It’s Here!!! The Annual Elkhorn Creek Butterfly Festival Is Back!

Saturday, July 29^th, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Join us for a fun, informative family-friendly afternoon as we explore the Elkhorn Creek Biodiversity Preserve for the many butterflies that are found there. From 1-5 p.m., participants may join guided butterfly tours or look on their own for those winged beauties. “Illinois Butterflies and Moths” pocket guides will be distributed at no charge while supplies last…they go fast!

We’ll have a shady rest area as well as a restroom, cold beverages, snacks and information about pollinators. If weather is questionable, call Mary Blackmore at 815-938-3204 before 10:00 a.m. on July 29^th. For more information, check out the front page of our newsletter.

Audubon in the Library

Wildlife Wednesdays, 10:30 — 11:00 a.m. at the Freeport Library

Appropriate audience is two– to seven-year-olds

An Audubon member hosts this monthly series at the Freeport Public Library. During the program, there is a special story time followed by an activity related to a theme. Specimens are often included! The library’s summer theme is “Reading by Design” and focuses on architecture and engineering, so Juliet Moderow will discuss animal houses and cities!

• June 14: Animal Homes I: Hives, Galls, Mounds, Shells and Webs!
• July 5: Animal Homes II: Nests, Lodges, Burrows, Dens and Holes!

Wednesday Morning Movie Series at the Lindo Theatre

115 S. Chicago Ave., Freeport

Ice Age: Collision Course

Animated, PG, 1 hr. 40 min.

June 21^st; Doors open at 9 a.m. Film starts at 10 a.m. Admission is $1.00.
Every Wednesday this summer (June 7 – August 9), the Lindo Theatre is offering $1 movies. Audubon will be there on June 21^st! Juliet Moderow will be there to greet the incoming children, play games, share information about our activities for the upcoming year. There will be a movie mascot and giveaways as well.

Eastern Whip-poor-will
Antrostomus vociferous

These birds have been made famous in songs and poems for their endless chanting on summer nights. Eastern Whip-poor-wills are easy to hear but hard to see. Their feathers blend in perfectly with the gray-brown leaf litter of the open forests where they like to hang out. At dawn and dusk, and on nights with a good moon, they fly out to sweep up insects in their cavernous (look this word up) mouths.

Cool Facts*

• They lays eggs in phase with the lunar cycle, so that they hatch on average 10 days before a full moon. When the moon is near full, the adults can hunt the entire night for large amounts of insects to feed the young birds in the nest.
• They feed on insects, including moths, scarab beetles, long-horned grasshoppers, tiger moths, ants, bees, wasps, fireflies, and weevils.
• They start looking for insects 30 minutes after sunset and continue until it gets too dark to see the prey. When the moon is bright enough they might hunt all night long.
• Their enormous mouths allow them to swallow insects up to two inches long.
• They might look through rotten logs to look for ants, caterpillars, worms and other insects.
• The female will lay her eggs right on the leaves on the forest floor but they blend in very well with the leaves.
• They have loud, distinctive voices…and might try the patience of someone trying to sleep.

* Information adapted from Cornell Lab of Ornithology site All About Birds.