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1. Reclaimed Native Habitat and Bird Boxes
Look closely at the grassy berm ahead — the trail is dotted with intermittently spaced bird nest boxes. These nest boxes and their inhabitants play an important part in the conservation story of this property. Just like this land needed help recovering from changes caused by humans, so did small, cavity-nesting birds like tree swallows and eastern bluebirds.
Both species have been impacted by the loss of habitat and cavity nesting site competition with non-native birds. The nest boxes you see are installed in an intentional pattern (two near each other, then a wide gap, then two near each other again, then repeat) that maximizes use by both birds. Tree swallows are highly territorial and will not allow another tree swallow to nest near theirs. They WILL, however, allow a bluebird to next near them. By placing the boxes this way, we ensure that there are nesting spaces for both species.
Nesting season runs April to July for bluebirds and May-September is for swallows. During these months, please maintain a respectful distance from these nestboxes to ensure the success of the nesters and avoid being divebombed by protective swallow parents!
2. Wetlands are Important
From this vantage point, you can see the plant diversity that grows in this reclaimed wetland habitat. Some of the plants were intentionally transplanted here, others regrew from the native seedbank that still existed in the soil. But why has the Zoo worked so hard to recreate a wetland habitat here?
Wetlands are comparable to rainforests in terms of their productivity, yet Ohio has converted 90% of its historic wetland to farmland. By bringing back the wetlands that were lost, we are also bringing back the ecosystem services they provide such as water quality protection and improvement, wildlife habitats, flood mitigation, and drought prevention.
3. Where Forest Meets Field
At the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, we strive to create spaces where humans and wildlife can thrive together. The area where a deciduous forest meets a field is a great example of successful coexistence between humans and wildlife. Three habitats are created in this space: forest, field, and forest edge. Each supports different species, and many animals move between them to meet their needs — like nesting in one area and foraging in another. These connected habitats show how nature’s variety helps wildlife flourish. You can create the same effect in your own backyard! By planting native plants, and providing a variety (trees, shrubs, grass, flowers) we can also encourage a variety of wildlife to share these spaces with us.
4. Sugar Maple Grove
The area marked with green string/survey tape is our maple sugar forest, home to sugar maples (Acer saccharum). Sugar maples are easy to spot: their leaves are dark green on top, light green underneath, and have five lobes with smooth, U-shaped spaces between them. Their buds are sharp-pointed — think “sugar = sharp.”, which differs from the buds of some other maples.
This species is preferred for making maple syrup because of its sap’s higher sugar content (2%). The Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Tribes were among the first to engage in the process of maple sugaring. The Cincinnati Zoo has also begun to harvest sap from this grove of sugar maples. The large white container that you see holds the sap that is collected from the trees during the months of January and February where the nights are cold, and the days are warm enough for the sap to flow.
5. The Life Cycle of a Tree
You are now standing in an eastern deciduous forest. Eastern deciduous forests are defined as those where the dominant trees shed their leaves each year. At one time, over 95% of Ohio was forested. Today, that number is closer to 30%.
Looking around, you may notice some trees that have come to the end of their lives. Even in death, these trees still serve and important purpose in the forest. Both standing and fallen trees can provide homes, buffets, and nutrients for other living things. Look closely at the dead trees that are still standing. Do you notice areas with holes and missing bark? Insects will make their homes in dead wood, tunneling in it and consuming the wood fiber. Percussive foragers such as woodpeckers will look for these insects by tapping the tree to find hollow cavities where the insects have tunneled, drilling into these cavities, and extracting the insect within. Once lying on the forest floor, decomposers will get to work on these trees further breaking down the trunk into nutrients that will return to the soil for use by other plant life. A variety of fungal species also help with the decomposition process. Do you see any growing on fallen trees?
6. Healthy Water, Healthy Wildlife
This creek is a tributary of Little Muddy Creek and serves as a vital resource for local wildlife. It provides water, food, and habitat for species like crayfish, tadpoles, freshwater mussels, snails, and macroinvertebrate larvae such as caddisflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, and mayflies. This resource is a good key to the macroinvertebrates you might find in this creek. Because aquatic organisms have varying levels of sensitivity to pollution, the organisms found in a freshwater ecosystem can be an indicator of water quality. Keeping track of what we find in this creek can help us to measure the biodiversity of this ecosystem from year to year.
7. Bird Blind
Feel free to have a seat on the bird blind benches. You will notice there are bird feeders on the other side of the blind to attract birds for you to see. In winter, these feeders provide vital food for non-migratory birds when natural resources are scarce. Thoughtful feeding, by well-maintained and regularly cleaned feeders, can help migrating and overwintering birds survive in the absence of natural habitat and food sources. It also creates wonder and fosters a stewardship mentality when sharing space with wildlife. By re-establishing native habitat and working to replace invasive plants with native ones, we are working toward a landscape that can sustain wildlife without supplemental feeding. In the meantime, sit quietly and enjoy the birds that call Bowyer Farm home.
8. Replanted Prairie
In 2019, volunteers planted over 200 native species in this field to help restore it to the historic prairie habitat. Through a partnership with Warren County Corrections facility, inmates were able to learn how to grow and care for seedlings using their greenhouse. Over the course of two years, they produced thousands of milkweed and liatris (“blazing star”) plants to be planted in this very field. These two plants were chosen specifically for their connection to the monarch’s lifecycle: monarchs lay eggs only on milkweed, hatching caterpillars feed exclusively on the milkweed leaves and adult butterflies rely on nectar from flowers like liatris. As you can see, this field has continued to flourish, becoming a haven for native pollinators and other local wildlife.
You will also notice additional bluebird boxes along this road. This habitat is perfect for bluebirds as they thrive in a landscape that is a mixture of fields and forests. Conservation efforts to preserve and re-establish suitable habitat as well as the addition of man-made nesting boxes have helped the eastern bluebird make a comeback at Bowyer Farm.