I'm looking at myself and the world differently these days, after taking a course on creatures I can see only through a microscope. The view is both awe-inspiring and frightening. Fears first. University of Illinois researcher Claudia Reich says "perfect storm" conditions exist for awful things to...

The killdeer, Charadrius vociferus, is the shorebird that you can both see and experience without having to go to the beach. During the breeding season, these plovers are found on expansive lawn areas and gravel beds where there is a pond or lake or river to be found nearby. They are...

This has been a good summer for butterfly sightings. The purple coneflowers in our gardens were a popular attractant for many; monarchs, red admirals, fritillaries, the occasional swallowtail and other familiar nectar sippers. We even hosted a buckeye, who for two days defended his territory. This...

ECIMN 2015 Year in Review Sixty-one master naturalists attended the ECIMN annual meeting on November 7 at Homer Lake; top highlights of this year included: 126 East Central Illinois Master Naturalists reported volunteer hours (8,150) in the first 10 months of 2015 on a pace to...

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Reviewer and nature photographer Teresa DeWitt ('13) shares a few special finds. Butterflies by Ronald Ornstein;photography by Thomas Marent. Firefly Publishing, 2015 Butterflies is a stunning photographic study.Thomas Marent has a gift for capturing images on film, and infinite...