Scenes from Marsh Madness Bird Festival

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Photos by Nick Schneider. Assistant Editor

Scenes from the opening day (Saturday) of the Third Annual Marsh Madness Festival that is underway in Linton. The event, which continues Sunday, showcases one of the Midwest's finest wetlands projects -- the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area -- which is developing into a major fly-way path for migratory birds. Sunday, March 4 Venue: Roy Clark Community Center Noon - 5 p.m. -- Art & Craft Fair Noon - 4 p.m. -- Birds of Prey Noon - 5 p.m. -- Self-guided Driving Tours

Leslie Grow, of the Dwight Chamberlain Raptor Rehab Center at Hardy Lake near Scottsburg, holds on and grimaces as she displays this large Bald Eagle as part of her Birds of Prey presentation at Saturday's Marsh Madness event in Linton. The Hardy Lake Birds of Prey show will return to the Roy Clark Community Center in Linton starting at noon Sunday.
Leslie Grow, of the Dwight Chamberlain Raptor Rehab Center at Hardy Lake near Scottsburg, displays a Bald Eagle as part of her Birds of Prey presentation.

Leslie Grow, of the Hardy Lake Raptor Rehab Center, laughs as she tell the grow the favorite food of this Great Horned Owl is skunk.
A Great Horned Owl.
Hardy Lake Rehab Center staff member Brad Gilley hold a Red Tailed Hawk, a bird that possesses outstanding eyesight. The bird is able to see a rabbit from more than a mile away.
Hardy Lake staff member Brad Gilley points to part of a missing wing on this American Kestrel, also known as a Sparrow Hawk.
Brad Gilley and a Barred Owl.
Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Center Property Manager Brad Feaster tries his skill at the Earth Joy Climbing Adventure that was part of Marsh Madness in Humphreys Park Saturday. Through a system of ropes, harnesses and pulleys patrons were able to climb up in the top of one the largest trees in the park. The event was sponsored by McDonalds of Linton.
Wooden carved ducks by Bundy Decoys of Noblesville were offered as part of the arts and crafts fair at Marsh Madness.
Jeff Coates, of the USDA-NRCS office, explains to a Marsh Madness audience about the wetlands and WRP project and tells how Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife area was restored.
Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area Property Manager Brad Feaster, at left, greets a patron to the Marsh Madness arts and craft fair in the Roy Clark Building on Saturday.
Geoff Davis, of 50 Little Birds in Noblesville, explains his handcrafted products to a patron at Saturday's Marsh Madness in Linton.
Greene County Citizens Academy Legacy Organization (CALO) conducted a tourism survey as part of the Marsh Madness event. Here, CALO President Steve Schantz (at left), of rural Bloomfield, waits while a patron completes the survey.
Many volunteers worked to make this year's Marsh Madness event a reality.
Sunshine illuminates a new sculpture that was unveiled Saturday at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area as part of this year's Marsh Madness event.
One of the highlights Saturday was the unveiling of a unique sculpture that has been erected along State Road 59, just north of the property -- south of Weaver's Curve. The Indiana Limestone crafted sculpture -- entitled "The Winds of Change"-- features two bronze Sandhill Cranes.
The nearly 10 feet tall art piece is the work of Eva Stanley of Bloomington and Sharon Fullingim from New Mexico. The Friends of the Goose Pond commissioned the art piece through a grant from the Smithville Telephone Charitable Foundation.