The 2023 Ralph K. Bell Memorial Walk

Ralph K. Bell was a mentor, role model and friend to a great many people. He passed 9 years ago and many people still feel the loss. This year’s Ralph K. Bell Memorial Walk and Picnic was another way for some of us to celebrate his life and what he meant to us personally and to the science of birding in general. It was a beautiful day.

Ralph and Jan at the 2011 Bell Farm Walk. (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

As usual, Jan and I showed up early so I could help participants know where to park their cars.

While people were arriving we were serenaded by many Red-winged Blackbirds nesting in the large nearby grassy meadows and by Purple Martins in their gourd nestboxes. The home, next door, where Ralph was born is now the residence of Ralph’s grandson C. David and his wife Leah. We met at the home where Ralph lived most of his life which is now the second home of Ralph’s son David and his wife Ruth. Both homes have wonderful plantings, flower beds, gardens and, of course, lots of places for birds to eat, nest and roost. Nearby are the plantings of the Bell Christmas Tree Farm.

Male Red-winged Blackbird (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Many birds also make this area their home throughout the year. On the Bell Farm there are nesting American Kestrels, Purple Martins, Tree Swallows, and Eastern Bluebirds in various nest boxes.

Female American Kestrel (Photos (c) Bill Beatty)

Eastern Bluebird on nest box with caterpillar. (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

The walk is sponsored by The Ralph K. Bell Bird Club of Greene County, PA. We started with a greeting and introduction by Marjorie Howard for the bird club and C. David for the Bell family.

Greetings and introductions. (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Jan with the Bell family representatives, David, Leah, and C. David. (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Even as we went down the driveway and started down the road, the large group broke into smaller groups, which is typical of bird walks.

Photo (c) Jan Runyan

Right away we began to pay attention to the multitude of bird songs around us. There were a number of birding experts to help with the identification of the birds everyone was seeing and hearing.

Male Scarlet Tanager (Photo (c) Jan Runyan)

Photo (c) Bill Beatty

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Photo (c) Bill Beatty

Kentucky Warbler (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Louisiana Waterthrush (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Larry “Scope” Helgerman was able to show everyone, up close and personal, nests of an Acadian Flycatcher and a Wood Thrush.

Photo (c) Bill Beatty

Acadian Flycatcher on nest (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Wood Thrush on nest (Photo (c) Larry Helgerman)

We also enjoyed and identified wildflowers.

Miami Mist (𝑃ℎ𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑎 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑖) (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Four-leaved Milkweed (𝐴𝑠𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑎) (Photo (c) Jan Runyan)

After we walked a long mile through several different habitats, we arrived at “the bridge” — our turn-around point. The walk back (and car rides up the last hill) were faster since we knew what was waiting for us.

“The bridge.” (Photo (c) Jan Runyan)

There is always a picnic under the majestic spreading Tulip Popular tree after the Ralph Bell Bird Walk, but this year the Ralph K. Bell Bird Club took this opportunity to do some club business, too. They provided part of the meal and invited attendees to bring something to share. Then, after lunch, we honored this year’s two 2023 Ralph K. Bell scholarship winners who are high school seniors from Greene County, PA.

Delicious lunch in a perfect setting (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Finally, after celebratory cake and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, we went over the bird list from the day, adding species that had been seen or heard by small groups, but not yet reported. (Jan and I didn’t hear the final total number of species.) We all had a wonderful day celebrating Ralph, young nature lovers, plants and, especially, birds!

Indigo Bunting and Ovenbird — Two Bird Photos… by request.

At this year’s West Virginia Wildflower Pilgrimage, one of the participants and I were talking about birds when I mentioned a photo I had taken showing an Indigo Bunting female feeding a grasshopper to her chick. This person follows our blog and asked if I could somehow show her the photo. I decided to do a blog post about it.

When I was making a living shooting photos professionally, I had some incredible experiences and learned a great deal about birds that I couldn’t have learned without passionate, regular visits to wild places looking for birds in nesting and feeding (young) situations. I was always very careful not to cause undue stress to nesting birds. My photos were always from a camouflaged blind which was portable and could be quickly and easily set up. I wore camouflage. Playback recordings were never used. I couldn’t have learned so much about the birds’ normal behaviors if I had attracted them with recordings. And, of course, the recordings really stress birds during breeding/nesting season. Eventually, I was able to look at a bird and know immediately by its behavior if it had an active nest and was feeding young. There are ways I can gently follow a bird to its nest without causing it undue stress. I knew when and how to safely set up the blind without causing the bird to abandon its nest, even though the blind would sometimes be just 4 feet away.

One day I found an active Indigo Bunting nest. The nest was easy to see and would be easy to photograph, but there was a dilemma — it was quite a distance from the nearest road. I would have to carry all my equipment — blind, tripod, camera and other gear — a long way. I checked with the person who owned the property and they kindly gave me permission to drive my CJ5 Jeep through the woods to the location. Fortunately, my Jeep was small enough to negotiate close quarters between woodland trees to the edge of the meadow where the nest was. After setting up the blind and camera equipment, I began shooting photos. Only the female was feeding the chicks, while the male sang happily from distant and nearby perches. She was feeding them large grasshoppers (large, I thought, for the small throats of the babies). She didn’t feed them as often as I had hoped and I spent a lot of time waiting between feedings. After a few hours the sky began to darken — rain was forecast. I left the blind and tripod set up there, planning to return the next morning. It was a rainy and windy night.

The next morning I discovered that the blind had been blown over, right on top of the nest. I was horrified. However, I soon noticed that the female bunting was going in and out under the blind and was continuing to feed her chicks. After quickly resetting the blind while she was out foraging for food, I decided that since she didn’t seem to be deterred by the blind that had been laying over her nest and by my photography, I would lean in even closer toward the nest to take this photo. This photo is not cropped.

Female Indigo Bunting feeding a grasshopper to her baby. (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

The next day at the WV Wildflower Pilgrimage on my tour, I was talking with the same person about the Ovenbirds we were hearing. I mentioned that their nests are on the ground and have leaf-covered tops. The nest entrances are on the side, similar to old-fashioned ovens — hence the name, Ovenbird. Again I told her about a photo I took showing a parent with caterpillars in its mouth, standing at the nest entrance near 4 hungry babies whose mouths are wide open, begging for food. She asked if I could share that photo also.

Ovenbird at nest feeding babies. (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

A goal in my life is to enjoy nature, all of nature, while interfering with nature as little as possible. I used to tell people, “My success as a nature photographer is 10% photography skills and 90% knowing my subject.” Photography is the easy part. It takes a lifetime to know the subjects, and it is the most enjoyable thing I can imagine doing….except for sharing the wonders of nature with other people.