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Hickory Hills Highlights

News from the Hickory Hills Chapter of

the Illinois Audubon Society, Stewards

of Bremer Sanctuary, Hillsboro, IL

WINTER 2018/19 EDITION

2019 CALENDAR EVENTS

January 1, 11:00 am—New Year’s Day Walk with carry-in soup & light snacks to follow…see pg. 7

February 16, 9:00am—Great Backyard Bird Count….see pg. 7

February 22, 8:30-3:00—Soil and Water Conservation Society Prescribed Burn Workshop…see pg. 7

April 13, 7:00 am---Spring Bird Walk with coffee/donuts/cookies afterwards.

April 27, 1:00 pm---Woodland Wildflower Walk with snack to follow.

May 17-19, Illinois Audubon Society Spring Gathering “Birding by the Big Lake”

June 8, 7:00 am---Summer Bird Walk with snacks to follow.

July 27, 4:00 pm---Prairie Wildflower Walk with wiener roast to follow.

Fall, date and time TBD---Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders will conduct on-site bird banding.

October 12, 4:00 pm---Owl Prowl, wiener roast & owl activities.

November 9, 5:00 pm--Annual Meeting with potluck, speaker TBA.

Look for new children & family workshop announcements in the Spring 2019 newsletter

Reminder: The Bremer Education Barn is a seasonal barn, no heat and no air conditioning. The stewards

make every effort to provide supplemental heat or cooling fans based on the weather. Please dress

accordingly when attending events.

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THE NEW BABY HAS ARRIVED AND BEEN PUT TO WORK by Jerry Prater

Newsletter recipients for the Fall 2018

issue were alerted to the arrival of Bremer

Sanctuary’s newest “baby” on October 2nd

weighing in at 3770 pounds. We celebrated

the delivery by putting baby to work right

away.

“Baby” is a new mid-sized John Deere

utility tractor, a welcome and needed addition

to the equipment shed. It shares a home with

the older workhorse that has done the job for

more than a decade. We also have to give a

shout-out to the late Jim Hefley and Anna Hefley for their generous support in this purchase and to Illinois

Audubon Society for the stewardship fundraising efforts.

The new model comes complete with a box grader, a front bucket and a trail grooming mower. Barely

off the trailer, a quick tutorial was given by Bill Timmerman of Sloan Implement from Litchfield, and the crew

was taking turns trying out the rig, discovering levers and voicing their appreciation for the power steering.

With the pipeline company having completed their regrading work just the day before, the real test was

later that day, when the new baby was hooked to a seed drill filled with fertilizer and annual oat seeds. With

Baby drilling the seeds, several volunteers walked the edges of the trail spreading seed by hand. The older

tractor pulled a wagon with a straw blower on it and several volunteers began blowing straw over the full

length of the slope. Have to say, it was a long day but in the end, the project was completed. We had only a

few days to wait before evidence of a greening of the slope became apparent. Thanks to Bremer Stewards

Jerry Prater, Ken Schaal, Don Krefft, Carl Savage, Jim Yount, Dane Murphy, Ron Gazda, Bruce Redman and

extra volunteers Doug & Karyl Dressen, Eric Bradley and Angie Karban (pizza delivery) in addressing a

persistent problem that seems to be on the mend.

A few weeks later, Carl Savage put the box grader to work

leveling the entry road and moving gravel back onto the roadway.

What a difference from the old blade attachment. Bruce

Redman took the grooming mower out for a spin along all the

prairie trails hitting the especially overgrown north trails. A

couple of rounds and the walking trails were back in shape and

ready for use. It was also helpful in pushing up brush piles for

burning.

Since then, we have used Baby to move rock, fill in more

washouts, and transfer bark mulch to the Timber Trail. The new

addition has saved a lot of sore and aching backs and has already

completed some much needed work.

A Big Thank You to all who have made this possible…..whether it be via

personal donation, memorials, ICECF grant matching donation , Illinois

Audubon donors……..we thank you for your giving spirit!!!!!

