Hiking the Shaker Trace Loop

Today I walked the long loop (7.8 miles) of the Shaker Trace trail at Miami-Whitewater Forest. It's not my favorite path; long stretches of it pass through miles of corn fields, which make for rather dull walking. It has the advantage of being paved, however. Between the melting snow from last week's blizzard and the following rain, I thought I would be ankle deep in mud on most of my favorite trails. There were just loads of birds making themselves known today and it made the walk enjoyable; there's a list of what I saw (or heard) below, haphazardly ordered. Still, I was quite footsore by the end; walking on pavement tires me out much more than walking on dirt and leaves.

I spotted the pictured large tree obviously felled by a beaver along the Dry Fork Creek. Extirpated from Ohio by 1830, beavers started making their way back into Ohio in the 1940s and have been expanding their range ever since. The range map on this page doesn't even show Hamilton County as confirmed for an active beaver population, but I suspect is is simply out of date. I saw signs of a beaver family living in this area ten years ago.

On a different note, one of my favorite authors was in the news these past couple of days for having donated a million dollars to Alzheimer's research. Terry Pratchett was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease himself. His legions of fans have started a campaign to match Terry's donation called Match It For Pratchett. There you will find links to donate directly to the Alzheimer's Trust or you can buy a t-shirt, decorated with elephants and the Great A'Tuin. It's a worthy cause even if you're not a Pratchett fan. If you've not read any of his work, you should do so; he's brilliantly funny.

Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow, Blue Jay, Song Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Mallard, Canada Goose, Cooper's Hawk, Killdeer, Red-Winged Blackbird, Red-Tailed Hawk, Kestrel, Wild Turkey, Grackle, Turkey Vulture, Rufus-Sided Towhee, Eastern Bluebird, White-Throated Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker