Putnam County’s 15,000-acre (and growing) natural area is along Big Walnut River’s deep stream corridor. Great blue heron and green horned owl can be found among some of Indiana’s largest trees in the Big Walnut Nature Preserve.

This sculpture is a stylized blue heron with a horned owl below, alertly scanning the horizon. It is mounted high atop a corner of the museum roof. The design of the owl’s head allows it to rotate 360 degrees following the wind wherever it goes. There are only a few simple pieces of curved metal used to create the sculpture.

Designers Jeff Laramore and David Jemerson Young of 2nd Globe, an Indianapolis–based artistic company, designed all 92 of the county sculptures featured on the outside of the Indiana State Museum. Their designs narrate the counties’ famous natives, historically significant events, or their cultural characteristics, and were fabricated and installed by various Indiana sculptors, carvers, glassworkers, metalworkers, and other artisans.