Buzzardroost Rock Mural

Artist Suzanne Chouteau in front of completed mural.

West Union, Ohio is home to a new mural depicting the preserve's iconic Buzzardroost Rock thanks to the Adams County Arts Council who received a grant from the Ohio Arts Council for painting murals in Adams County. The mural was based on a reduction woodcut by Xavier University Art Professor, Suzanne Chouteau who oversaw all the artistic aspects of the mural and was one of three people to paint the colossal 19 x 62 foot image.  

The mural is dedicated to renowned ecologist E. Lucy Braun who was instrumental in having Buzzardroost protected.
(E.Lucy Braun photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati Archives)

The three artists at the start: Suzanne Chouteau, son Eli Bedel and husband Chris Bedel.

Chris Bedel, Preserve Director for Cincinnati Museum Center at The Edge of Appalachia Preserve (and husband to the artist) painted and oversaw the technical aspects of the production like how to enlarge a 6 x 19 inch woodcut to building size and then how to get it on the wall. Eli Bedel, Xavier University DIFT major, and son to Suzanne and Chris, also braved shaky scaffolding and dizzying heights on the lift to assist with painting. ArtWorks of Cincinnati generously offered their advice on paint and other technical aspects.

Eli Bedel with mural background colors and terribly scary scaffolding used to paint parts of the mural.

The under painting necessary to provide background colors to the final over lay of paint had the West Union town folks worried as to what exactly they were going to have to live with for the next 20 years or so! One person guessed it was a piano. 

Suzanne Chouteau doing over painting that brings the mural to life.

In complete disclosure, the author was a bit worried as to how it would turn out until the over painting revealed that the mural was going to be a stunning painting worthy of representing Buzzardroost Rock as it has never been seen before. As well, the mural has many moods depending on the time of day and light. The light before sunset makes the mural glow and the vivid colors become radiant, at times taking the author's breath away.

The other scary apparatus used to paint, a hydraulic lift generously donated for the painters' use by local contractor Doug Ruehl.

While the picture makes the lift look harmless and safe enough, it took time getting used to being off the ground. As well, its occasional malfunction got the painters' attention and put hair on end when 25 feet in the air. It also provided a perch from which to see the hills of the preserve to the east and the many insects that frequented the wall's bright colors, like butterflies, flies and grasshoppers. Soaring vultures were also constant companions as if they wondered whether the three painted vultures on the mural were real.

Letters were hand stenciled using tape and free hand cut masks to block out letters for painting. Suzanne shown peeling tape off to expose finished letters. 

If someone would have told the author that painting murals was very difficult, he would have said "How hard can it be?" Let us count the ways: the solar radiation reflecting off a white wall in summer is beyond blinding. Not to mention feeling like walking "fried chicken" with temps at the wall 10-15 degrees hotter than the surrounding air. Thankfully some of the painting took place at night, late at night, there were countless nights where painting took place until 3 and 4AM! Did I mention the wind?

The mural half done showing the background colors that were painted first then the final detail overlaid in purple.

Chris Bedel at the microphone for the dedication ceremony.

All in all the mural was a great success. The building's owner, attorney and judge, Alan Foster is very pleased with the results as well as the town folks who came up on many occasions to express their gratitude. An unexpected result were the many hikers who had just come from hiking the trail to Buzzardroost Rock to stop for a picture with the mural. Maybe a new craze will ensue that will drive increased tourism? The mural is located across the street from the eastern side of the courthouse so stop and pay it a visit on your next visit to The Edge of Appalachia Preserve! 

Proudly posted by: Chris Bedel, Preserve Director

Adams County Christmas Bird Count

With the coming of winter in Adams County, there are a few annual events you can rely on.  Piercing cold temps, slick roads, wet boots, sore throats, taxes and my favorite, the Adams County Christmas Bird Count (CBC) 

Cold day in Adams County, Ohio

This is not an event where we count Christmas birds (there is no such thing).  Instead, groups of participants gather in territories to count all birds seen or heard, like cedar waxwings, gold-crowned kinglets and Wilson's snipe (there is such a thing).  Much of the Edge of Appalachia Preserve (EOA) is within the "circle" or countable area which is a 15 mile radius centering at the courthouse in West Union, Ohio.


Typical view when driving around EOA searching for wintering birds

Many of the birds utilizing Ohio in the winter are not the same birds you might see in the summer.  Many of our resident birds leave, following food sources to the south, and birds you see in the winter may have come from the north for the same reasons.  The Audubon Society wanted to keep track of the numbers of wintering birds species and individuals in every state in the winter. So they chose the count to take place in the weeks leading up to, or just past Christmas.

Purple finch, a winter visiting species eating sunflower seeds from a very nice guy's feeder!

