Thin Green Line
What goes on in an urban park

Just returned from a later than usual visit and found the water’s edge at every clearing filled with people fishing. Discovered goose families upon shore and counted at least 15 young today.

Goslings on shore 16 May 2010

The sandpiper was there in the same spot! Also saw a hermit thrush and catbirds,one of which was singing a surprisingly lovely song. First brown-headed cowbird, possibly with one its young.

The usual bird species I have not reported here for a while include: robins, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, jays,mourning doves,cardinals and woodpeckers.

Counting an average of 14 squirrels (3 black morphs Saturday) and 19 chipmunks today.

Lastly, found a leopard frog hopping across the park road and saw a bullfrog’s head peaking out of the small pond.

Baltimore Oriole - Juvenile

So sad to find this beautiful bird dead early this afternoon. It did not appear to have been mauled by an animal. It has been very gusty the last several days and it may have been injured in a fall-as it wasn’t an experienced flier. –I moved the poor darling and nestled it into the leaves beneath a bush with small, white blooms.

Does anyone know what type of sandpiper this might be? First ever seen in the park!

First sighting of goslings - 11 May

Amid the trash and despite unleashed dogs and tramping humans, the miracle of life persists. You can see five little ones here, and there was another couple, but with only one baby.

It’s May and cooler than it’s been through April. There seem to be only three (3) Canada geese staying here this season. Though I rarely see them, I believe there are also three (3) mallards, one pair and an extra male.  Painted turtles can usually be seen sunning on logs (numbers are moderated by the the presence of humans tramping the pond edges).  The chipmunk count was seventeen (17) the other day, a high for the season.

There are signs of some clean-up. I was told that a group from Greenwood School came out and picked up the woods behind the building. If I had known, I’d have brought them cookies and pinned a medal on the teacher(s) who suggested the activity. This gives me hope. –I hoped too that the Parks Dept. might have supported the effort by taking the abandoned shopping carts out of the dingle….but they remain.

I had a couple of encounters with city employees over the last week. –The first was with a police officer preparing to drive through the south gate.  I thanked him heartily for coming, then suggested a police presence in the evening, when the drug traffic, drinking, cock fighting, fire-setting routinely occur, -would have more of an impact on crime. He agreed and explained that there was no overtime available, and thus he was assigned to watch the walkers like me and moms strolling with their babies in the afternoon sunshine.  -On paper, the administration can say there is a police presence in Van Horn Park. Yet Springfield law enforcement dollars are being wasted while crime flourishes in the park after dark.

The other was more disturbing, literally. I heard the sound of a chain saw. There was a large white vehicle and a man in a hard hat. I was unable to stop him from tossing a log off into the rhododendrons where chipmunks and dozens of other species of wildlife are raising young.  I suggested for these reasons that this was a bad idea and he was affable and polite. He said that the log in question was rotted so he didn’t want to leave it with the piles he created to be picked up later.

I countered that this was a wooded park, and this task need not be done at all.  Fallen tree limbs could stay where they are –to provide shelter for critters and decay naturally replenishing the soil. He understood what I was talking about because he said, “The Forestry Department used to be in here,”  and admitted he is just a guy doing what his boss told him he had to do to keep his job.

I would feel a little better if this chainsaw disturbance were directed only to fallen tree limbs, but the next day, opposite the playing fields was a  stump of a tree with about an 18 inch diameter, that I don’t remember being dead or even failing. –Yesterday (Mon, 5/10) behind the school that truck was back. Red ‘tree work’ signs cut off the track and as I cut through the dingle, it looked like the crew was decimating a huge healthy tree with roots lifted just slightly (this happened a few years ago). What bothered me most was the fact they were right next to a pile of hollow logs where my daughter and watch chipmunks, and where we had seen a baby the day before. –I dread what we may find on our visit today.

See the tire, spray can in foreground and beer bottle and plastic floating? Little wonder this is a rare sight in Van Horn Park. Has anyone seen a spot in Forest Park that is maintained like this?

Today is the nicest day since last Thursday, sunny and in the high 50s. Even on the inclement days there was trash to pick up. Among the more interesting objects, a pair of men’s briefs was in the rhododendrons, and what looks like a folding wheelchair was pushed into the vegetation at a curve on the south side.

I took this shot of a popular fishing spot before I cleaned up all I could reach.    The aqua Styrofoam contained night-crawlers. There was plastic package from a ‘dancing tadpole’, which I found floating at the water’s edge – waiting to kill a goose or other creature trying to survive here.

The good news is that a park ranger drove through today! I flagged him down to thank him for the good things… and to report the wheelchair, a motorized vehicle (a man driving a tiny girl with no head protection). Then, pressing boldly on,  I brought up the abandoned shopping carts. We’ll see how that percolates down to the maintenance departments.

There is other good news, of course. There are others who care. On my way home along Armory Street, I was hailed by a woman who caught me scooping up a discarded plastic bag and bottle caps. She identified herself as a public school teacher on vacation this week. She picks up litter, too, and said she makes a special effort to do so when someone is watching, -especially children, to set an example.  This is a great idea and great inspiration!