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10/13/18---Owl Prowl 2018 is in the books and what

an event is was!!!!! With a crowd of around 120 onlookers, the

TreeHouse Wildlife Center put on a great program. Adele

Moore, founder of the THWC, introduced 3 owls that are

permanent residents of the center for various reasons. She

also brought along a rehabilitated owl for release at Bremer.

The Barred Owl was orphaned near Hoyleton Illinois and has

been learning life survival skills during the summer at THWC. As

with tradition, the owl was named, “Owl-vin”, a suggestion by

Kaya Connor of Hillsboro, and voted on by the crowd. Adele

seemed to think the release owl was a male due to its small

size (females in the raptor & owl species are larger than males),

so with a 3-2-1 countdown, Owl-vin was thrust into the

air!!! But....... Owl-vin decided to linger and perched

contentedly on the chimney cap of the Bremer barn, a first in

owl releases.

After the program, Nancy Redman used an amplified

speaker to broadcast owl calls throughout the West Prairie. To

the delight of the public, 3 Barred Owls were heard

caterwauling, in which 2 were curious enough to delight us with flyovers. Previous to the owl program,

guests enjoyed cooking hot dogs & s’mores over the fire pit.

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11/3/18---Attendees of the Illinois Audubon Society‘s Hickory Hills

Chapter annual meeting were treated to the Illinois Raptor Center’s

program, Raptors 101. With an audience of approximately 60

people, the program began at 5 PM with the Illinois Raptor Center’s

Jacques Nuzzo, Jane Seitz and the Education on the Wing

Ambassadors. IRC‘s Education on the Wing presentations,

featuring live birds of prey, travel across Illinois with lively and

entertaining conservation and environmental presentations. IRC

also travels with bio-artifacts, feathers, wings, skulls, feet, eggs,

etc. and real life stories to encourage youth and adults to get

outside and enjoy nature. The night’s winged wonders included

Solo, the red tailed hawk; Sam, a peregrine falcon; Banshee, a

barn owl; and Kenny, a bald eagle. Banshee provided

entertainment by performing flyovers just above the audience’s

heads. Business was also conducted as Don Krefft was re-elected

treasurer and Jerry Prater was re-elected secretary for the chapter. After the raptor program, many enjoyed a

potluck feast and great conversation!

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11/2/18-----Bremer Sanctuary welcomed the Voyagers

Homeschool 4-H Group that morning for a “Trees” workshop led

by Beth Groves, education coordinator for the U of I Extension

Office. 32 students along with parents enjoyed Beth’s

presentation about tree rings by viewing cross sections of cut

limbs to determine age. Beth also discussed tree leaves and seeds

and had a 12” pine cone for the children to observe. A resource

competition game, “Every Tree for Itself”, showed the children

the importance of natural resources ( water, sunlight and

nutrition) and how overcrowding or poor habitat impacts the

health of a tree. The enthusiastic group then hit the trails with

Nancy Redman to view the many types of trees and learn some of

the history of the sanctuary. Afterwards, the group enjoyed a sack

lunch and viewed the many displays in the education barn.

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In the spirit of giving…..

A new antique oak and glass display case in the Education

Barn was donated by Bremer members Dane & Vicky

Murphy in memory of the Mizera Grocery Store in Taylor

Springs, Illinois. The case was used for candy display at the

store and housed many goodies in its day. Dane

constructed a wooden base with wheels (and plenty of

storage underneath) to set the display case on. According

to Dane, Mizera Grocery was founded in 1919 by his Great-

Grandmother, Victoria Mizera, and was

owned and operated by her and her

sons, Joseph, Edward, Thomas and

Charles. Dane’s grandparents, Edward & Gladys Mizera, took over operations till 1979

when Dane’s brother Michael assumed the operation of the “small hometown business” till

its closing in 1996. The case has been in storage since then and is getting a new life

exhibiting the many turtle shells, bones, skulls, skins and antlers in the learning center.

2018 NESTBOX TOTALS

EGGS HATCHED FLEDGED

BLUEBIRD 140 104 98

TREE SWALLOWS 72 60 57

HOUSE WRENS 126 95 95

Sanctuary grounds boast a 50 nest box bluebird trail.

(However 5 boxes were missing this year due to

pipeline construction, but will be in place for 2019).

