WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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With the season of spring upon us, many citizens of Bloomington may be noticing the vibrant signs in nature, from blossoming trees to the sounds of the songbirds.
As a fellow citizen stuck inside most of the day, I noticed that the birds seemed to stand out more than before and I wondered whether or not the birds have always been this vocal during this time of the year or if it was just an outcome of a world living with less commotion.
With this in mind, I talked with Bloomington citizen, David Rupp about the appearance of birds in our state and why we should take note of this right now.
David Rupp is the owner and guide of Indigo Nature Tours, a company that was formed in 2013 with the goal of providing ecotourism that is “education and experiential-based”. Rupp explained that his job is to teach people about birds, nature and the history of the land in Indiana along with taking regional trips to places such as Lake Erie and the Indiana dunes.
Rupp answered my question with his own observations from recent excavations and being a fellow bird-watcher himself saying, “One of my goals is to get people to do exactly what you’re talking about which is open your eyes and ears and become connected and see what’s going on around you and so it’s both that for you and then …also its April in Bloomington and so the bird activity does pick up whether the numbers compared to past years are picking up I can’t say that but the males are out singing and claiming their territory and attracting their mates and birds are working on building their nests..”
He also explained that birds will appear even more vibrant in the next upcoming weeks:
“Another two weeks from now it will be even greater, the first week of may can really be a spectacular time for birds in Indiana … we get all these birds that are getting back from the tropics, spent their winter there and will be arriving, most of them end up being in our state parks and forests but some will actually be in town here as well so you might be able to pay more attention and there might be other things showing up…”
Rupp described the various birds -especially songbirds- that will be coming to bird feeders in many homes during the last week of April and the first week of May, according to him. These include birds such as the Rose-breasted Gross Peaks, Warblers, and Indigo Buntings.
Some of these birds, like the Indigo Bunting, have migratory patterns ranging from southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season. The Indigo Bunting, a bright blue songbird, can be nicknamed “blue canaries” because of this. The most common places for spotting these birds are noted to be in weedy fields and shrubby areas near trees, singing from dawn to dusk.
Posted on April 1st through Indigo Nature’s Facebook page, Rupp stated, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the governor’s “stay at home” order for Indiana, I will not be offering tours during the month of April. Instead, please “like” this page to be notified of virtual birding videos and Facebook Live events that I will be offering.”
Through this pandemic crisis, Rupp admitted that it has been more of a challenge to continue getting people involved with the bird-watching community, however, on the other hand, he stated that serious bird-watchers have still continued to get outside individually.
According to Rupp, April is usually one of the busiest times of the year for Indigo Birding Tours. Although social distancing has forced many businesses to close, the bird-watching community seems to continue thriving through the use of social media as an outlet to keep people involved and connected.
The Bloomington Bird Fest was set to happen on April 4th at the new Switchyard Park, however, because of circumstances, it was canceled. The festival began about 3 years ago from a group of IU biology members and has grown as an educational event and celebration of birds with the involvement of the Sassafras Audubon Society. SAS represents Monroe, Lawrence, Owen, Greene, Morgan, Jackson, Brown and Bartholomew counties in Indiana.
Rupp explained it as a “group of people that care about bird education trying to come together and provide an event that reaches out to people who may not go out and explore birds otherwise.”
In efforts to keep citizens involved, the Sassafras Audubon Society has been making posts each day on their Facebook page with info on birds for people to learn more about them.
Rupp explained other ways that the bird-watching community has been staying connected. These include Facebook pages such as “Birding in Indiana”, “Indiana Birdwatching”, and sites like E-bird, a way to connect and post observations of birds and natural discoveries.
Rupp expressed other ways that the community is staying involved and connected even with social distancing as he said, “Yesterday there was a group of 35 American avocets, which are these pretty spectacular long-legged shorebirds that aren’t very common around here that showed up at the beach I think down at Fairfax on Lake Monroe and you know the word got around the birding community and people were going around to check it out and take pictures and such. That’s just the internet and people that are already connected getting the chances to find something pretty cool that someone else has already found.”
One of Rupp’s videos for the Indigo Tours was recently sponsored and posted by Tom’s of Maine on their own social media page. The videos included sites on Morgan-Monroe State Forest and Brown County State Park where Rupp explored signs of spring for people to see.
To those who may wonder what the outcome can be for watching birds in nature, Rupp expressed the importance of not only noticing the birds but just being in nature, especially during this pandemic crisis stating,
“There are plenty of studies that show that being out in nature is good for your emotional and mental health and so if people are feeling stressed or cooped up, or off their game, this would be a chance to just go outside and go for a walk in a park, you know keep your social distance and all that, but even if you’re not learning what every bird song is you can still go out and breathe in and relax and take in surroundings and I think that’s probably a good thing for people to do.”
