Year 2, Day 223: Ornithology at Eagle Creek Park

We had a great day in the outdoors today! We visited Eagle Creek Park, which is on the northwest side of Indianapolis.  Why oh why, have we not visited there before?! I can compare it to the provincial park on PEI.  You pay $5 to get in the park, and they have all kinds of activities.  There's lots and lots and lots of woods, and it's right up along the big reservoir there.  There's a Discovery Center, a place to swim with blow up slide ($6 per person, and only when lifeguards are out), kayaks and canoes to rent, a dog park ($5 a day or there's an annual fee), loads and loads of trails, and of course, the ornithology center! We were there with one of our homeschool field trip groups for a class ($5 per kid).  It was soooo worth it!

I caught this picture before I went to bed last night.  I guess Socks makes a nice body pillow for the man child.  Sweet!

I think the boys spent at least 30 minutes wrestling in Benaiah's bed before we could get Benaiah out of bed.  So many laughs!  And they don't typically destroy anything.  Big goofs!

Brotherly love!

Ooo, I wonder what this is for!  Looks like fun! BTW, I totally forgot my big camera. grrrr.....thankfully, my new iPhone has a much better camera than the older versions.

Trees! Hills! Water! Animals! I've been in Indianapolis most of the last 17 years and why oh why have I not been here!?

Looking for birds in the bird sanctuary part of the lake.

Falcon? Oh, and I forgot to take pictures of them, but they had a huge diagram showing the wingspans of all the birds of prey and then one with birds of different heights so that you could compare your wingspan and height to them.  I was definitely one of the smaller birds of prey.

This young woman was almost too sweet for our group!  She definitely is a natural teacher and loves kids.  The talk was pretty basic but I was just fascinated by seeing the birds in person.  This is castrill (spelling?) falcon I believe.  This bird liked to talk a lot with it's shrill chirping type call.

Next up was the red SHOULDER hawk.  Yes, the red TAILED hawk is most common, but they had this girl here as well.  They don't have many birds, but they keep a few for educational purposes. All the birds have already been through rehab and most have wing injuries or have imprinted on humans and cannot live in the wild on their own.  They do not name the birds to emphasize that they are not pets.  This girl liked to flap her wings alot.  They have the birds already on their little leashes while they are in the carriers and they tie the leashes to the outside of the cages for easy access.  All the birds have outdoor enclosures when they are not being used for a class.

And last, but not least, a barred owl.  We all had to be as still and quiet as we could so we wouldn't freak out the birds.  Poor Abishai was afraid of them and had to sit on my lap or turn away from them for a good part of the time.  He actually fell out of a chair near the beginning of the talk, but was able to keep his crying to a minimum, sweet thing.

Miss Jenna talked about how birds are alike and different than other animals and humans.  She told us how long the birds live and what they eat.  And she showed us some gorgeous soft feathers from each bird. 

After we spent time with the live birds, we went outside to that climbing wall obstacle course looking thing.  Come to find out, it's all about how bird migrate and what problems they face when they do.  There's cats and buildings and needing to find places to land and rest and eat that can get in there way.  They had different pathways representing different migration patterns.

Jumping from one lily pad to another, making sure they flap their wings and keep an eye out for predators.

Climbing over mountains and buildings.

Here comes one of the predators!  Benaiah, the cat!  Benaiah got to come along because he doesn't have school on Fridays.  He definitely enjoyed playing the part of the cat and helping me with Abishai especially.  And I love doing things with all 4 kids.  It makes the fact that Benaiah goes to a private school a little less annoying to me.

Even Abishai gave it a try and thoroughly enjoyed doing things like the big kids.

Benaiah helped Abishai, the bird, go under and over the "telephone wires."

Not every bird makes it through migration.  Weather, cats, airplanes, telephone wires, skyscrapers with lots of windows: all of these can hurt birds.

And then, when the birds are weak and hungry, they don't always pick the right food to eat.  So, Abishai the bird, had to lift up a cover to see what he would eat and if he would survive.  I didn't pay attention to what he actually got.  But I do know that one of them was poision.

They got to do it multiple times.  This part of the park is only open if a park person is there supervising.  I would think if you would go in the center, then maybe staff members can help you with it.

It's a vulture!  This guy fell out of nest and got to used to humans.  He doesn't know how to be a vulture!  And since he and the other birds can't move too much, they feed them those frozen rodents you thaw and feed to snakes.  Ew!

The tree canopy at the park!

We're getting ready to walk down that trail there.  It was a very well groomed path.  One of the shorter trails that follows the shoreline.

Time for lunch before a big hike!

Inside the center are tons of displays of common birds captured in various moments of life.

This owl is capturing another small bird.  They have a lovely bird watching alcove where some birders come to count the population of birds.  The center is open year round, even in the winter.

A view of the reservoir from one of the observations rooms in the center.

Nice high chairs to sit on while watching the birds!

Not sure how he got a pair of these, but Abishai loved being a big kid looking out the window for things.  I think he really was trying to find something.

Beautiful forest on our hike.  Only 30 minutes from home!

Ta da!  This little man walked the whole trail with us, and did a great job navigating the tree roots.  I did hold his hand for a lot of it because he keeps stumbling and face planting at home and when we're out.  When he was walking he would say, 'Careful, careful!" and "big step, (grunt)."  He is going to just love all the hiking and such we are going to do on vacation!  He loves being outside.

Another view of the lake.  The other 3 kids didn't complain directly about the hike, but did fight the whole time, scaring off any chance to see wildlife.  Grrrr

That was a huge tree!  Perfect for a photo op!  I think this one needs to be framed!  Or at least made into a Facebook profile picture, lol!

Ta da! He's not afraid of heights, this adorable 2 yr old.  We put him up there and Benaiah was right behind him though.

Big step, march up the hill, run after siblings, repeat.  "Come on, guys!"

Wowzers! This park is huge!

So much to do and most of it is reasonably priced!

The zip lines are a little expensive, but Michigan is worse.

So much learning and being outside and exercising.  Lots of runners going through the park today, too.

"Abishai do it!" Abishai is in the phase where he wants to do everything himself.  In fact, he's also ready for potty training!  He asked to sit on the little potty when I changed his diaper this morning!  So I did, but he did not go.  He also asked when I was using the restroom at the ornithology center.  So, I casually put him up there as well.  We definitely will be tackling this when we get back from vacation.  I also upped his diaper size finally from a 3 to a 4 because he seemed to be wetting through his diaper and pants by morning.  You get less per box though, that's why I wait so long to up the size.

We made a last run to the grocery store before vacation and saw these nice clouds.  Then, we drove through them on our way to find the church Jared is speaking at on behalf of e2 tomorrow morning.  It was a pretty significant pop up thunderstorm.  Thankfully Benaiah got one yard mowed before the rain and will mow the other one tomorrow morning before he has to be at church for tech team.  It was weird only getting a few groceries, and no fresh produce, at the grocery store.  I have to bring a lot of my special foods because I'm not sure what the much smaller local grocery store will carry up there in Michigan.  

So, why do I look like a spotted animal?  Well, I was staining the blocks on the kids' climbing wall for Jared (although he meant regular paint), and I didn't notice the brush was flicking back at me.  I tried to be careful because I don't want my favorite pair of board shorts ruined.  But I did manage to get my hand, arms, legs, and footwear with flecks of stain all ver them. 

And that was it! It was a great day to be outside, and I know we will be back!