Plant and Animal Species
Kickapoo State Recreation Area is home to a wide variety of plant and animal species. Middle Fork Woods Nature Preserve is located within Kickapoo State Park and is the only known location of the silvery salamander in Illinois. This nature preserve of 69.2 acres is home to many different tree species including white and black oak, hickory, blue beech, sugar maple, basswood, ironwood, redbud, and sassafras. Cypress trees have been planted along pond edges while strip mine banks have been naturally covered by cottonwood and ash trees. This variety of hardwood species colors the park in the fall season and attracts many visitors. In the springtime, a variety of wildflowers can also be seen including: violets, bluebells, spring beauties, Dutchman's-breeches, and nodding trilliums.
Of the 100 different bird species spotted within the park, the belted kingfisher, pileated woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, great blue heron, and least bittern are the most commonly seen. A birding checklist is available at the park office. In addition to the multitude of bird species spotted within the park, there are also a variety of mammals including white-tailed deer, squirrels, raccoons, cottontail rabbits, and muskrats.
Read more about this topic: Kickapoo State Recreation Area
Famous quotes containing the words plant, animal and/or species:
““Now what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of service to them.””
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“The animal is one with its life activity. It does not distinguish the activity from itself. It is its activity. But man makes his life activity itself an object of his will and consciousness. He has a conscious life activity. It is not a determination with which he is completely identified.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Thus all probable reasoning is nothing but a species of sensation. ‘Tis not solely in poetry and music, we must follow our taste and sentiment, but likewise in philosophy, When I am convinc’d of any principle, ‘tis only an idea which strikes more strongly upon me. When I give the preference to one set of arguments above another, I do nothing but decide from my feeling concerning the superiority of their influence.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)