Sycamore Sightings

In 2021, we installed the first 15 cameras at Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve and other preserves along Beanblossom Creek for our Wildlife Camera Project. So far we have recorded over 100 species, including bobcat kittens meowing as they cross the beaver dam and this beaver kit helping make repairs to the beaver lodge.

In 2008, Sycamore made an agreement with the Indiana Division of Nature Preserves to undertake habitat management for endangered Kirtland’s snakes at Beanblossom Bottoms. A team of volunteers including a local Boy Scout troop helped to remove developing tree cover, leaving oaks, in order to maintain the open, wet-meadow nature of the site. At the time, this area was seasonally wet but fairly dry in summer. With the expanded beaver activity, the whole area has become much wetter.  Vicky Meretsky

In 2012, three endangered Indiana bats were caught in mist nets at Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve in a research survey with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and WEST. The bats were tagged with radio transmitters and released, helping us locate their roost trees. Indiana bats tend to return each summer to cluster in the same roost trees, after migrating up to hundreds of miles from their winter hibernacula.

This fall, we are partnering with the USFWS, Indiana DNR, and WEST to study the bats at Beanblossom Bottoms and offer an educational opportunity to our members. We’ll gather just before dusk to set up mist nets and acoustic monitors around the gravel trail at Beanblossom Bottoms, hoping to catch and possibly tag Indiana bats. John Lawrence

Land Preservation Director Tom Swinford remembers visiting Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve in its early years:

“As a young ecologist working for the Division of Nature Preserves I was visiting the high-quality forest at Beanblossom Bottoms for the first time. My life was filled with big changes both personal and professional. But experiencing this new-to-me natural area of wetland oaks and southern plants had me exhilarated. Crossing the forest floor I encountered a truly unexpected plant – little club spur bog orchid (Platanthera clavellata)! I was familiar with this uncommon beauty from my days spent in Indiana’s northern lakes and bogs, but it is absent from much of Indiana. Checking the reference books that night (pre internet) I discovered it was a new County record, a great feeling knowing I had contributed to our knowledge of this plant.”

This article is from the Winter-Spring 2025 issue of The Twig, “The Habitat for Herons Issue.” Read the issue at sycamorelandtrust.org/twig.