Birds, Butterflies, and Blooms: A walk through Fermilab’s Big Woods

A group of 7 had an exciting mid-day walk.  It was an adventure going along the south path of the Big Woods heading east and looping through the woods back to the Margaret Pearson Trail.  Experts and friends abounded.  Patches of twinleaf and Jacob’s ladder greeted us first, the latter with petals of lavender and soft blue.  Neon red quickly turned our attention to the tree canopy as a Scarlet Tanager was seen, a first for many.  An angle-wing butterfly took off from its resting place.  Two large Red-bellied Woodpeckers courted.  Sunlight dappled through the newly emerging leaves of red oak and sugar maple and we saw a Tiger Swallowtail franticly fly south.  The air was humid like summer.  The group next came upon literally hundreds of large white trilliums, red trilliums, and even a few nodding white trilliums.  The deer had not nibbled them away.  A bridge crossing the creek held an empty chrysalis from an unknown species of butterfly, perhaps a Grey Comma (rare to the Chicago region but common in Fermilab’s restored woodlands).  As ground squirrels hid, we continued down the path and saw a blue-headed vireo, Dutchmen’s breeches, and broad-leaved puccoon (the latter rated a 10 of 10 on the conservative scale).  We looped back to see the hepatica and heard, then saw a Baltimore Oriole.  At the edge of the woods was a nice treat.  Several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were feeding on the newly emerged catkins of a red oak tree.  Marsh marigold blossomed in the nearby wetland.  What a nice way to spend our lunch break, witnessing the ecology of Fermilab’s natural areas.  Hope to see you next time!

FNA May/June Newsletter Published

The online version of the May/June 2011 Fermilab Natural Areas newsletter is available and includes a recap of Earth Week activities and spring burns as well as details about our upcoming FNA five-year celebration picnic planned for Sunday, June 26!

Photo of the Day: Bellwort

Gordon Koizumi photographed Bellwort in the Big Woods at Fermilab, back in April:

Photo of the Day: Goldenseal

Thanks to Gordon Koizumi for the photo of Big Woods Goldenseal:

Photo of the Day: White Trillium

Last week Gordon Koizumi photographed white trillium in Fermilab's Big Woods:

Photo of the Day: Red Trillium

FNA supporter & friend Gordon Koizumi captured this photo of red trillium last week:

Volunteer Workday: Garlic Mustard Pull

FNA will be hosting a garlic mustard pulling event at Fermilab on Wednesday May 11th from 4-6 pm.


Please meet at the Lederman Science Center parking lot at 4:00PM (Across from the guard shack at the Pine Street Entrance).  Wear mud boots or shoes and long sleeves. Bring gloves if you have any as poison ivy is starting to leaf out.

We will be focusing on Morgan's woods at the corner of Kirk and Pine St.

Photo of the Day: Shooting Star

Thanks to Gordon Koizumi for the photo of shooting star, from the Fermilab prairie:

Photo of the Day: Dutchman's Breeches

Thanks to Gordon Koizumi for the photo of Dutchman's Breeches:

May Desktop Calendar

Enjoy scenes of Fermilab's natural areas on your computer desktop! Here are instructions for downloading & installing the May 2011 calendar pictured below onto your computer:

1. Click the image above to open in a new browser window (or tab).

2. Right-click (or ctrl-click for some Mac users) on the image, and chose the option that says, "Set Picture as", (or similar words; the exact wording will depend on your internet browser) and save to your desktop. On your desktop, right click “Properties” and select the “Desktop” tab. Click “Browse” and navigate to the saved image on your desktop. Select it & click “Open.” On the “Display Properties” dialogue box, click “OK.”

3. If the image does not fit your desktop background neatly, you may have to go to your preference screen (on a Mac: System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop; or on Windows: Control Panel > Display > Desktop) and choose "Fit to screen" as the display mode of your background image.

FNA will make a new desktop calendar available each month. If you'd like to share photographs for future calendars or the FNA newsletter, send us a note at fermilabnaturalareas@gmail.com.

Online Viewing: FNA as a Restoring Force?

Ryan Campbell's Earth Day talk, "FNA as a Restoring Force?" is available for online viewing.  Fermilab Today also highlighted Ryan's talk in today's edition.

Photo:  Ryan Campbell, Julia Allen & 2009 FNA intern Courtney Gill

in Fermilab's main ring prairie.

Photo of the Day: Trout Lilly & Twin Leaf

Enjoy these photos from Gordon Koizumi:

Trout Lilly

Twin Leaf

Today's Woodland Walk Cancelled

The walk in the Big Woods, originally scheduled for today at noon, has been cancelled due to muddy conditions on the trails.

Earth Day Talk: Fermilab Natural Areas as a Restoring Force?

