Somme Prairie Grove: Current News

Good Spring Burn

Not outstanding, as the wet areas didn't burn at all and the wooded areas burned only marginally. But all the grassy areas of the north half of the preserve had a fine burn and will be especially rich with savanna wildflowers, grasses, butterflies and other rich life this growing season. Tens of thousands of baby buckthorns and other invasives died a natural death.

View some photos from this workday taken by Marianne Kozlowski.

Thanks to all who helped: Bill Koenig and Joni Marin from the Forest Preserve District and volunteers Marianne Kozlowski, Miguel Vallejo, Rett Donnelley, Jeff Weisz, John McMartin, Stephen Packard, and Linda Masters.

Wild Sounds of Spring

Poetically enough, on the first day of spring—March 20^th this year—two sets of male performers started calling for mates in Somme Prairie Grove.

The woodcock males strut around in an open parade ground making a nasal buzzing sound. Then they spiral up into the heavens with a whir and come down to one of the most complex and passionate sounds in nature. It’s a crescendo composed of both voice and vibrating feathers, as they dive back to the earth in impressive swoops. And those swoops are all the more impressive since the woodcock is a fat relative of the sandpipers with a slender bill half as long as its body.

The other serenade comes from the chorus frogs. Just a couple of bold males were performing on the day of the equinox. But soon there will be so many they’ll be the loudest sound around.

Of course there was a “sign of spring” more than a month before. The earliest nesting bird in Chicago Wilderness is the great horned owl. At Somme the owl hen was first seen sitting on her eggs on February 10^th. Through snow and cold, day and night, she’s sat there incubating ever since. (The eggs wouldn’t survive very long if she left them.) The male feeds her all that time.

Happy Spring to one and all.

Winter News

Feathered Friends

A rare northern shrike (below) has spent much of January hunting in the central area of the savanna. Though smaller than a robin, it catches and eats mice and small birds. Because it is a songbird and doesn’t have the strong talons of raptors, it impales its prey on thorns to bite off pieces. During summers (in northern Canada) it eats mostly large insects.

Photo taken at Somme Prairie Grove by Leif Otto.

The red-tailed hawk (above) lives at Somme year round. Typically it nests in a tall oak or cottonwood. Every year the great horned owl appropriates the red-tail’s nest for its own use the following year. The red-tail eats mice, voles, rabbits and squirrels.

Photo taken at Somme Prairie Grove by Leif Otto.

Ongoing Notes

What are the colored flags about?

Some just mark the trail system.
Some are used by the summer interns to mark work that needs to be done or weed infestations that have to be checked again.
Some mark rare plants that are being studied by the Chicago Botanic Garden. Please don’t walk over to look at them. Those same plants are also near the footpaths.

“No Parking” signs at the Waukegan Road pull-off.

The Village has had trouble with this “service road” area being used for overnight truck parking, garbage dumping, etc. Although serving as temporary access to the preserve, it has also been a source of vehicle trespass, dumping, plant and seed poaching, and other misuse.

Also—in time the plan is for this entire area to be closed off and vehicle access needs satisfied by a new turnoff from the expressway (with a traffic signal and the ability to turn both north and south on Waukegan). The entrance and egress for the businesses down this service road will be tied in with that, so this southern part of the service road will be closed.

Parking for Somme Woods Prairie, Somme Prairie Grove, and Vestal Grove will be at Somme Woods—one block south and one block east on Dundee Road. A trail with signage will connect that parking lot to this area with a “Walk Light” crossing at Dundee and Waukegan.

New “No Dogs Off Leash” signs.

Actually the law requires all dogs to be on leash in all forest preserves at all times. This rule will get extra attention by Forest Preserve District police at this preserve because (1) this fine ecosystem is so often visited by school and museum groups, (2) some loose dogs wreak havoc on rare ground-nesting birds, (3) the many rare and endangered plants at this precious site are under enough stress and trampling already without dog traffic that could as well use a less fragile preserve, and (4) there have been complaints of dogs being aggressive with preserve visitors.

Since the signs went up in spring 2006, there has been a dramatic increase in the nesting birds of open areas. The field sparrow, a ground-nesting bird on the watch list of declining species, has visited this preserve every spring but has not nested during the recent years of heavy use by loose dogs. This year at least one pair are busily bringing up their nestlings. The black-billed cuckoo—a steeply declining bird that builds a loose stick nest two to four feet off the ground in shrubs—is nesting for the first time in decades. Three pair of eastern bluebirds are nesting; there have never been more that one pair in recent years. There are many places where dogs can be walked, but this is probably the only site in the North Branch forest preserves where these birds are nesting.

Enjoy your visit to Somme Prairie Grove. Let us know if you have thoughts or questions.