In the recent rains, the river rose briefly but significantly, perhaps as much as ten feet. Much of the trail was underwater for some time. On Saturday, July 11th, we’ll do what we can to clean up after that. Some of the timbers that line the trail need attention, for instance.
The Park District is also initiating a new set of projects along the fenced west edge of the nature area. The plan is to clear a number of small (3′x3′) areas and plant them with interesting native species. On Saturday, we’ll help with the beginning of some of this planting work. More on the Park District plan in a future posting.
There will no doubt be weeding (invasives removal) and trash collecting to be done, as well.
We’ll gather at the south end of the trail about 9am and plan to be at it until about noon. Come for any or all of that.
Please mailto:info@ronanparktrail.com if you’re going to come, so that we can plan to have enough tools and gloves and suc but
Categories: Trail Days
Well, the huge team of Lukie Marriott and I gathered at the trail about 9am last Saturday. We started at the north end and scoured the full length south to Lawrence and then back the other side of the trail, picking up trash, pulling garlic mustard and thistle and bindweed, and noticing that there seems to be more wild parsnip popping up this year than last.
We only found garlic mustard in scattered spots, though there is a big chunk of the west side of the trail where all the garlic mustard was little shoots off of bigger roots. We didn’t have proper tools, so there we couldn’t get the bigger roots. Next time! …as they are sure to make themselves noticeable again. The tall, thick patch that the Lab School kids pulled a couple of weeks ago, on the far southwest edge of the park (just north of the trees and bushes) looked totally clear. No new flowering.
Lots of columbine blooming, some other teeny tiny white clustered flowers, and many things we couldn’t identify. And the weather was perfect. We were finished before it got too hot. I walked home through the park proper, catching last bits of trash. Hopefully a really clean park discouraged some would-be litterers over the long weekend.
Next trail day sometime later in June. Stay tuned here for details. OR… join our mailing list for email alerts.
Categories: Plants · Trail Days
‘Tis the season. We’ve had two groups out already in this last week. And now our first community volunteers day on the trail… Saturday, May 23rd, 9AM to Noon or so. See the Volunteers page for details. And come join us on the trail!
Categories: Needed · Trail Care
Here’s the latest from Annemarie Rand on the birds at Ronan Park:
I went to Ronan Park early on Sunday morning, May 10, to see what migrants were coming through. Since our winter was so long and brutal, it’s nice that spring is here and if you like birds, this is the time to get out and see some beauties!
Springtime is the time for the brightly colored warblers, the jewels of the bird world. They are tiny and quick, but their colors will make you gasp. I was able to see a Nashville warbler, a Black and White warbler, Magnolia warblers and a Palm warbler.
There was a hermit thrush, nesting American Robins, a Gray Catbird, and I heard a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. (I couldn’t see him though, so he must have been way up in the tree.)
There are a lot of Canada geese with babies. They like to walk right on the path, so if you encounter them, please don’t make them feel threatened in any way. They can get quite nasty and will attack. My advice is to stand very still, admire their babies, then get out of their way!
The Belted Kingfishers were flying overhead being very vocal. I also saw and heard White-crowned Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows. The Black-crowned Night Heron was under the old pumping station as usual. There were a lot of Barn Swallows and Chimney swifts as well.
I’m waiting to see the Red-headed Woodpeckers again. They weren’t there yet. I’m really hoping they come and nest again in the dead trees.
In March, I was invited by Audubon-Chicago Region to attend a talk given by National Audubon’s Senior Scientist for important bird areas. This scientist has a program that he would like Audubon-Chicago Region to pilot for him. I was thrilled to be asked to attend the meeting and it was very interesting. I don’t know exactly what the decision will be, but I was able to speak a bit about Ronan Park and the great improvements that have been made there and the wonderful birds that I see. Audubon-Chicago Region knows that I would be willing to do this program at Ronan Park if they and the Chicago Park District decide it’s something they want to pursue.
Categories: Wildlife
Thanks to the Friends of the Chicago River and their 17th annual River Day. Volunteers worked on 60 different sites last Saturday. Ronan Park Nature Trail was one of those sites, and the trail is newly mulched as a result.
Categories: Trail Care
Tagged: Volunteers
A big thanks to the 120 students from the University of Chicago Lab School, for coming out this morning and picking up piles of trash and pulling out aggressively invasive garlic mustard flowers. Half of the group went on to River Park just north of Ronan, while half spread out, scanned and cleaned the whole of Ronan Park. When they reached the top of the park, they all came back along the river trail, picking trash and garlic mustard into bags.
Maybe it’s just early in the season, but there were only scatterings of garlic mustard flowers. One big patch of it in the park proper, southwest corner, in a low spot, near the west fenceline, just north of the grove of trees. That was knee high and thriving. We found one bigger patch between the trail and the river, almost at the very top of the trail, but much of that was less than 12″ tall. Then mostly only scatterings a few to a couple dozen plants, only here and there, along the rest of the trail. So maybe we’re still doing okay on that.
Categories: Plants · Trail Care
It took a while, but finally have gotten around to posting additional Plant Notes.
Categories: Plants · WebsiteNotes
Annemarie Rand, volunteer bird monitor, sends this report:
On the morning of October 11, I went to the trail for a fall bird monitoring session. Thank God for the later sunrise in the fall! I saw some great birds. Many were just passing through in their travels south. I saw two Hermit Thrushes, an Eastern Towhee and many Golden-crowned Kinglets. There was also a Brown Creeper making its way up one tree.
It was a great morning for herons: I observed two Black-crowned Night Herons (one successfully fishing) and a Great Blue Heron.
The usual Mallards were there as well a the European Starlings and the Belted Kingfishers.
I was looking for the Red-headed Woodpeckers, but didn’t see them at all. I’m not sure if they have left already. I truly hope that they are back again next spring as they are one of the species declining in population in our area.
It’s great to see the signs up at each end of the trail declaring it a recognized bird and butterfly habitat. We truly have a gem of a natural area at Ronan Park!
Categories: Wildlife
I spent a little time entering emails and organizing our short but growing email list today. Made some phone calls to people for whom I had only a phone number.
Along the way, I got to chatting with one person who thought her work schedule would keep her from participating… but it turns out she was just out walking the trail and picked up a bunch of trash. Well, that counts as participating! Almost certainly somebody noticed her doing it, and now we have here, too.
If you’d like to be part of conversing and connecting and caring around the Trail, click the request link at the top of the sidebar, and I’ll add you to the list. Or just keep walking and quietly tending to what needs to be done around the Trail, whenever and however it’s easy for you!
Categories: Contact · Needed · Trail Care
