On September 17, 2022, eight birders gathered at 8:00 am at Teter Retreat and Organic Farm in Noblesville for a morning of birding. Earlier this year towards the end of April, several ABAS volunteers partnered with members from the Indiana Wildlife Federation and volunteers from Teter Retreat to canvass the 120-acre property and identify the bird species present. We were so impressed with the diversity of vegetation that we scheduled an ABAS fall field trip there to coincide with the fall bird migration.

On September 10, 2022, a small, but enthusiastic group of birders, joined field trip leader Terry Ballenger for a morning of birding at Strawtown Koteewi Park. The weather was ideal. It was sunny with little to no wind, making it easier to spot the fast-moving birds hunting for breakfast.

On May 7, five birders joined field trip leader Scott Enochs at the Bryant Creek Shelter in Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Our target bird, a Worm-eating Warbler, quickly came into close view and remained for a couple of minutes ensuring everyone got great looks. In all we accumulated a list of 36 bird species.

On Sunday, April 24, 2022, ABAS led a field trip to Atterbury and Driftwood State Fish and Wildlife Areas (FWA) in Edinburgh. These are two great gems for birding, just south of Indianapolis.

On April 16th, 14 birders joined Laurie Voss, ABAS Recording Secretary and field trip leader, for a morning of birding at the “Burn”.  Our primary target bird was the Smith’s Longspurs that are attracted to this location due the presence of foxtail, a weedy grass which disperses bristled seeds, that the birds eat.

On March 5th, 36 birders gathered for the annual Woodcock Walk at West Park in Carmel. Promptly at 7:00 pm we began hearing “peenting” sounds coming from multiple American Woodcocks. We soon saw their amazing and unusual aerial displays directly above us. The wonderful displays went on for approximately 30 minutes. In all, we counted five American Woodcocks displaying.

February 19 a caravan formed to visit four Carmel-Clay parks. Nine birders joined leader Chuck Anderson at 9:00 am at Flowing Well Park, the starting point of the planned Great Backyard Bird Count Caravan.

Nine birders gathered at Washington Park in Michigan City at 8:00 am local time on January 8. The temp was in the mid-teens and a strong wind was out of the southeast, but at least we didn’t get sandblasted. All were greeted by Eric and Tina Rosier, the field trip leaders.

On December 5, an intrepid group of 15 birders was out on a frosty morning. Newfields strives to maintain that habitat diversity by invasive species removal and planting of Indiana native plant species in all areas of the Park. On this Saturday, the group had an immature Bald Eagle fly over and Pine Siskins among the 31 species they saw. Another highlight was a white-tailed deer and a nice buck at that. ABAS holds these hikes quarterly in conjunction with Newfields.