On May 13, a group of master naturalists kicked off the cleanup of the rain garden we maintain for Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation at 302 North FirstStreet in Champaign.The siberian irises (Iris sibirica)were at their peak with blue false indigo (Baptisiaaustralis) just about ready to...

As a reason to get together and eat and do some good, Master Naturalists will assemble bluebird and bee nesting boxes at a potluck from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 at the Urbana Park District operations building at 1101 East Kerr, Urbana, IL. Please send an...

Last weekend, while working with the Kickapoo Krew Master Naturalists, I had the good fortune to be introduced to a beautiful bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). Although it is a conifer, the bald cypress drops its leaves in winter. You can see, in the photo, the lacy bracts (future cones) along its...

Diane and Ed Wilhite (MN 2009) recently traveled to New Zealand. Here's what Master Naturalists do on vacation. While in New Zealand, we spent some time removing invasive plants on a stretch of coastal land that is being restored to a native environment. With their remote, fragile biome,...

This past July for six days, (July 24th-29th) I had an opportunity to spend time with two 11 week old wolf pups that were being socialized for the captive wolf exhibit in Ely, MN. The International Wolf Center in Ely, MN was founded in 1985 by Dr. L David Mech and a group of biologists to educate...

Backyard Science: The Black Swallowtail Caterpillar As many people know, black swallowtail caterpillars feed on dill. Below, you can see two caterpillars on the same dill plant. They look very different from each other. The small one is a first instar, or the first in a succession of molts as the...

The Douglas Creek project in Meadowbrook Park is about three-quarters finished, and already water is flowing more freely and crayfish, frogs, bluebirds and deer are taking advantage of newly created habitat. Caitlin Lill, project manager for the Urbana Park District, said the $180,000 renovation...

This part of the Midwest isn't exactly San Francisco, or even Oklahoma City, where an outbreak of earth tremors is thought to be linked to deep-well injection by the oil industry. But there are fault lines beneath our feet, a University of Illinois geologist said Monday, and seismographic studies...

It loves heavy shade and wet ground, it's relatively unaffected by insects and diseases, and it can even survive a nearby Black Walnut. It's a native perennial known as Jack-in-the Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, and is found in woodlands throughout most of the eastern half of the United States....

A potluck to show appreciation for "Kickapoo Krew" volunteers at the High Pond Shelter at Kickapoo State Park is scheduled for Saturday, July 16. Volunteers will meet at the High Pond Prairie Garden at 10 a.m. and a potluck meal will begin at 10:30. Barbecue, buns and a condiment tray will be...

I recently spent two nights camping and exploring the charmingly-named Ferne Clyffe State Park in southern Illinois' Shawnee National Forest. The tent camping is among the best I've seen, with large pads on secluded, heavily wooded sites, plus the requisite (adorable) scavenging raccoons. As you'd...

In the spirit of the old community "barn-raisings," Master Naturalists will put together bluebird and bee nesting boxes at a potluck from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25. Both bluebirds and bees have to struggle to find nesting places because of widespread destruction of habitat. The "assembly party...

This rain barrel level gauge is a simple project that can be done in less than an hour. The rain barrel will have a bulkhead sized and threaded for either a half inch or three quarter inch pipe. Our example has a three quarter inch fitting. You'll need some hardware and some tools. Tools: 2...

A Master Naturalist volunteer has added Piatt County to a very short list of places where Shay's Trillium has been observed in Illinois. The plant, Trillium recurvatum shayii, is a form of the common Prairie Trillium. It was spotted in April 2015 between Allerton's Centaur and Sunsinger statues by...

Roger Inman has won the Best in Show award in the third annual East Central Illinois Master Naturalist photo contest, with a picture of an unusual ice formation at Homer Lake. Other winners were Cathy Barnard in the Open Category, Kathy Rowland in the Mammal Category, Betsy Kuchinke in the...

It has been fun to watch emerging insect life here in Champaign. It's a little too early for the migratory Monarch, because the Monarch's caterpillar food source, milkweed, isn't flowering yet. But Illinois has plenty of butterflies who overwinter as hibernating adults, eggs, caterpillars, or...

With all the talk about milkweeds, some of you may have planted a few to create habitat for the benefit of the Monarch Butterfly. (It's the one year anniversary of an article on Illinois milkweeds and Monarchs which appeared in the December, 2014 Field Notes.) As a dividend, you may have attracted...

A recent sunny morning ushered in a visiting butterfly to my yard and I was lucky enough to snap a few portraits.Then, a couple of friends asked about Tiger Swallowtails and how to attract them to their own yards. According to the Illinois Natural History Survey book Butterflies of Illinois...

A pair of Sandhill Cranes nested in Champaign County again in 2015 and hatched two more babies, according to wildlife photographer Brian Stearns, who first spotted the pair in the Middle Fork River Forest Preserve in 2010. Subsequent observations by Stearns, his wife Susan, and others have...

Have you ever tried to distinguish a male plant from a female one? Take, for example, the Jack-in-the-pulpit. Later in the season, the females will be showing red berries. Right now, in early May, the plants all look the same. The sexuality of Jack-in-the-pulpits is actually quite complicated....