Story by Terri Gorney Lehman
In late 2021, I was asked to give a talk on bird counts in Adams County. I began by researching the Berne and Decatur newspapers to see if I could find records on some of the early bird counts. I was already looking through the newspapers for Ouabache State Park articles.
I discovered that the Cardinal Chapter of the Indiana Audubon Society (later called the Cardinal Club) was formed March 17, 1948. The chapter was named in honor of Gene Stratton-Porter’s first book, “Song of the Cardinal.” The first members were mostly from Berne, Geneva and Bryant. Later, members were from Adams and Wells counties.
The Cardinal Chapter was an active chapter with meetings, programs and field trips. From the beginning, one of their favorite places for a field trip was the “old CCC Camp in Bluffton” or the “Wells County State Forest,” which is how Ouabache State Park was referred to in the newspaper articles of the 1950s and early 1960s.
A typical field trip would be 30-35 members meeting at the fire tower to begin their hike. These hikes normally included a breakfast or a potluck dinner in the east shelter house. May was a favorite month for bird hikes since it was peak of the spring migration. Birds such as warblers, vireos, flycatchers, cardinals, blue jays, robins and waterfowl would be seen or heard. About 50 species of birds would be tallied by the end of the hike.
Many of the same species recorded more than 70 years ago are still present at the park part of the year and birds such as the bald eagle have returned. It is nice to know that birding the park has been enjoyed by a few generations of bird watchers and will be here for future generations.
The Friends of Ouabache host a Junior Indiana Master Naturalist program every June. One of the sessions is about birds. Teaching the next generation to enjoy and appreciate our feathered friends is a worthy goal.
The Cardinal Club disbanded several years ago, but birding the park is still a popular past time. According to Cornell’s eBird, an online database of individuals’ bird observations, the state park is the No. 1 birding hot spot in Wells County with a total of 163 species of birds recorded.
Since 2015, Ouabache has been part of the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count. It is held on Jan. 1 and is called the SANJO (Southern Adams Northern Jay Ouabache) CBC.
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