A Prairie Afternoon

Eastern meadowlark photo by John Cassady.

Markham Prairie is one of the finest examples of tall grass prairie still extant. There are several reasons why this is so. Although back in the 1800s it was grazed a bit, it was never plowed and was pretty much left alone for decades before it came to the attention of conservationists. It is also diverse in that there is a section of mesic (moist praireid0 that drops in elevation to become wet prairie. And finally, it has been under the management of the late Robert Betz, a biologist who did so much to study and preserve prairies in thus region, and a former student Ron Panzer, who currently oversees activities.

The prairie aspect changes at least slightly every week or two from May through September as a different guild of plants bloom and go into senescence. For me the single most dazzling floral display occurs at the end of July and beginning of August. That is when the blazing stars are in flower. Two species, the marsh and prairie, spread purple over sections of the prairie, making the irregular swaths look almost like ponds, as the wind gently ripples the colorful blossoms. I try not to miss this singular phenological event and it is one of those displays that I love to show off. Even if you know or care nothing about prairies you have to admit that it is beautiful on a purely aesthetic level. If you can’t make even that concession, it is hard to imagine that we have enough in common to maintain any but the most cursory of relationships.

This year Cindy, Lynn Hepler and I planned our visit for a late Saturday afternoon. Lynn and I have been friends since graduate school and she is currently an educator at a local forest preserve district. The late hour was selected so we could head for dinner at Millers Bakery, a superb restaurant in Miller, Indiana a frequent subject of these blogs. From Markham, in southern Cook County, the drive to the restaurant is about 40 minutes. Definitely worth trying out. My other favorite eating establishment in Miller is the much more modest Porky’s Pit. The owner is Tom who has been a pit man for forty years and he makes ribs that are out of this world. I was hoping I could order a slab to pick up when we were done with Millers but it was closed.   

As a birder, my nature outings usually start as early in the day as possible. (I know botanists who say that the desire to sleep late caused them to select the taxon they now study.) This is generally a good thing, as mammals and herps are also most active then. But butterflies are certainly not. A trip to Marknam in the morning will yield a smattering of them but nothing like what we saw. I don’t remember ever seeing Markham as alive with butterflies. Common wood nymphs swarmed around the rattlesnake master. The highlights, though had to be the two prairie obligate fritillaries, the Aphrodite and the even rarer regal. Both have larvae that feed exclusively on violets. Ron Panzer has called Markham the Aphrodite capital of Illinois and I usually see one or two on a trip there. Kenn Kaufman in his wonderful Butterflies of North America says that the regal “is one of North America’s vanishing butterflies” and that it “has almost disappeared from its former range east of the Mississippi River.” The regal was introduced to the site only a few years ago, but seems to have done well. It is one thing to see a rare and beautiful creature sufficiently well to identify it, but it is another to have the privilege of studying many individuals at close range in perfect light.

This season’s blazing star crop was modest in comparison with previous years but lovely none the less. And other favorite prairie plants were also in full bloom- wild quinine, purple prairie clover, yellow coneflower, tall green milkweed, partridge pea, and many more. Rattlesnake master is thick here. It is a species of the tall grass prairie that looks as if it ought to inhabit deserts, a fact reflected by its specific name yuccifolium. The spiny flowers look like the head of a mace, but they attract hordes of wasps, beetles, and other insects in addition to the butterflies.

Markham is not the birdiest prairie around but it does usually have a few nice grassland species. We missed the Henslow’s sparrows that are often there (albeit earlier in the day and season) but an eastern meadowlark perched on a wire and uttered most of his song. From the lowland grasses a sedge wren announced his presence. If you need inspiration,  nothing beats  Markham. No matter what time of the day you visit.

Short green milkweed.

Lynn and Cindy.

Viceroy on blazing star.