CliffNotes
Fungus Among Us: Valuable Player in Our Ecosystem
The fungus among us are quite literally everywhere. They grow under – and even in — our very noses. When scrambling about our woodlands in search of morels, take into account that the normal, healthy human mouth hosts about 300 species of beneficial fungi. Fungi are members of their own biological kingdom and are neither […]
Perseid Meteor Shower Highlights the Dog Days’ Skies
On a clear, dark night, with plenty of patience, but no optical aides, the average person might count about 3,000 viewable stars. A good pair of binoculars would add to the number; a good telescope would bring many more stars into sight; an observatory view would expand stargazing by orders of magnitude; and, the earth-orbiting […]
Allscheid Rock Shelter Provides Glimpse of Mississippian Culture
Our area’s resource rich nature certainly was on full display during the first weekend of May as nearly 140 members of Illinois Audubon Society visited and were delighted with sightings of Cerulean warbler, American bittern, Sora, and many additional species. During the first weekend of June, we can learn about the long history of human […]
Finding a Sphinx in Your Garden Makes for a Sight of Nature’s Beauty.
“I saw this really strange-looking hummingbird!” “I saw this HUGE bumblebee!” “The tomato bugs ate my garden!” All three are related, but only to each other and not to hummingbirds or bumblebees. The hummingbird and bumblebee look-alikes are adult moths and the hornworms are caterpillars – the moth’s larval life stage — […]
Prescribed Burns Are Good Medicine for the Land
We built a really big fire at White Rock Nature Preserve on the last day of March. Earlier in the month, some of us helped with an even bigger fire at Salt Lick Point Land and Water Reserve and another at Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, and at Buettner Glades Natural Area site. Why […]
Area Birders Invited to State Audubon Society’s Local Gathering
Founded in 1897, the Illinois Audubon Society is the oldest conservation land trust and nature education organization in the state. The society now has 20 chapters located throughout Illinois, including our local chapter, the Kaskaskia Valley Audubon Society. The Illinois Audubon Society owns ten natural area sanctuaries in the state, comprising nearly 1400 total acres, […]
Monroe County’s Extensive Cave Systems Hold Time Capsules Of Our Ice Age Past
The cave systems of Monroe County and neighboring counties across the river in Missouri have yielded a treasure trove of well-preserved artifacts from long extinct mammals which roamed our Ozark plateau during the last Ice Age. From about 1½ million years to about 10,000 years ago, glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch – or “Ice Age” […]
Karst Terrain Flushes More Than Just Water Into Our Wet Underground World
If ignorance is bliss, there are probably lots of folks who are very, very happy living on karst terrain. Because the dynamics of karst are absolutely hidden from view and immediate knowledge, conventional wisdom implies that ‘what you don’t know probably can’t hurt you.’ Unlike an easily recognized fouled surface creek or stream, awash with […]
Fire: It’s Elemental
Earth, air, fire, and water were proposed as essential elements by the earliest Greek philosophers. Centuries later, our view of life is a bit more complex and informed by scientific observation and experimentation. But earth, air, fire and water still are essential components to the health of our bluff lands. Earth, air and water seem […]
North American Trees Have Shaped Our Landscape And The Nation’s Fortunes
North America’s constellation of trees is the grandest of all the temperate zones on earth, and, in some ways, the grandest anywhere. It has the tallest and mightiest trees; it boasts so many kinds that there is no one who can say that they have seen them all or could name each one on sight. […]