ABAS Event Calendar
Newfields Bird Hike
March 21, 2020 @ 8:00 am-10:00 am
ABAS is excited to partner with The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park at Newfields for bird hikes on this beautiful property along the White River and Central Canal. The hikes will be led by ABAS President Rob Ripma.
Meet at Lake Terrace in the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres. There is free parking at the loop just ¼ mile west of the 38th Street entrance to Newfields. The loop parking is closer to the hike start and the address given for this event is approximate. You’ll need to be heading west on 38th Street to enter the loop parking area. Take the White River Pkwy East exit. Once in the parking area, walk north through the entrance down a very short trail to Lake Terrace. Alternatively, you can park in the main Newfield parking lots and walk down to the starting point.
The hike is free and open to the public. Registration is requested by emailing us at info@amosbutleraudubon.org.
Join us as we explore the nesting species of this wonderful property.
About Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres
On, no surprise, one hundred acres along the west side of Newfields, just east of White River, you’ll find Fairbanks Park. Explore woodlands, wetlands, meadows, and the shoreline of a 35-acre lake. It’s one of the largest museum art parks in the country, and unlike most, continues to commission temporary, site-responsive artworks.
As a former farm and later gravel quarry, Fairbanks Park has a history of disturbance that has resulted in a mix of early successional woodlands, some mature woodlands, wetlands, and a lake. This habitat diversity has created a property with the ability to host niche species of several different habitat types. Newfields strives to maintain that habitat diversity by invasive species removal and planting of Indiana native plant species in all areas of the Park.
Recent additions include a nesting platform built to attract birds of prey, a wild grass labyrinth, and a variety of bird feeding and viewing stations.