Revis Hill Prairie is an Illinois Nature Preserve in Mason County near Havana, located on the bluffs of the Sangamon River. Only 412.5 acres, it remains the largest and best example of hill prairies in Illinois.
At the parking lot, there is an immediate incline up a sandy hillside. I found some native cactus, and Wild Petunita.
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| Eastern Prickly Pear |
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| Wild Petunia |
One of the best parts of the hill prairie was the abundance of native plants that attract butterlies, such as prairie dock, compass plant, wild bergamot, and prairie blazing star. There were butterflies everywhere!! One of the rare butterflies that I saw is the Ottoe Skipper, an Illinois endangered species. It depends on the prairie habitat at Revis, and I was lucky enough to snap a picture.
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Ottoe Skipper
an Illinois endangered butterfly |
I have never seen so many species of butterfly (and moth) in one place, and this visit to Revis was my first time seeing a few species. Here's a sample of what I saw:
clockwise from top left, Ottoe Skipper, Hummingbird Clearwing sphinx moth (upper), Red-spotted Purple (lower), Pearl Crescents, Zebra Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Spicebish Swallowtail, Common Buckeye (above), Silver-spotted Skipper (below).
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