Monitoring takes place once weekly from April thru

August and consists of opening each box and recording

the contents. Data totals are reported to the East

Central Illinois Bluebird Society. To learn more about

our trail and if interested in assisting, contact the

sanctuary for more information.

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Pipeline Trail June 5, 2018

with few volunteer weeds

present

Restoration at Bremer - Fall and Winter Edition by Ken Schaal

This is a report on the restoration activities that happened at Bremer Sanctuary this fall as well as those activities that need to happen this winter. In early October a crew of nearly a dozen Bremer volunteers spent most of a day seeding and strawing the Pipeline Trail, an area that had been denuded of all vegetation by the construction of a new ammonia pipeline, which began in August, 2017, by Nu-Star Energy LP. During construction the area had been left without cover for more than a year, and erosion on the steep site, as reported in an earlier newsletter, was bad and getting worse. Unlike other parts of pipeline construction in our area, the damage to the bluffs of Cress Creek did not heal itself. The slope is steep and faces south—making it sunny, hot and arid. The soil here is low in fertility, as there is no “topsoil.” Sterile clay covers the entire slope, and a rocky glacial till lies just a few inches under the clay. Over the course of the summer, common weeds like crabgrass, foxtail and ragweed should have invaded the damaged slope, but the soil on most of the slope could not even support these weeds! Our chore to create a cover crop on the Pipeline Trail was daunting…and only partly successful. Fifty bales of straw were purchased from a local farmer, and a straw spreader was rented. We divided up into groups: some operated the straw spreader, some operated a seeder we borrowed from Pheasants Forever, and others spread seed by hand. All in all by mid-afternoon the job of seeding, fertilizing and spreading the straw was complete. Unfortunately the next day a strong wind had blown a portion of the straw from the middle of Pipeline Trail. A few days later, the rains came keeping the straw in place and beginning the process of germination. In a week or so, oats were showing. The oats grew slightly but peaked out at just a few inches tall before the cold weather came and stopped the process. Hopefully the oat roots grew down deep enough to hold some of the soil this winter. There was no germination of the redtop grass seed; we hope it germinates early in the spring. In hindsight this activity should have taken place in mid-August. But the pipeline construction activities just did not allow for our work to be carried out at the right time. It will be interesting to follow the progress of the area. In a few years native grasses and wildflowers should occupy the slope. Hopefully erosion on the slope will be minimal, and Pipeline Trail will be fully functional again.

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Our grant project began more than 18 months ago and just ended on November 30. We were able to fulfill our obligations of volunteer hours and purchases by the end of the grant period; a few odds and ends are still pending. The project was a huge success. We were able to reclaim 15 acres on the southwest portion of Bremer Sanctuary by removing many non-native trees and shrubs. Many pounds of native grass and wildflower seeds were scattered—some purchased and some collected from local natural areas and donated. We still have a good supply of seeds to scatter on the area, but we wait until the winter burning season is completed before we scatter them. There are and will be for several years to come, brush piles in the grant area that will need to be burned. (right: Dane, Jerry and Bruce burn piles to eliminate extra fuel for woodland burns). Some say we should keep them for wildlife habitat, but doing so takes lots of manpower and energy to prevent them from burning during our controlled burns, which we must do to prevent the re-invasion of honeysuckle into the area. Besides, the whole purpose of removing the non-native honeysuckle and adding native plants is to provide good wildlife habitat at Bremer Sanctuary. We know our plan is working as the rare red-headed woodpecker has been seen using the grant area (as reported in the last newsletter).

Other activities that must be completed this winter involve conducting controlled burns in both woodland areas as well as the prairies. While we await ideal burning conditions, a lot of work needs to be done. Firebreaks must be re-made each year. Mowing a wide path reduces the fuel load in parts of the prairie where we want to stop the burn. Mowing knocks down the grassy fuel, and blowing removes much of the fuel from the burn area, making the edge of the burn zone safe. In the woods we do the same thing: mowing to reduce the size of the vegetation and blowing to remove the fuel load (mainly tree leaves) at the borders of our burn area to insure the fire does not escape. We use the tractor where we can, but many areas are too narrow for the tractor or too steep. Here we use manual labor. Weed whackers and our walk-behind mower help to make the job easier, but it still involves lots of exercise. (left: Ken uses brush mower to cut around south slope oaks).

