Prairie Rose Farm: One of the Best Trips Ever
by Lukas Padegimas

July 26-27, 2008 near Marysville, Ohio

The two days spent at Prairie Rose Farm created many wonderful memories of a paradise. The story began when two people from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Donna and Tim Daniel, bought a plain fifty acre farm. However, over the past 12 years, they managed to turn it into a beautiful, wildlife paradise with many warm and cold season prairies filled with numerous wildflowers. The amount of work they did was breathtaking.

When the Young Birders arrived at the residence, we were given a quick introduction by Donna, and later we went on a hayride to see the grounds. There were many fields; all of them full of butterflies. It was amazing to see so many Black Swallowtails flying in the area. The fields also hosted a lot of other butterflies that are not as often found. The trick consisted of Donna and Tim making it their goal to have a food plant for every butterfly that could be found in the Eastern United States. The prairies also seemed really good for some sparrows. We made it our goal to make a list of birds found in the fields.

Afterward, we were given a set amount of time to be free to roam the property and search for different fish in the stream, and look for birds, butterflies, examine plants, etc. I went to search for some interesting butterflies. The first one that caught my eye was a beautiful Giant Swallowtail. I had never seen one before, but I recognized at first sight since I have looked at it many times in the field guide.

Very interesting and new to me was that Donna and Tim had put out a lot of rotten fruit. This attracted several butterflies that rarely frequent flowers. Hackberry Emperors, Tawny Emperors, Question Marks, Commas, Red Admirals, and Red-spotted Purples were numerous. The flowers attracted many Monarchs, Red Spotted Purples, Viceroys, American Snout, Cloudless Sulphurs, Summer Azures, Black Swallowtails, Spicebush Swallowtails, Wood Nymphs, Meadow and Greatspangled Fritillaries.

Meanwhile, several other Young Birders managed to catch a trout, a Hog Sucker, Creek Chubs, and many other fish. Prairie Rose Farm fascinated us with its beauty. Because of the abundance of so many wildflowers, especially in front of the house, one could see at least 10 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at one time. The Hummingbirds were an amazing sight to watch; they would “speak to one another” and chase each other around. They also came to feed at the flowers and they could be seen snatching insects out of the air too – a great place to observe hummingbirds.

Later, we gathered around a campfire and discussed what we had seen. Soon, it was time for everyone to put up tents. Everyone started at different times, but it did not take long. Afterward, some of the Young Birders decided to feed the chickens a some invasive Japanese Beatles that had been captured in specially designed traps. While plants probably don’t like these beetles for the extreme damage they can do, the chickens absolutely loved them.

Then, we went to the barn. The top of the barn had a colony of both Little Brown and Big Brown Bats, coexisting peacefully. In the barn Tim had setup a laptop computer that was running a Power Point presentation which showed the basics of how bats hunt. They hunt by echolocation. There was also really neat video footage of dancing bats that really helps people remember how they hunt. One interesting fact that most people overlook is that bats actually go for big juicy moths instead of mosquitoes. After watching the videos we set up backlights to attract moths and painted bait for moths onto several tree trunks.

Then we all gathered in the yard to watch the bats leave the barn for the night to hunt. As soon as the sun began to set, they started flying out in really large numbers. The bats generally flew out of one place – a hole in the wall of the second floor. Tim also had a Bat Detector that registered the echolocation of both species of bats. It was really cool to hear the bats fly and call.

The Bat Detector could tell the difference between a Little or Big Brown bat because their echolocation is at tow different speeds. Little Browns, the clicks on the Bat Detector were very fast, and for the Big Browns they sounded much slower. Their flight styles are very different too. The Big Browns always seem to know exactly where they are going and fly in a straight line, while the Little Browns did not and made very sharp turns when flying. It was obvious to see the behavioral difference on the spot. After a large group of bats finally flew out of the barn and only a few came out, it was time to check the backlight and the bait.

Upon reaching the bait, we found several gigantic underwing moths feeding on the bait. The bait also attracted a lot of different species of underwings and other colorful moths. As night progressed, and it became darker and darker, more and more moths arrived at the bait. The blacklight, unlike last year, did not attract many moths. It was amazing to see how moths could truly cover trees. Later we had dinner cooked over the campfire. The food was really good, but some were just too worried about seeing all the different moths to eat the food. The moth gathering lasted until 12:30, and when the last of the adults went to bed, we had to go to bed too.

Waking up the next day was rather easy since it was surprisingly cold outside, and my sleeping bag was not really keeping me warm enough. One by one, everyone else was getting up too. We then had our breakfast and set out to bird. We did not see too many birds, but a lot of butterflies. There were no really big highlights except for the fact that Indigo Bunting and Eastern Bluebirds in the area were really beautiful. After getting back to camp, everyone packed up. Afterward, we got a wonderful tour by Donna detailing about all the different wildflowers that were in her prairie garden. The tour was very interesting and educational.

At the end, we met by the campfire and discussed what we saw and shared our lists. It was a wonderful trip and probably one of the best ones our club has ever had. Many thanks to Donna and Tim for giving us such an enjoyable time!