Saturday, September 27, 2008

Banner Marsh-East Access

Once more, Scott and I drove down to Banner Marsh, stopping at the northeastern most access area. We found many butterflies and bees around the youth pond, as well as a large assortment of frogs! Birds were rather scarce. We found Mute Swans, Mallard Ducks, Canada Geese, Killdeer, Catbird, Blue Jay, Starlings, and a Green Heron.

Mute Swan

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Monarch

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Mallard

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Sulphur Butterfly

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Viceroy

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Bumblebee on Pink Knotweed

-- from jward199 - (?)

-- from jward199 - (?)

Gladiator Katydid

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Canada Geese Flying Over

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Painted Lady Butterfly in Bushy Asters

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Honeybee in Bushy Asters

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Frogs at the Youth Pond

-- from jward199 - (?)

-- from jward199 - (?)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Click Here for Posts about the Banner Marsh/Rice Lake Area

Click on the title or click here to go to search results about the Banner Marsh/Rice Lake area on my website. Then click the Previous link at the bottom of each page to keep going back in time.

If you scroll through all the pages in this collection, you will see that I have been watching the Banner Marsh/Copperas Creek/Rice Lake area for a very long time. This part of the Illinois River migratory bird flyway is very dear to my heart. My advocacy to prevent mining on the proposed site between Banner Marsh and Rice Lake comes from my love for the natural wonder called a river system. Illinois citizens have so few natural areas to enjoy. Why destroy one of the most beautiful areas along the Illinois River? Coal mining will disrupt much of the beauty of this unique area and frighten away some of the most rare and precious forms of life living in the area. Reclamation of the proposed mine site will never remake it into what it is right now, and it will take 30 years and millions of dollars to get it to a state similar to the state Banner Marsh is in now, and Banner Marsh, as beautiful as it is, has a long way to go; it is an ongoing project.






Click here for additional posts about the Banner Marsh/Rice Lake Area