Just as the spring avine migration is beginning to wind down, the National Audubon Society has designated 14 new Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the State of Indiana, four of them within easy drive from Porter County.

The IBA program is Audubon’s primary conservation initiative and is part of a global partnership with Birdlife International to identify key areas in the world for bird populations, Audubon said in a statement released on Tuesday. “IBAs are sites that provide essential habitat for one or more species of bird and include locales for breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds. IBAs may be a few acres, or thousands of acres, but usually they are discrete sites that stand out from the surrounding landscape. IBAs may include public or private lands, or both, and they may be protected or unprotected.”

The four new IBAs in or near Northwest Indiana:

•West Beach in Porter County, part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. “This mosaic of habitats attracts a great diversity of birds throughout the year, including migrant loons, waterfowl, and passerines,” Audubon said.

•Miller Beach and Marquette Park in Lake County, located at the extreme southern point of Lake Michigan. “Birds traveling along the lakefront in either an eastward or westward direction are funneled to this IBA, making this site one of the most critical locales in Indiana for migrant birds,” Audubon said. “Fall congregations are especially impressive, with number of loons, ducks, and terns reaching the thousands, and the sandy beaches provide stopover habitat for WatchList birds like Piping Plover and Whimbrel. Also, over the past decades more migrant jaegers have been seen over Miller Beach than anywhere else in Indiana, and perhaps even the entire Midwest.”

•Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Area in Starke County, owned and managed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. “Congregations of migrant waterfowl, cranes, and shorebirds can be found here, and the swamp habitats support the largest breeding population of Prothontary Warbler, a WatchList species, in Northern Indiana.”

•And Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area in Newton County, also managed by the DNR. Willow is bordered by two other IBAs, Kankakee Sands to the north and the Iroquois State Wildlife Area to the west in Illinois, and together these three IBAs “encompass nearly 20,000 acres of critical bird habitat within the Grand Prairie Natural Region for nesting grassland, savanna, and marsh land species.”

A person need not even leave Porter County, however, for some excellent birding opportunities, as there are three previously designated IBAs in Duneland: at Indiana Dunes State Park, owned and managed by the DNR; Cowles Bog, part of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; and Beverly Shores, much of it also part of the National Lakeshore.

Other New IBAs

“With the third round of IBA evaluations, Audubon has identified 14 sites and over 300,000 acres of habitat in Indiana critical for the protection of many threatened bird species,” said James Cole, Indiana’s IBA coordinator. “Many of the new Important Bird Areas encompass the largest remaining expanses of forest in Southern Indiana. However, these sites also include smaller but equally critical areas, including locales along the shore of Lake Michigan and habitats threatened by fragmentation from agricultural and urban development in the central part of the state.

The other 10 new IBAs: Beanblossom Bottoms in Monroe County; Brookville Lake and Whitewater State Park in Franklin and Union counties; Eagle Creek Park in Marion County; Elkhart River Corridor in Elkhart County; Monroe Lake in Brown and Monroe counties; Morgan-Monroe Forest in Monroe and Morgan counties; Point Township Bottomlands in Posey County; Harrison-Crawford Forest in Crawford and Harrison counties; Hoosier National Forest, Tell City Unit, in Crawford and Perry counties; and Jackson-Washington-Clark Forest in Clark, Jackson, Scott, and Washington counties.

Together these IBAs support a great diversity of WatchList birds, including Wood Thrush, Cerulean Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Willow Flycatcher, Rusty Blackbird, Canada Warbler, and Blue-winged Warbler.

“With these newest site recognitions,” Cole said, “We now have a total of 40 Important Bird Areas in Indiana. Our IBAs illustrate the significance of the Hoosier landscape in local, continental, and global bird conservation. Audubon is working to ensure that these different type of resources are managed collectively for bird conservation.”

“Information gathered about each site can create model ordinances for local governments,” the statement said, “and serve as the basis for educational materials and programs to increase public awareness and stewardship of habitats critical for bird populations. Other opportunities generated through the identification of IBAs may include direct conservation measures, such as public acquisition, conservation easements, and guides for property managers. A primary aspect of the IBA program is that it is a voluntary, non-regulatory initiative, which facilitates landowners’ complete involvement and encourages them to make a difference for wildlife through recognition, advocacy, and stewardship.”

Work continues on identifying other IBAs. Audubon members and interested birders who would like to nominate an IBA or assist with site monitoring and adoption programs should contact Cole at jcole@audobon.org

A full list of Indiana’s IBAs is viewable at www.audubon.org/bird/iba Click on the State of Indiana.

Posted 5/29/2007