Our Annual Meeting Date has been changed to the Third Tuesday of the Month, January 17th. As usual we will meet at the Macomb City Hall Community room at 7pm. This will be our Yearly planning meeting along with a small program to be determined.
We plan to hold our Annual Christmas Party and Potluck at the Macomb City Hall Community Center in place of our regular chapter meeting on Thursday December 15 at 6 pm. Attendees are asked to bring a potluck dish and table settings for themselves. We will have turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy, fruit punch and plenty of food. Bring your appetite. Dinner will begin that Thursday evening at 6 pm. After dinner we will plan to host “Nature Bingo” and have prizes available for winners. Come, bring family and friends and join us for an early Christmas celebration and lots of fun.
November 12th – “Waterfowl Migration on the Mississippi River / Dinner at Hotel Nauvoo” For our November field trip we plan to view migratory waterfowl and other water birds within Pool 19 of the Mississippi River from Dallas City south to Hamilton, Illinois and on the Iowa side around Montrose and Fort Madison. Each fall thousands of waterfowl spend several weeks within this section of the river to feed in waters rich in invertebrate foods. We expect to see a wide variety of ducks and other waterbirds.
We will plan to meet at Saturday morning at 1:30pm the Casey’s Gas Station in Hamilton. If you want to carpool from Macomb you can call Dan at 217-256-4732 and we will try to make arrangements. The field trip will involve mostly driving with short periods of easy to moderate walking. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars, field guides and spotting scope if available (some will be provided; we can share). After we wrap up birding along the river we will stop for dinner at Hotel Nauvoo at 5:30pm.
Thursday December 15th at 6pm – 2011 Annual Christmas Party We will hold our Christmas Party and Potluck at the Macomb City Hall Community Center in place of our regular chapter business meeting for December. Attendees are asked to bring a potluck dish and table settings for themselves. We will have turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy, fruit punch and plenty of food. Bring your appetite. Dinner will begin that Thursday evening at 6 pm. After dinner we will plan to host “Nature bingo” and have prizes available for winners. Come, bring family and friend and join us for an early Christmas celebration and lots of fun.
November 8th – “Research with the Ghost Orchid in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge” by Dr. Lawrence W. Zettler, Illinois College
About one half (106) of all orchids native to North America occur in Florida, and about half of these species are confined to the southernmost part of the state in an area known as the Big Cypress Basin Eco-Region. Here, the rarest epiphytic orchids are found sheltered from sub-freezing temperatures deep within cypress domes and freshwater wetlands frequented by reptiles, mosquitoes, poachers, and saw grass. This talk will take us deep into the swamps of the Fakahatchee Strand and Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, to investigate the mysterious life history of these amazing unique plants, with emphasis on how they exploit fungi to suit their needs. Several taxa will be featured including the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) – the subject of Susan Orlean’s novel, “The Orchid Thief”, and subsequent hit movie “Adaptation”. The conservation of these species will also be discussed in the wake of ongoing threats in the region (e.g., poaching, urban development).
Dr. Lawrence W. Zettler is a Professor of Biology at Illinois College in Jacksonville, and director of the school’s Orchid Recovery Program. He is also a Research Associate at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL and serves on the American Orchid Society’s Research Committee.
The program will be held at the Macomb City Hall Community Room beginning at 7pm. Programs will typically follow introductions and a short meeting.
October 11th – Professor Eric Ribbens will present “Farmer Dirk and the Little Green Duck”. Dr. Ribbens, WIU Biology Department, has recently authored a children’s book entitled “Farmer Dirk Little Green Duck. The book consists of 19 short stories that describe a somewhat romanticized view of a small family farm, through the eyes of a little green duck who thinks he is a cow. Dr. Ribbens will describe the process of writing this particular book about a farm and will read excerpts from the book. He will also have some books available for purchase and book signing.
For those interested, we also will offer a short member photo show following the program so please bring your nature photographs you have taken over the past year or so. Bring either digital pictures (on a flash drive) or prints.
Angella Moorehouse of the Illinois Nature Preserve commission will give a workshop on Identifying the shorebirds that pass through Illinois. This program will involve a multimedia approach using still photos, audio, and video to give the audience tips on how to identify our local shorebirds. Included will be ideas on how to separate them by their field marks behavior. The talk will take place at the Macomb City Hall Community room at 7pm. The talk is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
August 6th (Saturday) – Shorebird trip to Illinois River/ Emiquon NWR. We plan to start this trip at 9am at the Western Illinois Credit Union parking lot to carpool. We plan be somewhat flexible depending on the location of the best shorebird viewing. Our plan is to visit Chautauqua NWR and Emiquon NWR but this may change a bit. We plan to stop in Havana to eat lunch and be back by 4pm.
Rescheduled July 12th at 6pm due to weather.
June 14th (Tuesday evening) Instead of a chapter meeting for June we will have a field trip to the IAS property at Wigwam Hollow to check the property and clean out the nest boxes. We will meet at 6pm along the Wigwam Hollow Road near the bridge over the La Moine River. Wear comfortable shoes and long pants (to avoid nettle stings). Bring bug repellant. We will provide refreshments, garbage bags for litter clean-up and ladders/tools for cleaning/repairing nest boxes.
The 4th of July butterfly count program has been held annually since 1975, when only 29 counts were held across the entire continent. Volunteers around North American select a count area with a 15-mile diameter and conduct a 1-day census of all butterflies observed within the circle. The counts are usually held in the few weeks before or after the 4th of July, but the best timing for butterfly observation in each count circle varies. The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) organizes the counts and publishes an annual report.
Once again there will be 4 Butterfly Counts held in Western Illinois. The counts are scheduled for the following dates:
Mason County (Revis) – Sunday, June 19th
Beardstown – Tuesday, June 28th
McDonough County – Saturday, July 16th
Hancock County (Warsaw) – TBD
For each count we will meet at the K-Mart parking lot (north side, near the garden center) in Macomb to share rides for the counts. For the Mason County Count we plan to meet at 8:45am. For the Beardstown and McDonough County counts we will meet at 8:15am. Everyone is welcome to join in on these counts regardless of experience level. Wear comfortable shoes, lightweight long pants and bring sunscreen and water. A butterfly net and butterfly identification book is useful but not essential – some participants will have these. We’ll stop for lunch on the Beardstown and McDonough County counts, bring a sack lunch for the Mason County count. The counts generally last until about 3-4pm.
If you are interested in participating in these counts please contact Dan or Angella (217) 256-4732 so that we may notify you should there be any last minute changes in dates or time.