The middle fork of the Vermilion River runs through Kickapoo State Park. Just a short walk from Middle Fork Woods Nature Preserve, explorers will find forest-lined bluffs and a a […]
Category: photography
Exploring Illinois: Henry N. Barkhausen Wetlands Center
Henry N. Barkhausen Wetlands Center is the perfect starting point for exploring the Cache River ecosystem. From the visitor center window one can spy muskrat, river otter hummingbirds and various […]
Exploring Illinois: Matthiessen State Park
Matthiessen State Park in LaSalle County is a feast for the eyes in all seasons. With greenery and wildflowers in the spring and summer, colorful foliage in the fall, and […]
Exploring Illinois: Ballard Nature Center
The Ballard Nature Center is a glimpse into what Illinois was like before the landscape gave way to cultivation for corn and soybeans. Located between Altamont and Effingham, just off […]
Exploring Illinois: Little Black Slough Nature Preserve
On the very the southern tip of Illinois, in the Cache River State Natural Area, you’ll find Little Black Slough Nature Preserve. Well known for its cypress-tupelo swamp, Little Black […]
Exploring Illinois: Garden of the Gods
The Garden of the Gods Recreation Area in the Shawnee Hills is a treat for anyone with a taste for geology. The sandstone bluffs and huge boulders at Garden of […]
Mushroom Monday: Mycena semivestipes
Mycena semivestipes (Peck) A.H. Smith Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods; causing a white rot; Usually growing in dense clusters; fall and early winter (but occasionally found in summer and […]
Exploring Illinois: Robert Allerton Park
Robert Allerton Park in Piatt county hosts over 1,090 species of plants and sixty species of breeding birds. The Sangamon river floodplain is the perfect environment for a variety of […]
Exploring Illinois: Apple River Canyon
Apple River Canyon State Park in northern Illinois provides the kind of topography that much of the state would seemingly lack. This Jo Daviess County nature site is featured in […]
Volvariella bombycina, a silky haired and stately mushroom
Volvariella bombycina (Schaeffer) Singer [The cap is] oval at first, becoming bell-shaped to broadly complex or nearly flat; whitish or tinged yellowing to brownish in age; the margin not lined; […]
On Mutinus elegans, a mushroom both slightly naughty and very smelly
Mutinus elegans (Montagne) E. Fischer Usually at least partially submerged in the ground; appearing like a whitish to pinkish or purplish “egg” up to 4 cm high; when sliced, revealing […]
Exploring Illinois: Mermet Lake Conservation Area
In Exploring Nature in Illinois: A Field Guide to the Prairie State, naturalists Michael Jeffords and Susan Post invite you to discover fifty preserves, forests, restoration areas, and parks in the […]