If you want some exercise this winter or want to help improve our native habitats, there is plenty you can do to help with our restoration activities at Bremer Sanctuary. Feel free to contact us and join us as we

make Bremer Sanctuary a better habitat and a better place to visit.

The right photo is a perfect example of the

importance of prep work before a prescribed burn.

Taken last February, Don Krefft stands beside one of

the mighty oaks on the south slope. Notice the area

encircling the base of the tree. Since many of these old

pasture trees are still alive but hollow on the inside,

the utmost pre-fire precaution is needed by blowing

leaves and debris from the base as to not start a

chimney fire within the tree itself.

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Upcoming Events……….

New Year’s Day Walk/Hike……Leaves barn

promptly at 11:00am and will be approx. 60-90 minutes in length. Dress for the weather!! Potluck

soup and light snacks in barn afterward. Bring a dish or two.

Coffee and Hot Chocolate provided.

Prescribed Burning Workshop

Hosted by the Illinois Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society

When: February 22, 2019. Registration begins at 8:30 at the

Montgomery County Extension Office, #1 Industrial Drive, Hillsboro.

9:00am till noon----guest speakers from IDNR, The Nature Conservancy

and the Illinois River Program Restoration covering topics of fire ecology,

developing a burn plan, fire weather, equipment and safety.

12:00-12:45---Lunch provided by SWCS

12:45-(3:00??)---Travel to Bremer Sanctuary, 194 Bremer Lane, Hillsboro

for a demonstration prairie burn.

All planning to attend MUST register by text or call to Duane Friend at

217-725-8303 with your name and contact number. $10.00 fee to non-

members of SWCS.

Join us for an introductory-level crash course on the Great Backyard Bird Count!!!!

Ever wonder what’s the hype about eBird, how to conduct a bird count or enter data?

Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the

Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on

wild birds and to display results in near real-time. Bremer will host a Power Point

presentation regarding the GBBC and teach participants how to tally bird totals and

enter data with a hike afterwards to count birds!!!! http://gbbc.birdcount.org

February 16th, 9:00-9:30 Power Point; 9:30-11:00 Hike; (11:15, weather & trail

permitting, we may take a wagon ride to the far NW corner of the sanctuary to view a

Great Blue Heron rookery only visible during winter).

Barb Grabner-Kerns photographed this

Painted Turtle Mama & Baby on Turtle Pond

October 30,2018

****REMINDER****

If you are enjoying this newsletter, that means

that you are either an IAS member (dues

reminder are mailed directly from the IAS) or

you are a “Friend of Bremer”, in which case

the annual dues of $10.00 are due in January

and can be mailed to: Hickory Hills Chapter,

PO Box 395, Hillsboro IL 62049

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On the beautiful morning of November 30th, the photography students from Ms. Kumlin’s class at

Hillsboro High School took a field trip to the sanctuary to refine their photographing landscape skills. A

small sampling of their work pictured above………to view other spectacular pictures, visit our FB page.

The Hickory Hills Chapter of the

Illinois Audubon Society is governed by

a Board of Directors. The following

are members of this Board:

Henry Eilers-Restoration

Gale Johnson-Building

Don Krefft-Treasurer, Restoration

Sonya Luckett-Bulletin Board

Jerry Prater-IAS Chapter Representative,

Secretary

Nancy Redman-Newsletter, Bluebird

Trail, Education Chairperson

Dick Rompasky-Building

Carl Savage-Membership Chairperson

Ken Schaal-Restoration

Check out our website at www.bremersanctuary.org

Like us on Facebook at “Bremer Sanctuary,

Hickory Hills Chapter of the Illinois

Audubon Society”.

Illinois Audubon Society website:

www.illinoisaudubon.org

Photo contributions this issue:

Amber Connor, Barb Grabner-Kerns,

HHS Photography Class, Lisa Huber, Don

Krefft, Bruce Redman, Nancy Redman &

Ken Schaal.