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Learning comes naturally at the Sugar Grove center
By Phyllis Coulter
pcoulter@pantagraph.com
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SHIRLEY -- Three Scouts, their families and a Bloomington couple were among those who chose to be surrounded by nature as part of their long weekend activities.

They took a nature walk Saturday on Nature Exploration Day at Sugar Grove Nature Center at Funks Grove, a short drive south of Bloomington.

“I like learning about what is native to Illinois,” said Julie Sullivan of Bloomington. For example, raspberries aren’t, but gooseberries are.

She and her husband, Tom Sullivan, also gathered some ideas about which plants to grow in shady areas of their property.

The Sullivans may be keeping some plants they might have once discarded after taking the hourlong tour through the woods, led by Illinois Master Naturalist Janet Beach Davis.

Seven-year-old Collin Willsey of rural Carlock was quick to identify a deer track found in the woods. His parents, Mark and Amy Willsey, said his awareness of his surroundings comes both from being a member of Carlock Cub Scout Pack 44 and being an avid viewer of the Discovery Channel’s nature programs.

Their friends, Janine and Jamie Belfuss and their two sons, Eric, 9, and Evan, 8, quickly learned how to identify poison ivy along the trails.

Tour-goers also got a chance to taste, touch and smell plants that Beach Davis, a Heartland Community College teacher, highlighted for them. She showed visitors plants that only bloom for one day a year, plants that make people itch, others that were once used as a cure for broken bones, and still others with leaves that taste like black jelly beans.

Visitors learned that crickets chirp faster when it is hotter, that compass plants pointing north helped pioneers find their way, and that one of the burr oak trees in the Sugar Grove forest is the second-largest of its kind in Illinois.

The nature walkers were among about 30 visitors to the nature center before noon on Saturday. Jill Wallace, Sugar Grove’s environmental educator, said the destination is popular for local folks who enjoy the outdoors and want a fun day trip.

Other options for visitors Saturday included making crafts and viewing the feeding of the center’s animals, including turtles and a snake.



Sugar Grove Nature Center



Night Hikes — “The Grove After Dark,” 9 to 10:30 p.m. July 25 and Aug. 15. Participants explore Sugar Grove after the sun goes down. Fee: $2 for members, $5 for nonmembers. Registration required.

Hummingbird Festival and Pollination Celebration — 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 30. The center celebrates hummingbirds, butterflies and bees with seminars led by experts. Guests may sample Sugar Grove Nature Center honey, make a hummingbird feeder and hike trails. The Illinois Audubon Society will band hummingbirds from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. as part of its research projects.

Summer hours — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, through October

Information — Call (309) 874–2174 or visit sugargrovenaturecenter.org.

Take a look
Janet Beach Davis, an East Central Illinois Naturalist, right, shows visitors a garlic mustard plant Saturday, July 5, 2008, during a guided hike at Sugar Grove Nature Center in Funks Grove. (The Pantagraph/CARLOS T. MIRANDA)
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