Deer were not cooperative Sunday morning as I sat high in a tree overlooking French Creek in scenic Knox County. But the beauty of sitting in nature long enough is that something will usually catch your eye, if you stay awake and attentive and ignore your cellphone.
Sure enough, as an otherwise slow morning neared an end, the cackle of a rooster pheasant caught my ears … then my eyes. There not 50 feet away, a gaudy rooster floated into our prairie following a group of 9-10 hen pheasants.
Breeding season is months away, but those hens sure acted like they were avoiding the loud-beaked rooster. Once they landed, the hens scattered, some sprinting into the prairie, some for a nearby plot of sorghum.
Yes, there are still pheasants in central Illinois – a bird many people tell me they used to see but never do any more. Generally, those same people offer up coyotes or hawks as causes for the lack of pheasants.
I nod along to be polite. And in truth, raccoons are a huge problem. But predators are not the main reason pheasants have become rare.
This Saturday (Dec. 14) in Yates City, a group of us can help you crack the pheasant code. Just stop by Salem Township Library between 10 a.m. to noon for the second Native Seed Celebration, spend a few minutes chatting and take home some native prairie seeds. That this year’s gathering is sponsored in part by the University of Maquon botany department only adds to the excitement.
I’m not sure what other participants will bring to the free event, but my bounty so far includes prairie blazing star, two kinds of milkweed (butterfly and swamp), Indian paintbrush, white aster, bergamot, ironweed, Joe Pye weed and a grab-bag of seeds collected last summer and fall in Illinois and Iowa.
Other participants will no doubt offer other native seeds and maybe even some nuts for you tree growers.
Last year, we billed this as a seed exchange, which was a mistake. Word was some folks stayed home, since they had no seeds to exchange.
Don’t let that happen this Saturday. The event is open to folks who have something to swap, but also to any of you who want merely to sow a few native prairie seeds but don’t have any to share.
And you don’t need acres for your prairie planting. Even just a small space in your yard can be a great seedbed. Many seeds I collect come from a small, kidney-shaped bed in front of our Elmwood home that is busy all spring and summer with visiting bugs and birds.
No, you probably won’t attract pheasants into town. But if you plant natives, you will see butterflies, goldfinches, hummingbirds and quite an array of cool insects.
Really, that’s the goal of having this event – to see more native plants growing on an Illinois landscape that has so few prairie plants left. That and the chance to swap a few prairie tales with like-minded folks will make Saturday a success. So join in.
Contact Jeff Lampe at (309) 231-6040 or jeff@wklypost.com
12-19-24
12-20-24
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