CliffNotes
Vampires: Right in the bluff’s backyard?
The recent celebration of Halloween, replete with goblins, ghouls, and witches or the continuing popularity of vampire-themed novels and movies trick us into believing that bloodsucking harpies can only be found among mammals and horror-storied humans. That is far from true. In the normal scheme of things we see all plants as green, carrying out […]
Predators — Keep Nature in Balance
Our carnivore neighbors always get our attention. The status and distribution of big cats, yelping coyotes and furtive foxes in our bluff lands capture our imagination. And, these top-level land predators long-captured the imaginations of Native American peoples, figuring in origin stories, folklore and tales. Perhaps only rivaled by the raven, coyote most often appeared […]
Hurricanes and Hummers
The recent passage of the remnants of Hurricane Isaac brings up two very interesting questions. First, has there ever been a hurricane in Monroe County or anywhere in Illinois. Technically a hurricane is a tropical cyclone capable of generating sustained surface winds of 74 MPH or greater. It’s weaker variant, a tropical storm has sustained […]
Land Purchase protects Randolph County geologic gem
One of Illinois’ geologic jewels, with canyons, gorges and sandstone cliffs, will now be protected in perpetuity under a recent deal announced by Clifftop and HeartLands Conservancy. The two nonprofit land trusts worked jointly to purchase a unique tract of land in Randolph County. “Illinois residents usually think such natural features are unique to the […]
Love in the Bluffs
The 19th century English poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling wrote that “God gives all men all earth to love, but, since man’s heart is small, ordains for each one spot that shall prove beloved over all.” And so it is for many that our majestic and towering bluff tops, offering fiery sunsets, eagles […]
Woodpeckers are wonderful & audible part of our natural habitat
If you are lucky enough to live near woodlands and you feed birds, you know very well that June is the month for woodpeckers in our area. Watching woodpecker parents trying to teach their still-clumsy but highly energetic eager youngsters the proper flight and landing patterns needed to manage a suet feeder can provide […]
Rainbow bridge of bluff lands flowers
When, 70 years ago, Judy Garland as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, sang the lovely lyrics “somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby” she encapsulated our collective fascination with the magical connectedness between rainbows and our natural world. Rainbows exhilarate us. Arcing and […]
Bluff lands home to wonderful variety of amphibians & reptiles
For a lot of people the very words amphibian and reptile conjure up repulsive images of scaly, slimy, slithering creatures–apparitions of evil and danger. If that’s the case for you, read no further. For other folks, amphibians and reptiles represent a fascinating group of animals–with staring unblinking eyes, fluid movements, remarkable shapes and colors–which hold […]
Bluff lands Bloom with Vivid Floral Colors
By mid-March our blufflands will cast off the doldrums of winter drabness and begin to color its landscape with every imaginable shade, as wave after wave, from spring to first frost, of native wildflowers come into bloom. The first flowers to blossom are called spring ephemerals, and their life strategy is a race against […]
Cape Monroe ~~ A Great Place for Wildlife Viewing
Cape Monroe (County), on the southwest coast of Illinois, is a renowned haven for wildlife. The reasons are simple: location and habitats. A bird’s-eye-view of the landscape helps to explain our county’s attraction for wildlife. The Mississippi River flyway, and associated riparian wildlife corridor, is the longest migration route in the Western Hemisphere, running […]