Fermilab Ecologist Ryan Campbell will present his talk, "Fermilab Natural Areas as a Restoring Force?" today at noon in Fermilab’s Wilson Hall One West conference room.  This presentation offers a comprehensive presentation on the goals and efforts of Fermilab and FNA’s ecological efforts.
 

Happy Earth Day!

some photos from Gordon Koizumi, taken at Fermilab:

Virginia Bluebell

Spring Beauty

Today's Planting Cancelled

Due to the unfortunate weather, we will be canceling the native shrub planting. Our official Arbor Day event is scheduled for May 3rd from 11:30 AM - 1 PM.

The seed planting scheduled for tomorrow, April 20th is still on. 11:30 AM at the Interpretive Prairie trail.

April Desktop Calendar

Enjoy scenes of Fermilab's natural areas on your computer desktop! Here are instructions for downloading & installing the April 2011 calendar pictured below onto your computer:

1. Click the image above to open in a new browser window (or tab).

2. Right-click (or ctrl-click for some Mac users) on the image, and chose the option that says, "Set Picture as", (or similar words; the exact wording will depend on your internet browser) and save to your desktop. On your desktop, right click “Properties” and select the “Desktop” tab. Click “Browse” and navigate to the saved image on your desktop. Select it & click “Open.” On the “Display Properties” dialogue box, click “OK.”

3. If the image does not fit your desktop background neatly, you may have to go to your preference screen (on a Mac: System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Desktop; or on Windows: Control Panel > Display > Desktop) and choose "Fit to screen" as the display mode of your background image.

FNA will make a new desktop calendar available each month. If you'd like to share photographs for future calendars or the FNA newsletter, send us a note at fermilabnaturalareas@gmail.com.

Volunteer Workday

It's almost spring and Fermilab Natural Areas is preparing to sell rain barrels! We are planning to host a rain barrel building workday next Thursday afternoon, April 7, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m, at Fermilab's Site 37 Roads & Grounds shop.  If you are able to help out, please send us a note & let us know!


If you can't help out on Thursday, but are interested in purchasing a rain barrel, let us know that, too!

Contact us at fermilabnaturalareas@gmail.com.

March/April Newsletter



The FNA March/April newsletter is now available online and includes details on a full calendar for March, April and May.  We've also included a feature on the Arbor Day strategy, history on the Habitat Restoration efforts, an introduction to a prairie seed rate planting study as well as butterfly and bird updates.  As always, if you have any questions, topic ideas or other random notions, let us know at fermilabnaturalareas@gmail.com.

2010 Year in Review

At the annual general membership meeting in February, Rod Walton presented the following "Year in Review" for FNA activities in 2010:

Fermilab Natural Areas made admirable progress during 2010, even though it may not have been as much or as fast as we’d like! During the year we took a significant step in communicating with the members by publishing a bi-monthly newsletter. Most of the credit for that accomplishment goes to Paula Lambertz, the volunteer editor. Many thanks to

Paula! If you are not receiving the newsletter and would like to, please let us know, and we will make sure that your email address is added to the list. And if you have ideas about the content of the newsletter or would like to become a contributor, be sure to tell us that as well.

Jolie Macier put together a paper calendar for 2011, featuring photographs of various natural areas at Fermilab and also made month by month computer desktop calendars available.  Many thanks to our photographer friends who provided the photos for these calendars.

During 2010 we were joined by Heather Williams, who has enthusiastically taken on the daunting challenge of grant-writing for FNA. So far, Heather has put together an impressive list of proposals, all of which are pending as this is written. Grant proposals for website upgrades, improvements and expansion of the Margaret Pearson Interpretive Trail, and restoration of the oak savanna in the main ring are being considered. During the year, we also received a grant of $6,000 from the Boeing Community Fund to finance the invasive weed control program during 2011. The Boeing grant was written by Ryan Campbell earlier in 2010.

We also supported the Robert F. Betz internship during the summer for the second year. Jessica Meyers spent the summer in the field assisting in seed collection, wildlife studies and invasive control among other things.

A committee of the Board of Directors, composed of Dick Untch, Mitch Adamus and Shawna Coronado continue to make progress on a brochure and self-guided tour of the natural areas at the Lab. We are fortunate to have Fermilab partner with us on this project.

Finally, we formalized the legal relationship with Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that defines how these two entities will cooperate for the betterment of the Laboratory.

As for the vision for 2011, we intend to make significant progress again; supporting the Betz Intern for the third year, doing a better job of organizing and recognizing volunteers, while expanding volunteer opportunities, seeking corporate sponsors for some of our activities, and continual improvement in communication with our membership.

Any questions?  Send us email at fermilabnaturalareas@gmail.com.  Thanks for your support!