What to See This Week

Remnants of prairie plants stay standing all the way through the winter. Pictured here are the seed pods of foxglove beardtongue, a common plant that has white flowers in the early summer before most of the other prairie plants have begun to bloom. Look for the pods now at Dutch Fork Wetlands and the Red Barn Reserve and come back again in June to see them in full bloom!

Just as expected, the skunk cabbage isn’t deterred by the light blanket of snow and colder temperatures. In fact, even with temperatures below freezing, the skunk cabbage smell still lingered in the air around the creek in the Conifer Glen.

It is not uncommon to see bald eagle flyovers at The Arboretum, but this eagle was spotted and photographed perched on a tree on Arboretum property near state route 13 by Arboretum Director of Development Matt Riddle! Bald eagles are a conservation success story; in 1979 only four nesting pairs were recorded in Ohio. As of 2025 there was a recorded 964 active nests in the state!

You never know what you might find when walking up to the pond at the Red Barn Reserve. This morning, a female common goldeneye was spotted on the pond. Goldeneyes breed further north but can be seen in our area during the winter months.

Did you know blue jays can be impressive mimics? This blue jay was making a very convincing red-tailed hawk call in the main parking lot this morning. One suggestion for why they do this is to trick squirrels and other birds into believing that a hawk is nearby in an attempt to clear out feeding areas.

A few weeks ago, an American tree sparrow was featured. The tree sparrow has remained in the Bird Watching Garden area at the feeders and even brought along a second tree sparrow! This photo gives a little bit better of a view of all the defining characteristics of this winter sparrow. When identifying sparrows (of which there are over a dozen species in Ohio) it is important to take note of each field marking like eyestripe color, cap color, and bill color. The most notable with the American tree sparrow is their beautiful bicolored bill, a feature that is not seen on other Ohio sparrow species.

The snow gave us at least one more chance at a picturesque snowy cardinal photo. Did you know their bright red color comes from their diet? Fruits like those from dogwoods and sumacs provide cardinals with carotenoid pigments.

Red-winged blackbirds have been active in the Bird Watching Garden over the last couple of weeks. Throughout the breeding season they feed on invertebrates but switch to seeds in the winter. In a week or two they will be all over the wetland areas of The Arboretum singing their distinctive song, one of the earliest signs of spring.