As compiler, I take all the numbers of individual birds and species each group counts in their pre-determined territories, and combine them for the Audubon Society who has been keeping this data for 118 years.  Adams County has been a part of the Christmas Bird Count for at least 40 years.

CBC teams count all birds encountered, even if large flocks fly by like these Canada geese

This year, on December 16, 2017, the groups in all 11 territories found a total of 79 species and 9734 individuals.  Not bad for the small number of 23 folks that came out to count that day.

The territory around the preserve (which is a small portion of the entire circle) usually finds close to 50 species of birds and close to 900 individuals on average that count day.  This year, the preserve territory produced 53 species and 702 individuals.  With a lot of forest in this territory, we feel obligated to find difficult wintering forest species like hermit thrush, red-breasted nuthatch, yellow-bellied sapsucker, brown creeper and ruffed grouse.  Only the latter was not found this year, and interestingly has not been counted on our CBC for at least 6 years.  A trend that CBC data can capture in its records.

CBC is a nice way to get out and enjoy some of our more common resident birds like this Downy Woodpecker.



Fox sparrow, another winter visitor is sometimes hard to find on the day of the count. 4 were found this year.

Dark-eyed Junco, another winter visitor will frequent feeders if you have them

Here is the tally for all birds found on December 16, 2017. Snow Goose 1

Canada Goose 837

Wood Duck 9

Gadwall 9   record high number

American Black Duck 66

Mallard 616   record high number

Green-winged Teal 3

Ring-necked Duck 3

Lesser Scaup 285   record high number

Bufflehead 12

Hooded Merganser 46

Wild Turkey 18

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Great Blue Heron 8

Black Vulture 173

Turkey Vulture 15

Northern Harrier 5

Sharp-shinned Hawk 3

Cooper's Hawk 5

Bald Eagle 6

Red-shouldered Hawk 6

Red-tailed Hawk 47

American Coot 1

Sandhill Crane 3 Second time found during Adams Co. CBC

Killdeer 5

Ring-billed Gull 2

Rock Pigeon 274

Mourning Dove 405

Eastern Screech-Owl 10

Great Horned Owl 5

Barred Owl 5

Belted Kingfisher 7

Red-headed Woodpecker 7

Red-bellied Woodpecker 50

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3

Downy Woodpecker 47

Hairy Woodpecker 17

Northern Flicker 19

Pileated Woodpecker 16

American Kestrel 65

Eastern Phoebe 3

Blue Jay 214

American Crow 395

Horned Lark 49

Carolina Chickadee 95

Tufted Titmouse 105

Red-breasted Nuthatch 3

White-breasted Nuthatch 87

Brown Creeper 4

Winter Wren 3

Carolina Wren 41

Golden-crowned Kinglet 18

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1

Eastern Bluebird 224

Hermit Thrush 1

American Robin 976

Brown Thrasher 3

Northern Mockingbird 16

European Starling 2998

Cedar Waxwing 52

Yellow-rumped Warbler 85

American Tree Sparrow 36

Field Sparrow 51

Fox Sparrow 4

Dark-eyed Junco (Slatecolored) 171

White-crowned Sparrow 35

White-throated Sparrow 92

Song Sparrow 99

Swamp Sparrow 5

Eastern Towhee 9

Northern Cardinal 248

Red-winged Blackbird 20

Eastern Meadowlark 39

Common Grackle 49

Brown-headed Cowbird 55

House Finch 48

Purple Finch 15

American Goldfinch 136

House Sparrow 134

Total Individuals 9734

Total Species Reported 79

Yellow-bellied sapsucker is the woodpecker that leaves lines of holes on trees. Photo by Robyn Wright-Strauss

White-breasted nuthatch, a resident bird commonly hears in the forest sounding like a nasally Long Islander saying "Hank, Hank, Hank'. Photo by Robyn Wright-Strauss.

Some notable species found this year were Sandhill cranes, which have only been counted 1 other time on count day,  a snow goose which has only been found 3 years, a ruby-crowned kinglet was found for the 10^th time and 3 Eastern phoebe’s were counted which can be difficult here in the winter.

 Bald eagles seem to be getting more and more frequent as we tied the record high with 6.  Along with brown thrashers which also had a tie with the record high of 3.  The only record high numbers of individuals this year were Mallards at 616, Gadwall at 9 and 285 Lesser Scaup.

A very far away shot of a bald eagle. 6 were found on count day.

Many thanks to all who participate, and if you are looking for a fun adventure next winter, join your local CBC next year.  Info can be found at www.christmasbirdcount.org

Posted by: Mark Zloba

2018 Advanced Naturalist Workshops

Registration will open on Feb. 1, 2018 for the 14th series of the Edge of Appalachia's Advanced Naturalist Workshops. There is a fantastic line-up of topics and experts this year! More information can be found here.