Stunning Views... Guarded By Attack Butterflies

I took this an hour north of Springfield, IL.  Also, it's guarded by attack butterflies.  Enough said? Probably not.   This is Revis Hill Prairie, one of Central Illinois' largest relict prairies.  A relict prairie, for those who don't know, is a prairie that has survived from the days before European settlement.  Very few still exist in Illinois, most in the north.  This is easily the largest one I've visited.

 Part of Revis' survival has to do with its elevation.  It's a hill prairie, so it's hilly and dry.  By hilly, I mean it's almost two hundred feet above the Sangamon River below.  Also, the soil is mostly loess, which is basically powdered rocks, so tiny that loess particles are blown on the wind.  The Midwest has a fairly large percentage of the world's loess, thanks to glaciers.

Revis's claim to fame is its insect biodiversity, including this Dung Beetle.  Some species of insect, such as the Prairie Walking Stick, are only found here in the state.  While I didn't find any of the entomological rarities the site is known for, I did find that the views were spectacular.

Hiking up a small trail near the official parking lot, we reached the top, and the trail disappeared.

On our way back down, we stopped and flipped over a few logs.  I uncovered probably the strangest arachnid of my life here.  This animal is about the size of my middle fingernail, or about 1/3 to 1/2 inches in diameter.  It is a cosmetid harvestman, (Vonones ornatus) a group of American, mostly tropical daddy long legs. As most of the records say this species is found primarily in the East, I wonder how common it is in Illinois.  I've certainly never seen one before, but then again, there are many, many insects, arachnids, and other arthropods I've never seen before.

By contrast, this colorful red beetle, one of the many  insects in this area, is a complete unknown.

On the road to the preserve, we had noticed several groupings of gray butterflies.  A few had flown around us as we went up the trail.

As we slid back down the trail, however, the butterflies became even more obnoxious.  I got a photo or two of them landing on us. but when it became a mob, we hurriedly shut the doors, expelled the few ticks and butterflies on us, and drove down the road.  I don't know what species it was, but it's the same species as the ones on the skeleton in Treading on the Devil's Neck.

Now, we worked our way about a mile over to where the guidebook said the majority of the prairies were, albeit with some thick brush in front of us.  I'm very sorry that I didn't get a picture, but it was essentially chest-high Bee Balm (Monarda sp.), Sumac (Rhus sp.), and thorn-covered berry bushes (Rubus sp.), on a 30 to 45 degree slope with not so much as a deer trail to follow.  Thankfully, there was no poison ivy.  Still, it was very hard going, and we trekked through a few hundred feet of dense brush before it began to open up.  Near the edge of the brush, I found this Short Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora), an uncommon plant in my area:

One look back over the Sangamon River Valley, and we determined the trip was worth it:

We could see the shadows of the clouds on the fields below us:

Also below us was an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), a bird usually hidden in the brush:

On top of the hill, the plant life was as diverse as you might expect from an old-growth prairie.  I have an entire plant list here, which exists only for the prairie areas, and it's very long.  Below is one of the many blooming plants, Thimbleweed (Anemone cylindrica).

One of the most common plants at Revis, Leadplant (Amorpha canescens), formed silvery patches all over the hillside.

But it was the amazing views, not the flowers, that held my attention the majority of the time.

This section of the preserve is essentially a giant horseshoe, and I don't mean the cheese-covered Springfieldian delicacy.  In the center  between the two sides is a small patch of forest.

Left half (facing southwest) is above...

...and right half (facing southeast) is above.

The river valley was almost two hundred feet below us.  It was at this point I accidentally pocket-dialed a friend of mine, and when he called back a few minutes later, I explained to him that I was two hundred feet above the Sangamon River, "but I'm on a bluff, so I'm not, like, flying in midair or anything like that." I suspect most of my friends think I'm crazy.

Among the many plants unknown to me was Pale-spike Lobelia (Lobelia spicata):

Several different butterflies flitted past, but I don't know my butterflies well enough to identify most of them.  This, I think, is a Sulpher of some kind, on a Coreopsis of some kind.  Either way, it's well camoflaged for sitting on that particular flower:

At this point, the friend I was with suggested that we should have brought our lunch up and eaten it on the hillside.  I agreed, and asked if he'd want to go back down and get it.  Neither one of us wanted to tackle that brush until we had to, so our lunch remained at the bottom in the car.

Finally, we got hot enough (we were both in jeans on an 80 degree day) that we decided to hike back DOWN the hill.   I spotted a fairly rare plant in Illinois, the Western Marbleseed, as I went back down the slope and through the brush, yet again.

