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In addition to the regular features of the Nature Almanac, the 2006 WHTC has a large section on aboriginal rock art (petroglyphs and pictographs) and tips on how you can find them in your area as well as an in-depth investigation of the Alton Piasa – our region's most famous and historic example of pre-Columbian rock art.

We also have a section on new immigrants to our area which includes cougars (of course), armadilloes and (of all things) Argentine parrots.

For those who fish we have an article on Mississippi River sharks and the Least Brook Lamprey – both underrated and little known components of our waterways. And a large section on Turkey Vultures featuring their history with humanity, their place in nature, their natural history and their utility to our own species.

And of course we have the usual collection of little-known area history, folklore and High Weirdness our area is (or should be) famous for.

Highlights of the 2006 WHTC Nature Almanac

The Alton Piasa

If you thought you knew what the Piasa was all about, well think again. Recent research has been pulling together disparate pieces of the story and it's far more complex than anyone (well, me at any rate) thought. A short (but perplexing) journey through the Midwest's oldest and most famous piece of aboriginal rock art.

Immigration into the Midwest

Strangers in a Strange Land! From cougars and armadillos to parrots and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers critters from everywhere are either returning after an absence of some years (sometimes a lot of years!) or are seemingly in the process of adopting our area as their home. A small but interesting sampling of the creatures headed our way in the coming years.

Sharks in the Mississippi?

And you thought it was just another river, right? Well it turns out it holds things a lot more exotic than just sturgeon and paddlefish. Food for thought for all those anglers who fish our largest river and wonder just what broke their sixty pound test line without even a struggle - and just one more reason (as if anyone needed another reason!) to avoid treading water in Old Man River...

Who Invented Astrology?

OK, it's not the most burning issue of the day but the results of recent discoveries in the Black Sea hint at a massive rewriting of our earliest history. And here's a hint - it wasn't the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Harappans or any other late comers on the stage of history. The discovery of civilizations possibly harking back to the last Ice Age!

More than you ever wanted to know about Vultures!

Life might be possible without vultures but it would be a lot different — and a lot less healthy. A sort of overview of the most misunderstood and arguably the most useful member of our avifauna!

High Weirdness

A few tantalizing hints that the space-time continuum may make a few more bends and kinks in our area than normally thought. There's a reason the Indians avoided the area whenever they could...

Complete Contents

Local Rock Art

The "Legend" of the Piasa

the truth comes out... at last

The Piasa Controversy

proving that unreasonable people can never agree

What Use is a Piasa?

a good question and a possible answer

An Unnatural History of Piasa altanii Marquette.

A breakthrough in virtual biology!

Finding Rock Art

It's out there, all you have to do is look!

The Missing Petroglyph of St. Louis.

Tracking down the Messiah... or somebody like that

The Astronomical and Natural Events Almanac

How to Use

The Almanac Pages

History

Bad timing

If it weren't for bad luck they'd have no luck at all...

Our Newest Immigrants

Armadillos in Our Future?

Armadillos are on the march and they're marching our way

Cougar Update

More sightings, more cougars

The Mercer County Cat

One less mouth to feed

The Parrots of Chicago

The Windy City's most recent immigrant population

The Parrots of Carlisle

A second parrot colony in southern Illinois

The Midwest's First Parrot

Parrots in the midwest didn't used to be a novelty

Justifiable Paranoia

Cute and cuddly doesn't make them safe...

The Fishing Section

Mississippi Sharks

Stay out of the water. Nowhere is safe ...

The Least Brook Lamprey

One of our strangest fish...

Fishing Crappie

Mike Steams tells you how

Moon Fishing Almanac

A Lost River Industry

Thank God they invented plastic!

The Gardening Section

Ray's Story

Standard Planting Guides

Who Invented Astrology?

We don't know, but now we know where they lived!

Moon Gardening

Zodiac Planting Guide

Planting by the signs - when and how

Vultures

Vultures in the Fields

They're doing what?

Messengers of the Gods

Our culture's take on vultures could use a little perspective...

What Use is a Vulture?

For those poor souls who need a reason for Nature

A (Brief) Natural History of the Turkey Vulture

Natural History

Back to the Brink...

The biggest ornithological surprise of the century  . . .so far

Dragonfly Winds

Autumn cold fronts bring more than just winter

Weird Egypt

Madstones The Placebo Effect

...or something else?

The Big Muddy Monster

We want an interview!

Dowsing the Dead

Truly transcendent weirdness

The Dobler Effect

Hey! Somebody should look into this...

The Enigma of Nathan Stubblefield

The rewards of living ahead of your time...

The Last Page

Turtle Power on the Ganges

Proving once again the unlimited potential for harnessing Turtle Power

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In addition to the regular features of the Nature Almanac, these are the

Highlights of the 2005 Edition

Cougars in the Midwest!

They're back and settling in. New research in California is revealing that our largest predatory cat is far from a simple loner. Former estimates of their environmental requirements just don't hold here in the midwest. Plus an analysis of their danger to humans and more!

A New Species for Missouri? Grotto Sculpins!

Deep underground in Perry County, Missouri, Nature is in the process of forging a new species right before our eyes! But even while Nature is creating, human actions on the surface are threatening their survival ... so what else is new?

Another Prehistoric Solstice Observatory on Fountain Bluff?

