January 25, 2007

By Lauren Heaton

As a New Year’s resolution of sorts, the Glen Helen Ecology Institute is getting down to the science its name suggests by reinvigorating a count of the plant and animal species that call the Glen home. Relying on civilian scientists to help, GHEI director Nick Boutis invites villagers with knowledge of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, trees, woody plants or wild flowers to hike the Glen throughout the year and to count and report the diversity of life in the woodland preserve.

A trained birder, Boutis kicked off the new cataloguing effort with a bird hike on the first day of the year. The cold and rain didn’t deter the 15 bird and nature lovers who came out to help count the 255 birds the group managed to see soaring by in the less than two hours they spent hiking. Among those sighted were 115 American robins, 26 Carolina chickadees, 22 American crows, three golden crowned kinglets, three brown creepers, one belted kingfisher, a northern flicker and a hairy woodpecker.

Though birders were hoping to catch a glimpse of the rose-breasted grosbeak that Glen Raptor Center director Betty Ross saw last month at a most uncommon time of year, none of the New Year’s Day sightings surprised Boutis. But he was excited to add the first snippets of information to update the list of 145 species of birds in the Glen, which can be accessed through the Glen’s Web site at www.antioch-college.edu/glenhelen/science.

Part of the importance of having a composite list of species, according to Boutis, is to assess the health of the Glen’s ecosystem and track how it changes over time. Visitors to the Glen won’t see as many ducks now because the old pond no longer exists, and Boutis said he would be surprised to see grassland birds such as bobwhites and prairie pheasants since farming is no longer practiced in the Glen.

Having information about the Glen’s tiny ecosystem to plug into Ohio’s animal migratory and breeding statistics can eventually lead to causal connections between animal and plant behavior and events such as climate change and perhaps even species evolution. For instance, Boutis said, if the 30 species of warblers one would expect to see in the northeastern United States are doing poorly, but almost all of them are sighted in the Glen, then it is reasonable to assume the Glen is providing a needed habitat for an endangered bird population.

The more vulnerable migrant songbirds such as the kinglets, junkets and brown creepers need habitats such as the Glen where they stop over during migration between northern nesting sites and southern winter homes, said Boutis, who is happy to see that the Glen offers a welcome refuge for the weary travelers.

The Glen is also interested in collecting information on the other animal and plant categories.

“The lists help us to improve our understanding of the place and to fulfill our goal as a resource for this region,” Boutis said. “And to the extent that we’re able to have well-documented information, it can help us develop management practices.”

None of the Glen’s species lists has been updated in any rigorous way since the 1960s, which means any information hikers provide will help to update the record, Boutis said.

Contributors can report sightings to glenhelen@gmail.com, noting the species type and number and the date and location of the sighting.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com