Ayer's Sand Prairie State Preserve

Carroll County, Illinois

Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve

Ayers Sand Prairie State Preserve Plants and Wildlife

Bird Checklist for Ayers Sand Prairie State Nature Preserve.pdf

In the table below:

Click on the Plant, Bird, Reptile and Amphibian, Insect and Arachnid, and Mammal tabs at the bottom of the table to scroll through the lists.
These lists are based on species identified during site visits and sightings submitted using the link in the sub-bullet point below. Submitted species are added to the table as time allows.
- Click here if you would like to submit records of plants or wildlife you have seen at this location.
Bloom periods are based on those provided by the Illinois Plants Database.

Ayers Sand Prairie Preserve Plants and Wildlife

About Ayer's Sand Prairie State Preserve:

Ayer's Sand Prairie Nature Preserve houses 114 acres of sand prairie dotted with sand blowouts near the town of Savanna in Carroll County, Illinois. This preserve is of great floristic quality and diversity, with139 native species of plants documented to occur within the preserve. The floral display of this prairie is spectacular, from carpets of puccoon and birdfoot violet in the spring to a burgundy blanket of little bluestem dotted with blazingstar and goldenrod in the fall.

How to get there:

Ayers Sand Prairie is 3-miles south of Savanna, Illinois, 7-miles north of Thomson, Illinois, and 56-miles north of the Quad Cities. From Highway 84, turn east on Airport Road for 1/2-mile. The preserve's parking area will be on the north side of the road. This preserve is not far from the Great River Trail.

Nearby Sites of Interest

Mississippi Palisades State Park, Savanna, Illinois. Take Highway 84 7.1 miles north.
Thompson Sand Prairie, Thomson, Illinois. Take Highway 84 south 5.8 miles, turn west on 1-mile Road, and turn south on Sand Ridge Road for 0.3 mile. The prairie will be on the west side of the road.
Fulton Sand Prairie, Fulton, Illinois. Take Highway 84 south 10.8-miles, turn right onto Lock Road for 0.1 miles, and turn right on Railroad Lane for 1.3-miles.
Lost Mound, Hanover, Illinois 16.5-miles. Take Highway 84 north 14.2-miles, take a left onto West Whitten Road and continue for 2.3-miles.

For additional information on this site and nearby parks of interest visit recreationparks.net.

Literature and links:

Click here to view a Google Scholar search for additional literature using the pre-filled search terms of "Ayers Sand Prairie."

Bowles, M. (1993). Long-term grazing effects on sand prairie and grassland bird habitat at the Savanna Army Depot: With recommendations for management and recovery. The Morton Arboretum.

Corbett, E. A. (2004). A comparison of Illinois remnant prairies, 1976 to 1988.

Ebinger, J. E., Phillippe, L. R., Nyboer, R. W., McClain, W. E., Busemeyer, D. T., Robertson, K., & Levin, G. A. (2006). Vegetation and flora of the sand deposits of the Mississippi River Valley in northwestern Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin; v. 037, no. 06.

Edmonds, D. (2020). Ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata) demography in northern Illinois (Doctoral dissertation).

Gleason. October 1910. The vegetation of the inland sand deposits of Illinois. Bulletin of the Illinois State Library of Natural History Volume IX Article III.

Gleason, H. A. 1910. The Vegetation of the Inland Sand Deposits of Illinois. Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History 9:21-174.

Handley, M. Illinois Department Natural Resources; 3159 Crim Dr., Savanna, IL 61074 John W. Zimmerman, Ph. D. Ashford University; 400 North Bluff Road; Clinton, IA 52732 Erika Fisk Ashford University; 400 North Bluff Road; Clinton, IA 52732.

FIRE-MANAGED, T. Y. C. I. Michael Jones', Jenny McBride', & Marlin Bowles''Natural Land Institute, Rockford, IL, &'Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.

Panzer, R. 2002. Compatibility of Prescribed Burning with the Conservation of Insects in Small, Isolated Prairie Reserves. Conservation Biology 16:1296-1307.

Panzer, R. J., & Stillwaugh, D. (1995). A Survey of the insects of the Savanna Army Depot, with special emphasis on the grasshoppers, katydids, walking sticks, stinkbugs, carrion beetles, leafhoppers, froghoppers, butterflies, and macro moths. Northeastern Illinois University Biology Department.

Panzer, R. and D. Stillwaugh. 1996. Second Year Survey of the Insects of the Savanna Army Depot, with Special Emphasis on the Grasshoppers, Katydids, Walkingsticks, Stinkbugs, Carrion Beetles, Leafhoppers, Butterflies, and Macro Moths. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Production Note. 49 pp.

Symstad, A. J. (2000). Basline Data Collection for Habitat Restoration at the Savanna Army Depot: Vegetation Structure and Composition. INHS Center for Biodiversity.

Wenny, D. G. (2003). Site fidelity and return rates of Grasshopper Sparrows at three sand prairies in northwest Illinois. INHS Center for Biodiversity.

Wenny, D. G. (2007). Breeding birds of the Thomson Grasslands, Carroll and Whiteside Counties, Illinois. INHS Division of Ecology and Conservation Sciences (DECS); INHS Section for Field Stations and Ecosystems Science (SFSES) SE.

Illinois DNR Ayers Sand Prairie Page

StateParks.com link for Ayer Sand Prairie

Click here to view the Wild Ones webpage for this site.

Click here to view additional information from the book, “Prairie Directory of North America: The United States, Canada, and Mexico.”

Click here for a Soils Map of Ayer's Sand Prairie.

Click here to view Trail Link web page for the Great River Trail on the Trail Link.

Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve Comment Form (Responses)