They're everywhere! Well, not quite, but the Indians of the Mississippian culture who lived here a thousand years ago were definitely preoccupied with tracking the sun's movements during the winter solstice. A description of the site, the story of its discovery and why the solstice was so important to our prehistoric forebears.

New Earth Light Locales!

Earth lights — balls of luminous energy generated by fault lines — are far more common than we (and probably you, too) ever suspected. Without even trying we discovered several new sites this year — both past and present — where Earth Lights are still reported with some regularity. For those with a bent for the weird and unexplained these pages are for you!

A New Wildflower Species for Illinois!

Is it an outlier — a survivor from warmer, wetter times? a new range extension due to changing climate? or a transplant by some well-meaning but misguided wildflower enthusiast? However it got here this little Appalachian plant is certainly persistent at this location and a new record for Illinois: Yellow Mandarin. Read all about it!

Contents of 2005 WHTC

For the Birds...

• How Long Do Birds Live? — another reason to be glad you're human
• A Cat Tale (Ruby says we'll get hate-mail about this one!)

Prairies (or what's left of them) in Southern Illinois

• Railroads and Prairies
• Prairie Place Names
• Hill Prairies — Life on the Edge
• The Temperate Savanna — Reviving a Lost Ecosystem

What Insects and Dowsers seem to have in common...

• Mystery of Insect Navigation
• What Do Dowsers Detect?

Folklore — Another Lost Treasure of Egypt

• The Lost Silver of Union County — and all you have to do is find it!

The Almanac Section

• How to Use this Almanac
• Astronomical and Natural Events Almanac

An Editorial (?!) — Solid science or jumping to conclusions?

• Global Warming — Is it Occurring and How Can We Tell?

The Cougar Pages — the most recent info on the big cats return

• Where the Cougars are ... in Illinois.
• How Dangerous Are Cougars?
• New Horizons in Cougar Behavior
• Central Illinois' Mysterious Black Cats

The Fishing Section

• Lake Specialties — An overview of the lakes in Southern Illinois
• American Eels — and you thought you had a long commute!
• Moon Fishing — How It Works
• How to Use the Moon Tables — Bigger and better catches!
• Moon Fishing Tables — Timing is all, and we tell you the times!
• Bass Fishing — Mike Stearn's take on our most popular gamefish
• Grotto Sculpins — A new species in the making?

The Gardening Section

• The Plant That Made Chicago a Proper Noun. (Yes, Chicago really does mean "the stinking place" in Algonquin)
• The Little Things ... Soil biology and your lawn
• Shadows on the Land — Mastodons are gone but not forgotten ...
• Standard Planting Guides — When and where to plant
• Moon Gardening — How to plant things by the Moon
• Zodiac Planting Guide — a guide to planting by the signs
• Ray's Story a harrowing tale of hideous hymenoptera

Fountain Bluff Area Folklore & Facts

• The Haunted Mound — or, property rights for the dead
• The Moredock Massacre — savages on the frontier ... but who's who?
• The Spirits of Grand Tower — Maybe the Water Panthers haven't left...
• Legends of Tower Rock — High Weirdness in the Mississippi River
• The Ghost of Devil's Bake Oven — Anorexia or a broken heart?
• The Lost Petroglyphs of Fountain Bluff — whoops...!
• Another Mississippian Solstice Observatory
  Redundancy or overkill — how many observatories are really necessary?

More Earth Lights

• Max Creek Vortex — 150 years and still glowing strong ...
• The Bigsby Treasure's Guardian — Ghost or natural phenomenon?
• Other Area Earthlights — A local field guide to weird places

• A New Wildflower Record for Southern Illinois? - Looks like it...

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The 2004 Waterman & Hill-Traveller's Companion

Not the Farmer's Almanac

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Privacy policy

In addition to the regular features of the Nature Almanac, here are the

Contents of 2004 WHTC

Folklore, Fabrication and Facts

The Almanac Section

The Fishing Section

Wild Mushrooms - fascinating fleshy fungal fructifications

The Gardening Section

Lost Crop Plants of the Mississippians

Earthquakes and the Midwest

Scary, Silly and True

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The 2002 Waterman & Hill-Traveller's Companion

(Not the Farmer's Almanac)

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In addition to the regular features of the Nature Almanac, here are the

2002 WHTC Contents

The Astronomical Almanac

What's Good in the Woods

The Gardening Section

The Moon Gardening Almanac

Winners and Losers

Articles

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The 2000 Waterman & Hill-Traveller's Companion

(Not the Farmer's Almanac)

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Not so rich in illustrations as the more recent Almanacs (this was before we discovered the lovely and talented Barb Stearns) but still packed with useful and interesting information!

In addition to the regular features of the Nature Almanac, here are the

2000 WHTC Contents

About this Almanac
Nature Watching

2000 Astronoical Almanac

Natural Events

What's Good in the Woods?

Features on 12 local edible plants and mushrooms

Gardening

Gardening in February
Vegetable Planting Guide
Gardening Without a Garden

Wildlife

Planting for Wildlife
Tips for Attracting Wildlife
Planting for Butterflies (and Hummingbirds)
Living with Deer
Living with Moles

Articals

The One True, Correct, and Infallible Way to Read a Wollyworm
Shadows on the Land
Oysters, the Moon, and Your Garden
Eating History

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