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Birdseye, Indiana

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Jefferson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 47513. The Survey maps it on the Birdseye quadrangle. 417 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 722 feet above sea level.

Birdseye within Dubois County

Population over time

2 figures

Birdseye grew from 416 to 417 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010416
2020417+1 (+0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 13 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

824 words on this township

History of Dubois County from Its Primitive Days to 1910, published 1910 names this settlement in its chapter on Jefferson Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first purchase of land made in Jefferson township bears date of August 5, 1834, when James Newton bought the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section one, township three south, range three west. This land is on Anderson creek, and nearly two miles south of Birdseye. Jefferson township is dry by petition.

Passage source: History of Dubois County from Its Primitive Days to 1910, published 1910.

Birdseye. There was a crossroads trading point here many years prior to 1846, when it was decided to make it a post-office. Rev. Benjamin T. Goodman was the postmaster at Worth postoffice near Schnellville, and Thomas A. King, who was later Birdseye's first postmaster, went to see "Bird" - as Goodman was known by all his friends - about naming the post office. They selected many names, but on referring to the Postal Directory, found all of them had been pre-empted. At last, in despair, they decided to name the town after "Bird" Goodman. They annexed the "eye" to make it complete. This is the story that is given by Mrs. Inman, who was then Mrs. King, and who was the first postmistress of the town.

Passage source: History of Dubois County from Its Primitive Days to 1910, published 1910.

It is also said that the King family, then living at Birdseye, wanted a post office, and the nearest postmaster had to be consulted. It was the Rev. B. T. (Bird) Goodman, the Christian minister at Worth P. O. The good minister examined the location, considered the situation, and finally said: "// suits Bird's eye to a Ty-tee.'' In return for the minister's assistance the new postoffice was called Birdseye. [See Page 214.]

Passage source: History of Dubois County from Its Primitive Days to 1910, published 1910.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Jefferson Township - it names this place 4 more 4 times.

Fires near this place

28 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Birdseye between 1994 and 2014, burning about 101 acres in total. None started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning11
Arson/incendiarism10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreHoosier National ForestBAILER
22 September 2010Debris and open burning1.5 acresHoosier National ForestKEMP FIRE
6 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHoosier National ForestANDERSON VALLEY
3 April 2007Debris and open burning4.2 acresHoosier National ForestREDBUD FIRE
23 April 2001Smoking3.0 acresHoosier National ForestGOVERNOR'S TRACE
18 April 2001Debris and open burning2.0 acresHoosier National ForestU-38
9 March 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined13 acresHoosier National ForestGOVERNOR'S TRACE
24 March 2000Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresHoosier National ForestINDIAN LAKE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dubois County

Storms near this place

23 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Birdseye in 23 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 5 hail, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2025Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-There were multiple trees and power lines down along State Road 145, south of Birdseye.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-A trained spotter estimated winds to be 52 knots near Birdseye.
September 2018Flash FloodBirdseye-State Road 145 was closed due to high water from Interstate 64 in Perry County north to State Road 64 near Birdseye.
February 2016Flash FloodBirdseye-A broadcast meteorologist relayed a report of partially flooded roads in and around Birdseye.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-The emergency manager reported trees down in Birdseye.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-Trained spotters reported trees down across Highway 64.
July 2015Flash FloodBirdseye-The Dubois County emergency manager reported that Highway 164 was flooded and impassable near Patoka Lake. A very localized thunderstorm produced between 3 and 5 inches of rain in the area.
July 2015Flash FloodBirdseye-The Dubois County emergency manager reported some roads across the county were flooded due to high water. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain fell from slow moving thunderstorms, on top of already saturated ground.
July 2015Flash FloodBirdseye-The Dubois County emergency manager reported flooded roads in the area.
March 2012HailBirdseye-A spotter reported two inch hail covering the ground.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-A trained spotter reported a gust of 60 mph.
February 2009Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-A car was blown off State Road 145 near Birdseye.
April 2007HailBirdseye-Nickel size hail fell for five minutes.
March 2006Flash FloodBirdseye-Water covered parts of Indiana Highway 145.
April 2005Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-A tree 18 inches in diameter was blown across a road.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-Four to 5 inch diameter trees were broken off. Tree tops were snapped.
May 1999Tornado (F0)Birdseye-A weak tornado touched down in Birdseye downing several trees.
March 2012HailBirdseye-no account filed
April 2006Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-no account filed
May 2004HailBirdseye-no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-no account filed
May 2002HailBirdseye-no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindBirdseye-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dubois County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Mentor1.2 miles13
Schnellville3.6 miles13
Kyana4.6 miles13
Celestine6.4 miles13
Saint Marks6.5 miles13
Saint Anthony6.9 miles13
Ellsworth7.8 miles13
Bretzville9.5 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on BirdseyeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2553036The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 450684. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.