Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area

The riverine wetlands and oak savanna of Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area are home to a variety of resident and migratory wildlife. Black-crowned night herons use the area’s wetlands, rivers and wet agricultural fields as resting and feeding places. Red-headed woodpeckers, rare in most of the midwest today, are more common on the refuge where the insects and nuts they eat are abundant. The regal fritillary, a beautiful bright red-orange and black butterfly, is often found in the refuge’s larger open grasslands, wet fields, remnant tallgrass prairie, damp meadows and marshes.