The Byron Forest Preserve District’s annual Winter Lecture Series will be held on Sunday afternoons beginning at 2 p.m. from Feb. 9 through March 8 at the Jarrett Prairie Center, 7993 North River Road in Byron.
These programs are free and no advance registration is required. For more information contact the Byron Forest Preserve District at 815 234-8535, Ext. 200. Copies of the 2020 Winter Lecture Series information brochure are available at the Jarrett Prairie Center front counter.
This lecture program is co-sponsored by Exelon Generation Byron Station and the award-winning Jarrett Prairie Center Museum.
Feb. 9 – Short-eared Owls: Ghosts in the Grass
Join Jacques Nuzzo, Program Director for the Illinois Raptor Center in Decatur, Illinois to understand the history of short-eared owls. These ground-nesting owls once thrived in our open prairie grasslands and are now an Illinois state-endangered species.
Feb. 16 – Bobcat: Illinois’ Native Cat
Jennifer Kuroda, founder of the Illinois Bobcat Foundation, will cover every facet of these elusive cats. Once hunted almost to extinction in the Midwest, bobcats have been making a comeback in recent years.
Feb. 23 – The Search for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee: How a Team of Researchers Scientifically Established a Species’ Decline
Isaac Stewart, Instructor of Biology at Black Hawk College, will discuss how the work of a dedicated group of researchers put the rusty patched bumble bee on the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species List in January 2017. This was the first bee species from the centennial United States that has ever been added to this list. This study’s findings is a red flag warning for other pollinator species in the Midwest.
March 1 – Life through the Lens of Kodak: The History of Personal Photography
Chicago actor R. J. Lindsey will portray George Eastman, found of Kodak. He will present a slide program and display vintage cameras to tell how Kodak’s affordable and easy to use cameras changed personal photography around the world.
March 8 – The History and Archaeology of the Sauk Nation and Black Hawk
Join Ferrel Anderson, President of the Quad Cities Archaeological Society, to learn about the archaeological findings regarding the people of the Sauk Nation and Black Hawk. Using historical records and archaeological evidence, Anderson located Black Hawk’s Saukenuk village, 800 acres of Sauk and Fox agricultural fields and several grave yards at the mouth of the Rock River near the present day Quad Cities.