In the middle of a slightly more open spot in the brush, I came across this Hoary Vervain (Verbinia stricta), a plant I don't see too often. It's a relative of the annual verbinia grown in gardens.

On the power lines near where we'd parked the car, I spotted this Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), a bird I've seen a lot of recently. I'd always assumed they were rarer than they are.

 With all the prairies I've visited recently, I've seen quite a few Dickcissels (Spiza americana):

As we drove away, I spotted this colony of Bank Swallows:

I then looked down and found the last of the seventeen ticks of the week, and the first to get a picture:

On the way back home, we stopped off at the Springfield Farm and Home, where a lone Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis), which I've discussed at length previously, and been dragging friends to see all week, was still in the pond behind the building:

Also in the same pond was this Green Heron (Butorides virescens) in the shadows of the road.

As we were about to leave, I spotted this Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina).  It was the last great hurrah of a wonderful trip and a great week of hiking.

Star Trek Birding- Emiquon Wildlife Refuge

Emiquon is the best birding site in Central Illinois, by all accounts.  After an eh trip back in May, I was interested in revisiting this enormous wetland complex and finding birds I hadn't seen before.

So, of course, the first birds were Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias).  I see these only... once a day.

Jokes aside, Emiquon is a wonderful spot for birding.  After a rather... interesting... hike earlier in the day, I wanted to just stay in the car and drive around, not unlike at Lake Springfield.  Here, usually, there's a pulloff on the southern edge which has a gate that says NO TRESPASSING.  However, the gate was open, so we went in.

Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) are common, but getting a picture of one eating a bug isn't.

Overhead, I spotted this Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), moving fast over the marsh.

Driving along the levee, I would ask my dad "Full Stop" when I wanted to stop and photograph something, and "Engage" when I wanted to go again.  As these are the commands Captain Picard used on Star Trek,... Star Trek Birding, anyone?

The southeast corner of Thompson Lake is a large cattail marsh, and this is where the majority of interesting birds can be found, like this Great Egret (Ardea alba):

Possibly one of the best birds of the trip was this, the Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus):

This bird flew right up to the shallows by the roadside.  Black-necked Stilts are fairly rare in central Illinois, with Emiquon being the only regular location in the area to find them.

While the birding isn't as spectacular in the summer as it would have been, say, a month ago, this is still an amazing place to visit.  The enormous lake/marsh and blue skies made for a lovely landscape.

Finding the occasional State-threatened Black-crowned Night-heron  (Nycticorax nycticorax)  was just a side benefit of the place:

Strange laughs, shrieks, and cries came from this patch of cattails.  I'd imagine that, unseen from the road, rails and other birds were having a ball deep inside.

I know for certain that at the very least, there were several Black-crowned Night-herons, a rare bird I've always wanted to see.  When I say rare, I mean in Illinois, as this bird can be found worldwide.

Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) nest here also, and several were out and about.

Out in the middle of the lake, we could see American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos):

Closer to shore, however, it was almost entirely Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa).  I probably saw over a hundred Wood Ducks, and to be quite frank, I wouldn't care if I never saw any Wood Ducks ever again.  Most of the trip was spent, "Full stop!  Oh, what is that!  Oh, more wood ducks.  Engage!"

Far off, on distant shallows, we could see cormorants, pelicans and egrets, but they were too far away for an easy viewing.

However, we did get to see this Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) dive on a fish.  The method of attack is worth looking up on YouTube, but essentially, the tern spies a fish, and plummets full-speed down at the water. Cannonball!  I don't know if this bird was successful, but it was a joy to watch.

It surprised me how long it took us to find Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), actually.

From this point, we could look out and see nesting cormorants on dead trees in the middle of the lake.

At this point, we had reached about halfway around the lake, and the road gave out suddenly.  Thankfully, there was an area to turn around, and while paused there, we stopped to observe all the birds nearby.

Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) sat upon the reeds between chasing insects.

Their relatives, the Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota),were gathering mud for their nests, built on a nearby water flow control station and several of the nearby bridges.

Nearby, the introduced species Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) and this Great Egret appear to be having a staring contest.  Mute Swans are the only wild bird in North America known to have killed humans.  It was a freak accident with a toddler in Eastern Europe, if I remember correctly.

Far off, the cormorants sat on their dead trees, guarding their nests.  Cormorants and most waterbirds feel safer building their nests in areas inaccessible to predators such as raccoons, so islands.

All over the lake, Wood Duck families also foraged for food.

Winding back around to the visitor's center. the pelicans were far more visible than before.

To summarize Emiquon, I quote Lord Byron:

 "There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more."

While it may be a lake, not a sea, the sentiment still stands.