MONITOR NEWS, September 2010

Johnson’s Mound is a wooded kame (gravel hill) in central Kane County. In the 1980s the preserve was expanded to include large fields next to the woods. Liz began doing point counts in these fields in June 2000 as she retired from teaching microbiology at Elgin Community College.  The fields, she found, were nesting places for bobolinks and, in many years, dickcissels. Sedge wrens have been consistent June residents until the last two years. Brushy edges along the grassland are home to orchard orioles and willow flycatchers. The woods, where Tim Balassie is now monitoring, have barred owls, great horned owls, woodcock and ovenbirds. [Dickcissel photo by Mary Lou Mellon].

At present Johnson’s Mound is largely surrounded by cornfields, but homes and shopping centers are gradually closing in. The preserve will undergo other changes too because the district has planted a number of bur oaks with the intention of converting part of the grassland to oak savanna. It will be interesting to see what happens to the bird populations as the oaks grow larger. We hope to see continued documentation from Liz as the habitat develops and changes!