Rick Boss's photo of bird by Lake Erie.
Mary Torges, Consolidated Cooperative
Q. Hi, Chip: I have lived on the same 10-acre lot, including woods, for about 51 years now. I am very interested in donating my place to some charitable organization that might be able to use it. Besides my home, there are three other buildings on the property, two that are quite large, which could be used for classes or workshops. If you have any ideas about organizations that might be interested, please let me know.
A. Hi, Mary: Thanks for contacting me concerning your very generous offer of donating your property to a worthy cause. I have two ideas you might consider:
- Since you live in Delaware County, one of the organizations I’d recommend is Preservation Parks of Delaware County. To get you started, here’s the link to their website’s donation page: https://preservationparks.com/foundation/.
- My second recommendation would be to contact your local school district, as it may be interested in a nature center property for conducting outdoor education classes. I hope this helps.
Q. Mary’s response: Thank you, Chip. Good ideas!
Rick Boss, Consolidated Cooperative
Q. Hi, Chip: I saw the bird in the attached photo at Lake Erie. He flits around the docks at dusk, probably catching insects. I couldn’t get a frontal shot, so not much to go on. Any light you can shed as to what species it might be would be appreciated. Also, I read in the co-op magazine that you’re retired now? If that’s the case, I hope you are enjoying it.
A. Rick: The bird looks to me like an immature barn swallow, meaning hatched sometime this summer. The deeply forked tail is diagnostic, especially when the bird is in flight.
As for being retired, I accepted an early retirement offer from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, in 2002, after being employed by that state agency for 26 years. I began my career as a state wildlife officer, then moved into the wildlife communications section. I was very fortunate to be working there during the last quarter of the 20th century, when many species of wildlife were being reintroduced to Ohio, such as white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, bald eagles, etc. It was an exciting time, and great preparation for writing my monthly Woods, Waters & Wildlife outdoors column for Ohio Cooperative Living magazine, beginning in January 2004. I still enjoy both the outdoors writing and photography very much, and don’t plan to give up this great gig anytime soon.
