On Saturday, August 3, 2024, 13 young birders, parents, grandparents, and supporters joined the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) at Snyder Heritage Farm near Elkhart. A beautiful property consisting of a mix of prairie, oak savanna, pothole wetland, and woodland ecosystems, Snyder Heritage Farm has been stewarded by INHF since the early 1990’s. We were joined by Sydney Algreen-Hunter with INHF, who shared with us the farm’s special history and led us on a walking tour of the different ecosystems. Everyone was excited to explore!

We were welcomed to the farm by a very cooperative Eastern Gray Treefrog that was resting on a picnic table near the barn. The frog was very cooperative, allowing everyone to study it closely as we talked about how this native amphibian can change from bright green to mottled gray. Later, it disappeared briefly only to reappear crawling up the trunk of a nearby tree. We paused to watch it hop out onto a limb. As we continued introductions, we found another amphibian, a Boreal Chorus Frog, bounding through the grass. One of the young birders quickly snagged the small frog and we studied its characteristic black stripes in hand. We might be there for the birds, but we always take the opportunity to learn about other critters!

As we started to hike towards the prairie to search for grassland birds, we stopped to admire an Eastern Bluebird perched on a fencepost, beak full of insects likely destined for the hungry mouths of nestlings inside a nearby nest box. We were soon drawn to the prairie by a song consisting of sharp chirps coming from low in the vegetation. With some patience, a Sedge Wren emerged, perching high on a compass plant stalk for everyone to see. We continued our walk into the prairie, pausing occasionally to learn about the many flowering plants, watch a Red-headed Woodpecker fly overhead, or to admire the Common Green Darner dragonflies zipping through the air. We finished our walk through the prairie with great looks of both male and female Dickcissels, another of our grassland songbirds.

After taking a break in some shade to watch some Barn Swallows swoop back and forth through the yard, we started towards the oak savanna. Along the way, we stopped to watch various species of dragonflies patrolling the edge of one of the wetlands and to study a distant Turkey Vulture sitting atop a powerline pole. The savanna produced some new species for our list including a House Wren, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Northern Flicker, and a gorgeous male Indigo Bunting. We also heard a Common Yellowthroat singing and stopped to study an Eastern Kingbird, both near the wetland as we hiked back to the barn. We finished our morning with 20 species of birds on our list as well as several other fun critters!

Thanks very much to INHF for hosting us and especially to Sydney Algreen-Hunter for teaching us about the plants and animals of the property! You can view our bird list here and photos from our morning here.