Tag: illinois

  • The Nachusa Grasslands, A Jewel of the Prairie State

    The Nachusa Grasslands, A Jewel of the Prairie State

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    The Nachusa Grasslands, owned and operated by The Nature Conservancy, is a remnant and restored prairie. The grasslands 4,000 acres are home to 245 species of birds, over 700 native plants, 280 bee species, multitudes of insects and a herd of 100 bison.  The Grassland began in 1986 when The Nature Conservancy bought nearly 400…

  • Pileated Woodpecker of Spears Woods

    Pileated Woodpecker of Spears Woods

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    Over the course of two weeks in late spring, we watched a mother and father pileated woodpecker feed and care for their two young chicks in a nest hole. Initially, the adults would enter the tree to feed the hatchlings. Eventually, the two chicks would peek out of the opening in anticipation of the parents…

  • White Trout Lily, a Magical Wildflower for Spring

    White Trout Lily, a Magical Wildflower for Spring

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    A wonderful surprise to wake up to this morning. One of my photographs of white trout lily flowers is in the recent issue of Horticulture Magazine.The growth of this colony of trout lily flowers, taken near Tomahawk Slough in Cook County, Illinois, had been aided by recent forest preserve clearing and maintenance.

  • Pelican Pond

    Pelican Pond

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    For approximately one week in early April, Maple Lake in the Cook County Forest Preserve turned into Pelican Pond. Each day there were well over seventy American White Pelicans swimming, flying and foraging at the lake. For this brief week in April these white feathered birds were like angels floating on a small blue heaven…