Nature Notes: Celebrating the Magnificent Bison
This October marks the ninth year that bison have graced and grazed our Kankakee Sands prairies. Even after nine years, it’s still a thrill to see them, isn’t it?…
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Nature Notes: Bison, by the Numbers, at Kankakee Sands
It’s that exciting time of the year when the bison calves are born! At the close of 2020, we had 93 bison in our in our Kankakee Sands herd. As I pen this article, twenty-one calves have already been documented in the bison pasture, which means that for the first time in the history of Kankakee Sands, we have more than 100 bison grazing on our prairies…
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Nature Notes: Hoary Vervain at Kankakee Sands
A Crowd Pleaser I overlook things all the time – but insects don’t. I walk, bike and drive the roadsides of Kankakee Sands every day, nearly oblivious to the thousands of hoary vervain (Verbena stricta) that I am passing. But the insects are keyed in--they know that this plant is a treasure. …
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Nature Notes: Chatty Little Grasshopper Sparrows at Kankakee Sands
Header photo byKathy Malone Nature isn’t always what it seems – a chatty little grasshopper sparrow taught me that. For the first ten or so years that I worked at the Kankakee Sands Nursery, I was always looking down, either at the native plants that I was planting into the soil, or at the seeds that I was harvesting for our prairie plantings. Yet all around me was a magical, buzzing symphony of insect life – bees, dragonflies, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, crickets, katydids – or so I thought…
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Nature Notes: The Smell of Spring - Skunk Cabbage at Kankakee Sands
After a long gray Indiana winter, it’s a real joy to smell skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), one of Indiana’s native, fascinating flowers. The name says it all – it does not smell like roses! But seeing and smelling skunk cabbage is a sure-fire, sweet sign that spring weather is near…
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Nature Notes: Growing the Fancy Plants at Kankakee Sands
Trudging through the cold north winds on an early March morning, icy rains slashing my face, I make my way from the parking lot to the Kankakee Sands greenhouse. Clomp-clomp, clomp-clomp. I slide open the greenhouse door and am instantly transported to a state of bliss – the warmth, the fresh moist smell of dirt and seedlings that tickles my nose, and the gentle whir of the fan that makes the seedlings dance in the breeze. I take an enormous deep breath, and then it’s time to get to work…
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Nature Notes: I Love Winter at Kankakee Sands
Photoby Jessica Gomez TNC With its short days, grey skies and cold temperatures, February in Indiana can be trying even for the ruggedest soul among us. But, I love winter. Without winter, our Kankakee Sands prairies would not be the amazing, life-filled, flower-flowing, insect-buzzing places that they are. …
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Nature Notes: Crossing Those Lines - Migrating Monarchs
Photos by Trevor Edmonson This past September, upwards of 2,000 monarchs congregated on the oak trees growing atop the dunes at the Bison Viewing Area! The monarchs roosted in the trees for several days before they continued on their long journey to their overwintering location in Michoacan, Mexico…
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Nature Notes: Grounded - Leopard Frogs at Kankakee Sands
Northern leopard frogs are fast, real fast! They aren’t called leopard frogs for nothin’. They are…
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Nature Notes: One Bat, Two Bat at Kankakee Sands
This spring we were delighted to look up and find that our furry, winged, big brown bat mascot was hanging upside down again this year in the rafters of the Kankakee Sands seed processing barn. Ah! Some normalcy in these craziest of times! The big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) is much as its name describes – big (for a bat) = five inches in length with a wingspan of 13 inches and brown fur all over, except for its black furless face, ears, tail and wings…
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