Category Archives: Natural and Agricultural Sciences

02.24.22

LLCC Ag hosts Professional Agriculture Student competition

The LLCC agriculture program hosted 122 students from 10 Illinois colleges and universities for the recent Illinois Professional Agriculture Student (PAS) Annual Conference in the college’s new Kreher Agriculture Center.

The event brought agriculture students together to compete in career preparation events and develop leadership skills. Twenty-two LLCC students participated in a variety of contests for the privilege of representing Illinois at the National PAS Conference in Minneapolis, Minn. in March.

Individual LLCC results:

Mackenzie Harmon, Morrisonville, second place in Agriculture Education Contest; Kylie Schakel, Atlanta, Ind., third place in Prepared Public Speaking.

LLCC team event results:

Crop Specialist: first place. Individual placings: Clayton Walch, Raymond, first place; Fuller Anderson, Atwater, fifth place; Charlie Gum, Talulla, ninth place; Shawn Goebel, Harvel, 11th place; Wyatt Buckles, Mechanicsburg, 12th place.

College Bowl: second place. Team members include: Mackenzie Harmon; Luke Adams, Athens; Clayton Walch; Kylie Schakel; Jake Peters, New Berlin; Fuller Anderson; Meadow Sporrer, Springfield.

Sheep Specialist: second place. Individual placings: Emma Peters, Versailles, Ohio, second place; Breanna Knittel, Greenfield, third place; Shaylee Maddox, Thomas, Okla., third place; Cole Ellerbrock, Atkinson, fifth place; Evan McClain, Anderson, Ind., ninth place; Kylie Schakel,10th place.

Soil Specialist: second place. Individual placings: Clayton Walch, first place; Fuller Anderson, fifth place; Meadow Sporrer, seventh place; Yves Doumen-Nyansi, Springfield, 10th place; Ryan McGrew, Goodhope, 15th place.

Overall Livestock Specialist: third place. Individual placings: Jett Vickery, Taylorville; Tommy Tarr, Dawson; Sam Stickley, St. Paris, Ohio, tied for ninth place.

Swine Specialist: third place. Individual placings: Makenzie Hereth, Woodbine, Md., second place; Morgan Black, Darlington, Wis., third place; Brooklyn Wurm, Monroeville Ind., 10th place.

02.15.22

LLCC partnering to sponsor high school mapping competition

LLCC, through the efforts of Dean Butzow, professor of geography, and Rey DeCastro, GIS instructor, is partnering with the Illinois Geographic Alliance, Geographic Society of Chicago and Esri K-12 Education to sponsor a contest for high school students called “Hometown Illinois, an Illinois map competition connecting your social studies and science curriculum to mapping.” More information is available at https://thinkgeospatial.education.

01.04.22

Fall 2021 bird banding highlights

This was our 18th banding season (10th fall season) since the station’s inception (fall 2012). Below are a few of the highlights:

  • We banded 1,863 birds of 77 species over 73 banding days. This translates into 25.52 birds banded/day.
  • We also had 283 repeat captures (birds banded earlier during the Fall 2021 season) and 54 return captures (birds banded during a previous season).
    • Two of the more interesting recaptures were a Blue Jay that was originally banded in the fall of 2015 and a Tufted Titmouse that was originally banded in the fall of 2016.
  • Our highest one day total was 137 birds banded on Oct. 13.
  • The top five species banded (by abundance) for the season were as follows — species (# banded): American Goldfinch (306), Chipping Sparrow (188), Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco (121), Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler (93) and Tennessee Warbler (70).
  • The cumulative total number of birds banded (over 18 seasons) at the LLCC BBS is 29,798 birds of 128 species.
  • Over the Halloween weekend (Oct. 29-Nov. 1), we had an owl banding event during which we captured four owls:
    • Two newly banded Northern Saw-whet Owls
    • One foreign recapture Northern Saw-whet Owl (A foreign recapture is a bird originally banded elsewhere. This particular bird was banded north of Duluth, Minnesota, in 2020.)
    • One return Eastern Screech Owl (banded by us last fall — 2020)
  • In regards to milestones, Sept. 22 was our 1,000th day of banding operations at LLCC.

Our spring banding operations are scheduled to begin March 17, 2022.

If you are interested in following our daily/weekly banding activities, we have two Facebook pages you are welcome to follow: Lincoln Land Community College Bird Banding Station (daily reports/photos of our banding activities at LLCC) and Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders – LLABB (~ weekly reports/photos of banding activities at other sites throughout central Illinois).

You are most welcome to stop by the banding station whenever your schedule allows!

Tony Rothering, professor of biology

12.03.21

LLCC’s Holly Bauman elected officer of state agriculture education organization

Holly BaumanCongratulations to Holly Bauman, agriculture program specialist, who was elected secretary of the Illinois Association of Community College Agriculture Instructors at the association’s annual meeting in November.

As secretary, she will serve on the executive board of the group and eventually advance to vice president and president. Her duties will include helping to plan conferences, professional development and promoting membership in the organization. Her term as an officer will conclude with hosting the 2024 IACCAI conference at LLCC.

The IACCAI represents collegiate agriculture teachers at community colleges and universities across Illinois. The group, founded in 1967, promotes professionalism and cooperation among postsecondary ag teachers to improve education in the state.

11.22.21

Ag Club conducting food drive

The LLCC Agriculture Club will be hosting a food drive service project now-Dec. 8. Bins are located at the Kreher Agriculture Center entrance. One bin will be for the freshman class, and the other for the sophomore class. The winning class will be provided donuts and hot chocolate on the Monday of finals week. If anyone would like to help donate any food or toiletry items, it would be greatly appreciated.

07.28.21

Ag teachers gather in Kreher for training

The future of Illinois agriculture is gathering yesterday and today in the Kreher Agriculture Center! Forty-eight new ag teachers from across the state are learning how to run the best ag and FFA programs. Bill Harmon, agriculture program coordinator, was interviewed by WFMB about hosting the training conference, along with LLCC alum Jennifer Waters, program advisor for Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education (FCAE) of the Illinois State Board of Education. WICS also interviewed Bill as well as Mason Fesser, another LLCC alum and new ag teacher at Nokomis High School.

WFMB interview with LLCC alum Jennifer WatersWICS interview with LLCC alum Mason Fesser

07.08.21

Spring bird banding results

The spring 2021 bird banding season (our 17th banding season at LLCC!) contained these highlights:

  • 1,113 birds of 79 species were banded over 55 banding days this spring.
  • The above numbers translate into 20.2 birds banded/day.
  • We had 353 repeat captures (birds banded earlier in the spring season) and 124 return captures (birds banded during an earlier season).
  • The top five species banded (based on the number banded) were: Dark-eyed Junco, Swainson’s Thrush, Gray Catbird, White-throated Sparrow and Northern Waterthrush.
  • One new species (Acadian Flycatcher) was added to our cumulative station species total, which currently stands at 128 species.
  • The cumulative total number of birds banded (over 17 seasons) at the LLCC BBS is 27,935 birds.

One of the more interesting recaptures was a Northern Cardinal that was originally banded in spring 2013. This spring’s capture (eight years later) was the first time this bird had been recaptured since it was originally banded. We also recaptured two Gray Catbirds that were originally banded in 2016. Each of these birds has successfully made at least five round trip migrations between Illinois and Central/South America. An amazing feat for these relatively small creatures!

The fall 2021 season is scheduled to begin Aug. 19.

Tony Rothering, professor of biology