On a frigid day in late January, the Central Ohio Chapter of Ohio Young Birders Club (OYBC) defied the extreme outdoor temperatures and plunged into the great outdoors! The location was Prairie Rose Farm in North Lewisburg, Ohio and the focus of the field trip was Winter Wildlife Tracking.
Mime Migliore, Nature Education Coordinator for the city of Dublin, spent the afternoon with 13 OYBC enthusiasts. She shared her extensive knowledge of tracking out in the fields and trails of the farm. After 1 ½ hours out in the elements, the group reconvened in a barn to create some bird-feeding crafts, led by Donna Daniel of Wild Ohio TV. Some of the heartiest of the group then continued on to Mad River Mountain for snow tubing on the wintry hills.
New OYBC member Nick Baltutis was one of the hearty bunch on hand that day. He described his experiences at his first OYBC event:
I had fun at the Birders Club. I learned a lot from it. I learned how to track and classify an animal just by its tracks. I saw lots of tracks, including coyote, mouse, and even bird tracks. Since it was snowy out, it was really easy to find tracks. What was really cool was when I saw wing tracks after a bird took off flying!
Animals and humans alike have left and right foot dominance, sort of like if you are left or right handed, but just with feet. I learned that I’m left foot dominant. For humans, 20% of people are left foot dominant and the other 80% are right. With animals, it’s 50/50.
The people there were friendly and fun. We all made seed girls at the end and it was very fun to make them. Even though it was a 2 degree wind chill, I felt great exploring, learning, and having fun.
Check out the photo gallery for this OYBC event!
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