My list of top places in Illinois contains some obvious selections as well as a head-scratcher or two. The Shawnee, of course, with its undeniable southern culture, quiet woods, and herpetological diversity. The driftless region tucked up along the Mississippi River in the far northwest corner, where in places, time has stood still and where the mystical timber rattlesnake lives on in the most isolated outcroppings. The northwest side of Chicago, where I was born and raised and where the promise of the plains gartersnakes awaits in its weedy alleys and railroad embankments. The sand region of Will, Kankakee, and Iroquois Counties, its glacial relics, and sometimes unforgiving attitude. Forgottonia, its scattered towns devoid of attention and humanitarian efforts but replete with grit and self identification.
Then there’s the wetlands of Putnam County. Specifically, the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, a 3,000 acre preserve south of Hennepin, hugged by the Illinois River where it channels southward. It is a place of stunning beauty and biological splendor, even more remarkable considering that most of it is restored former farmland. There, you’ll find reclaimed lakes, springs, seeps, marsh, woodlands, streams, and incredible upland sand prairies and savanna. You’ll also spot some indications that not long ago, this was all farmland. Old, unused farm implements and infrastructure from a time past. The Wetlands Initiative has worked extremely hard to maintain this site, and so it is quite a privilege to access all of it for free.
I’ve only been there twice before. The first time was for their first ever bioblitz in 2015. Then, I visited with some friends in 2016. A lot has transpired in the last ten years. A few months after my last visit, my daughter was born. Nearly a decade later, it seemed very appropriate and comforting to have been invited back for a mini bioblitz. I couldn’t wait to return.
The bioblitz took place on a Sunday morning, but I arrived Saturday afternoon. I hiked Sandy Hollow, the newest addition to the preserve. This acreage serves as a buffer for the wetlands but is in itself an absolutely stunning landscape. As soon as I exited my car, I was greeted by the most luxuriant display of wild lupine I might have ever seen. Interspersed between were brilliant yellow hairy puccoon, cream wild indigo, and dainty blue-eyed grass. The air smelled so good. Working my way into the woodlands at the bottom of a hill, I saw lots of woodland phlox and huge swaths of blooming mayapple. The overall herbaceous layer was lush - lots of young budding plants and fresh green wood nettles. There were songbirds aplenty; over a dozen species by my calculations, plus glimpses of bald eagles and turkey vultures through the gaps in the canopy. Mosquitoes were abundant but they were not (yet) interested in blood.
After camping out in my vehicle overnight at the farmhouse, I awoke to a fresh morning and decided to take a walk along the much improved levee. The last time I was on the levee, it was so muddy that one of the vehicles we used was stuck until a tractor came and got it out. Today, the levee is paved in a dry layer of crushed limestone. I enjoyed the quiet morning, but from a distance I could see some commotion at the farmhouse and I knew the bioblitz preparation was buzzing. Shortly after I returned to the farmhouse, Tom Anton arrived. Then a nice surprise - Trevor Edmonson, formerly of the Wetlands Initiative and now of the Nature Conservancy, arrived. It was like a mini reunion of that memorable bioblitz from 2015.
We stood through a short intro and then we were off. There were about ten members of the herp team, guided by Reese, a Wetlands Initiative biologist, and led by me and Tom. Over the course of three and a half short hours, we explored much of the site and came up with a respectable list of herps: American toad, grey treefrog, cricket frog, green frog, painted turtle, red-eared slider, northern watersnake, eastern gartersnake, miksnake, foxsnake, blue racer, bullsnake. There was no time for staging herps for photos and frankly I wasn’t in the mood for that anyway. We caught and released as quickly as possible, taking only voucher shots which are not really worthy of sharing here.
Around noon, everyone returned to the farmhouse to recap their morning and then most took off. I hung out a bit to catch up with Trevor. Man, what a good dude he is. Then I took one last lap over the gravel road before it met the pavement. Call me crazy, but driving slowly over a gravel road is therapeutic. The grinding and popping of rocks under the heavy tires works better to lower my heart rate than sitting in a massage chair, I tell ya.
I’m privileged to know lots of places where everything just comes together, personally and psychologically. I think the world would be a better place if more people felt such a strong connection to the land. There’s a lot out there to discover, you just need to do it.
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