfields
bought the property to protect it as greenspace (as they have several other
tracts along River Road). At one time there was a management plan for the
area that the Louisville Audubon Society helped formulate. That plan is
probably long since forgotten, but the area continues to grow up and Metro
Parks does a bit of annual mowing.
The final chapter of the Caperton story has to involve Ben, who adopted the
area back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I guess. He has gradually
compiled an excellent data set on the area (some might call it a data set
driven by a detail retentive personality, but most of us know better). I
would have to agree with him that it has no special characteristics about it
other than perhaps being on the river (and is apparently better for migrants
in fall than in spring). It is, in fact, however, just like many other small
islands of trees in the ever-enlarging metropolis that likes to call itself
the 16th largest city in the U.S. These little islands of vegetation can be
quite excellent as migrant traps for short periods of the year, but they
typically become quite dull in summer and winter. Most of us residing in the
Louisville area have our own little "sweet spots" ... I have our family
farm; the Bells have the patch of woods behind their home and Sawyer Park;
other BBC members have found the Shawnee Park Riverwalk; and there are
numerous others. Joe Creason Park/Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve is
another, but as most can attest, it was better as a migrant trap before the
woods all grew up (a good thing for many reasons, but certainly a diversity
killer among migrant traps). The Jefferson Memorial Forest in the southwest
part of Jefferson County also gets migrants, but it sprawls out over so much
area of woodland that migrants are dispersed ... it, on the other hand, like
Bernheim Forest to the south, is a comparatively excellent place for
breeding forest songbirds.
bpb, Louisville
-----Original Message-----
From: Marsh, Scott [mailto:SMarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 7:10 AM
To: BirdKY@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [birdky] CAPERTON SWAMP
I have people asking me about Caperton Swamp, and I am not able to help
them. Can someone give me a location and any bits of info needed to bird
there?
Thanks, scott
================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS=============
The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign
your messages with first & last name, city, &
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx
================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS==============
The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign
your messages with first & last name, city, &
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx
================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBERS==============
The BIRDKY Mailing List requires you to sign
your messages with first & last name, city, &
state abbreviation.
--------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, send e-mail to:
birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
--------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:
birdky-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx
Other related posts:
