Leader: Mary Blackmore (815-938-3204)
NIAS Elkhorn Creek Biodiversity Preserve, rural Forreston. We’ll walk the mowed trails through grasslands, woodland and wetlands. The trails have some steep sections and the ground is often uneven. Carpool at 7:30 a.m.
Leader: Mary Blackmore (815-938-3204)
Wetland Areas of Eastern Stephenson County. This outing has little walking as we drive to each wetland area and often view the birds from our vehicles. Carpool at 7:45 a.m.
Coordinator: Chris Kruger, 815-238-9259
Join us as we hike the trails at the Mississippi Palisades State Park. The area is rich with native woodland wildflowers including Virginia Bluebells, Large-Flowered Trillium, and Amethyst Shooting Stars, to only name a few. Bring a sack lunch.
Carpool from the Harbor Freight parking lot at 8:30 am or meet us inside the park’s south entrance at 9:30 am. Planned return time to Freeport around 2 pm.
Please confirm your attendance with Chris at 815-238-9259.
Coordinator: Mary Blackmore, 815-938-3204
Carpool from the Harbor Freight lot in Freeport at 6:00 p.m.
Join us at our Elkhorn Creek Biodiversity Preserve to listen to the spring advertisement calls of frogs and toads. While 6 species of amphibians have been identified at Elkhorn Creek over the years, our best chances are for hearing the rapid metallic clicks of the Western Chorus Frog and the long musical trill of the American Toad. We’ll walk near both wetland areas at the preserve that provide amphibian habitat.
Meet in the parking lot in the northeast corner of the preserve off of West Grove Rd. The preserve is located 3 miles southwest of Forreston in the SE corner of Freeport and West Grove Rds.
If weather is questionable, call Mary.
Coordinator: Mary Blackmore 815-938-3204.
Join us as we admire one of the prairie’s harbingers of spring, the Pasque Flower. Unlike the crocus it resembles, a Pasque Flower, Anemone patens, is a member of the buttercup family. In early spring the plant sends up a flower stalk in advance of leaves so what you see are delicate pale violet blooms nestled in the muted tan tangle of last year’s prairie grasses. Come and see how Pasque Flower blooms actually move to track the sun.
The Freeport Prairie is an Illinois Nature Preserve located on Freeport’s south side. Meet in the preserve’s parking lot just off of Walnut Rd. at 2 p.m.
If weather is questionable, call Mary.