Photo Caption: Tender shoots rise above charred stubble following a prescribed burn at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in St. Charles.

Prescribed Burns

April 20, 2018

They’ve been common sights over the past several weeks: Billowing plumes of smoke erupting above our local parks and preserves. But instead of destruction, these fast-disappearing clouds signal restoration and rebirth.

Now that the weather *seems* to be moderating, you might consider taking a trip out to a nearby natural area that contains prairie or savanna habitat. You’ll likely find that it’s undergone a prescribed burn. A late winter and early spring that brought favorable conditions-light precipitation, low winds and humidity-made for a bang-up burn season for many local agencies. And now, with spring finally in full swing, we are able to enjoy the benefits of these activities.

The other day I was walking through the Hickory Knolls Natural Area and couldn’t help but notice the way the recently burned prairie had acquired a beautiful hue of green. The blackened stubble of last year’s plants is gradually giving way to this year’s new growth, a varied mix of grasses and forbs (literally, “flowering plants that are not grasses”) across the hills and into the trees.

At first glance, the practice of setting stuff on fire can seem kinda heavy handed, not to mention dangerous. But the fact that burns return nutrients to the soil, combined with the way our native ecosystems are adapted to fire means that the plants and the animals actually emerge healthier because of it. That’s also why “prescribed burn” has become the preferred term for referring to this management practice. Done properly, by highly trained teams, a burn acts like a prescription that results in renewed vigor along with the very desirable side effect of greater diversity in the plant community.

I’m always amazed at the speed in which a prairie area comes back after a burn. Its secret lies not in the dried leaves and stems above the ground-those disappear in a flash-but rather in the roots that extend many feet down. Add a little warmth from the sun, and little moisture in the form of spring rains (or, this year, spring snows) and those roots release the food they’ve stored all winter in a rush of green shoots.

Other plants (mostly nonnatives, but a few invasive natives too) are not so lucky. With shallow roots and, in the case of certain trees and shrubs, thin barks, they don’t tolerate the heat of a blaze-which is another reason why fire plays such an important role in natural areas management.

Plants that have been introduced here from other parts of the world can enjoy lots of advantages, like a lack of animals that feed on them and a tendency to produce lots of seeds. Left to their own devices, they quickly can form a monoculture that provides little in the way of food or habitat for native wildlife. But fire can be a great equalizer.

Some of you may remember what the area that is now Hickory Knolls was like back in the early 2000s, and before. The site where the nature center sits was community garden plots, and what we today call the savanna was, back then, a turfgrass-covered parking area dotted with century-old oaks. Squirrels lived in the trees, and still do. Birds and insects cavorted among the branches. But the grass was devoid of animal activity, save for the chipmunks and ground squirrels that burrowed into the soil below.

The changeover began in 2009. The grass was allowed to grow long and then was treated with a chemical and burned. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the roots of any of the various grass species that fall under the broad name of turf, but let me tell you, they are short. The one-two punch of a little bit of herbicide and a fast-moving fire knocked out the grass and gave our ecological restoration team the substrate they needed to begin planting native seeds and plant plugs.

If you visit Hickory Knolls to check out the ensuing benefits of prescribed burns, be sure and visit this particular spot right behind the building. Save for some die-off at the ends of the oak branches (the unfortunate consequence of the root compaction that occurred during the parking lot years) it’s hard to tell that cars used to outnumber native plants beneath the oaks. Beginning with woodland wildflowers in April and winding up with diverse goldenrods and asters in September, the space pops with color spring, summer and fall.

And, if you stop by soon, you’ll notice that this area, too, has been burned. Seeing the new plant growth rising amid the scorched twigs and acorn caps is a great reminder: Where there was smoke, there was fire. And now native plants grow higher.

Pam Erickson Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a facility of the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.

Photo Caption: Killdeer are named for the sound of their call, but also can be identified by their distinctive markings and behaviors.

Killdeer

April 13, 2018

“Kill-deer!”

“Kill-deer! Kill-deer! Kill-deer!”

Yep, there’s no doubt. The killdeer have returned.

These medium-sized birds, members of the plover family, are famous for their namesake call – and for their propensity for repeating it over and over. And over.

Even though these birds look like they should be running along a beach-which would make sense, since most plovers are shorebirds-killdeer are an undeniable, and increasingly obvious, element of our local landscape.

Male killdeer typically call from the air while circling over their territories, repeating the two notes ad nauseum. In fact, the killdeer’s scientific name, Charadrius vociferus, means noisy plover.

Listen for killdeer whenever you’re in or near an open space. Whether it’s a natural area or farmland, a developed area with an expanse of stone, woodchips or turf, or even an asphalt parking lot near some grass, chances are there’ll be a killdeer nearby. This adaptable bird has learned to take advantage of a wide range of human-created habitats, including golf courses, playgrounds, gravelly rooftops and road shoulders.

What could they possibly find appealing about roadsides?

In a word, habitat. Although seemingly hazardous, such spaces offer the advantage of being devoid of most other creatures. And since killdeer are ground nesters, finding areas that are avoided by prowling predators gives the incubating parents and their resulting young a bit of an advantage.

In addition, killdeer are masters of hiding in plain sight. They invest little time in nest building, instead relying on camouflage to keep their speckled eggs safe.

Well, camouflage and one other quality: a remarkable acting ability.

If you’ve ever approached a killdeer nest, you’ve likely witnessed this bird’s theatrics. Mom and Dad Killdeer both are adept at feigning injury, that is, scuttling about with one wing dragging, as if broken. The hobbling and thrashing is an impressive performance indeed, one that often succeeds in luring away the perceived threat.

But if more drama is needed, killdeer are prepared. The birds also will sit on a pretend nest that is some distance from where the actual nest is located, then dart to another spot and plop down again. After several rounds of running and plopping, predators and people-present company included-often get confused as to where the actual nest is.

If the killdeer’s success is measured, not in acting awards, but by statistics, it would appear that the bird is doing just fine. According to Kane County Audubon’s Spring Bird Count data, killdeer numbers have increased fairly steadily over that last 40 years, from a low of 13 birds spotted in 1973 to a high of 161 killdeer counted in 2008.

Yet life is not all sunshine and rainbows for this plucky little plover. Coyotes and feral cats take their toll, preying not only on the play-acting parents but also their precocial young, which are able to walk around and feed themselves soon after hatching. In fact, it’s estimated that killdeer may make as many as six nesting attempts before successfully fledging one chick.

Keep your eyes open for killdeer in the sort of places you’d expect-like meadows and mudflats-as well as unexpected spots-like the parking lot by the PetSmart on Randall Road, where I saw a killdeer the other day. Killdeer are brown on top and white underneath, with two black bands across the throat and chest. They also have longish legs which they use to scurry across the ground and chase after their insect prey.

Keep your ears open too, both day and night, for this bird that-did I mention?-is not shy of announcing its presence. “Killdeer! Killdeer! Killdeer!”

Killdeer.

Pam Erickson Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a facility of the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.