Happy Earth Day!

A sincere "thank you" to everyone who attended the 13th Annual Earth Day Celebration at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods last Saturday. We appreciate everyone braving the cold, windy and wet weather conditions.

On a beautiful spring day we expect between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors for this event, but the weather forecast of 50 degrees and scattered showers had us a little worried this year. Surprisingly, we estimate about 800 people supported the event and we couldn't have been more pleased. We appreciate the visitors, vendors, educators, sponsors, and volunteers. It was great celebrating with you all!

We look forward to seeing everyone next year on April 21. But hopefully you won't wait that long to visit us again. Hope to see you soon!

Thank you to the Dobbs Park crew.

 The Women of Erin entertained us with their beautiful Irish music.

 Zann Carter was weaving and sharing her beautiful works.

 Families enjoyed time together laughing and learning.

 Awesome newspaper hats were created in the children's area.

 Silly Safari was a big hit with their animals and wildlife education!

 Plants for sale!

 Sister Karen Van De Walle, CSJ, traveled from Indianapolis to sell her gorgeous pottery.

 Sister Jeanne Knoerle spins alpaca fiber in the warm lodge during the celebration.

 Sister Joann Quinkert lets David try his hand at weaving.

 Thank you to the vendors who offered quality handmade products.

Healthy lunch items were enjoyed by all!

The alpacas welcomed hundreds of visitors. (Thanks to Julie O'Neil there in the background!)

 Sister Jean Fuqua explains the spinning of fiber to this little bundled one.

Mark Booth and his raptors were a big hit again this year.

Cardinal encounter

So I’m walking along the fence of the female alpaca pasture with the camera trying to get a few good close-up shots of the alpacas for Sister Ruth Johnson’s felted art wall hangings. (She creates each of her wall hangings from a snapshot of alpacas at White Violet Farm Alpacas.)

It’s at the end of the work day in order to get the “good” sun for what I think are going to be workable photos. It ended up being cloudy. I have driven my car from the parking lot to the barn because when this photo session is over I’m heading out the back gate to start my evening.

I’m making silly noises trying to get the girls to stop chomping on grass and look my way. Some do, some try to get as far away from me as possible (that’s why the long lens comes in handy) and a few walk right over to me.

During this picture pursuit I’ve noticed intense chirping sounds, but really didn’t decide to check it out until I had some photos I thought Sister Ruth would appreciate.

Feeling comfortable about my shots, I look over to where the clatter is coming and notice a female cardinal jumping from atop the passenger side mirror of my car to the door. She does this over and over while being quite vocal.

I snap a few pictures of her. I try to get closer knowing she’ll probably fly away if I do. She lets me, so I snap more pictures. She continued entertaining me for several minutes and allowed me to capture this fun memory on camera. Three favorites are below.

Does anyone else have any neat birding stories from this spring? Please share.