Floracliff Nature Sanctuary

05/22/2026

Do you recognize this plant? Our friend Laura (Preserve Manager at ) sure did. Here’s a hint: this plant grows in areas with periodic disturbance and dappled sunlight; it was listed as a federally endangered species from 1987 - 2021; it is still considered a G3 (globally vulnerable) and S2 (state threatened in KY) species. At Floracliff, the plant popped up along the forested driveway where a waterline replacement and treefall had created disturbance and allowed a little more sunlight to reach the plants below. Answer: It is running buffalo clover—a new record for Floracliff!

05/13/2026

Thank you to everyone who participated in Kentucky Gives Day in support of nonprofits across the state! We surpassed our fundraising goal, raising $15,965 for Floracliff. Special thanks to Wild Birds Unlimited for starting the day with a $2,500 match challenge and to Kentucky Nonprofit Network for organizing the event. We’re so grateful to be part of such a generous and supportive community.

🤩THANK YOU, Kentucky! 🤩

With your support, officially wrapped at midnight with $853,218 raised by a record‑breaking 303 nonprofits across Kentucky.

every day, and Kentuckians showed up to help today!

Congratulations and THANK YOU to all the participating nonprofits, donors, social media champions, sponsors, and partners who made this day possible! 🎉

05/12/2026

It's all eyes on Kentucky Gives Day today!

Today is Kentucky Gives Day, an annual day of giving to support Kentucky’s nonprofits. Year after year, the Floracliff community comes together to champion conservation and exceed our fundraising goal. Let’s do it again this year!

Our goal is to raise $10,000 by midnight tonight.

Thanks to our partners at Wild Birds Unlimited, the first $2,500 donated today will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Plus, gifts made throughout the day increase Floracliff’s chances of earning additional prize funding.

Donations of any size, starting at just $5, support projects at Floracliff to promote conservation and appreciation of nature.

Donate here: https://www.kygives.org/organizations/floracliff

Thank you!!

05/11/2026

We are excited to share that Floracliff’s Motus station detected its first tagged bird on April 23rd - an Eastern whip-poor-will! This individual was previously detected in José Cardel, Mexico on April 12th, which means it traveled over 1,450 miles in 11 days. Five days after Floracliff’s detection, it was detected at the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve.

View the map of Eastern whip-poor-will 64345 here: https://motus.org/dashboard/ =profile&d=animals&s=64345&f=%7B%22dtStart%22%3A%222025-05-04%22%7D

Learn more about Eastern whip-poor-wills here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Whip-poor-will/overview

05/06/2026

Want to learn more about this exciting project happening at Floracliff? Join us on Thursday, May 21st, for a free seminar with Dr. Mike McGlue. He will be presenting "Kentucky CLIMBS - Building Resilience in the Commonwealth using Earth and Environmental Science".

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seminar-kentucky-climbs-building-resilience-in-the-commonwealth-tickets-1975596386975?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/15/2026

Hone your observational skills through journal writing, as we use our words and drawings to explore Floracliff. This hike will give you permission to sit and soak in the life around you, open your senses to appreciate and imagine a bit of each creature’s sensory environment, or study the intricate beauty in a stone or a leaf. Whether you’ve nature journaled for years, or this is your first foray, all are welcome. We will have specific tasks during the hike that will give you a structure on which to build your journal entries.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-natural-word-nature-journaling-tickets-1981365672062?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/06/2026

Thanks to generous donors and our partners at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Floracliff now has a Motus station! Motus stations track the movement and behavior of birds, bats, and insects through tiny radio tags. Floracliff’s station is the first for Fayette County and the first tri-mode station in Kentucky. This means it is equipped with three types of antennas to detect a wider range of tag frequencies used in wildlife tracking. We’re excited to be part of the international Motus network and look forward to discovering who is flying nearby!

Learn more about Motus: motus.org

Photo credits: Ward Ransdell and Beverly James

03/30/2026

Happy 50th Anniversary to our partners at the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves! 2026 also marks 30 years of Floracliff as a dedicated state nature preserve. We're proud to be a part of this network of protecting and monitoring Kentucky's biodiversity.

03/12/2026

Our first golden hour hike of the year is coming up next week, and there are spots available. This hike starts two hours before sunset and visits Elk Lick Falls, a 61’ waterfall and tufa deposit. There will also be a lot of early spring wildflowers to see along the way.

Visit this link to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/golden-hour-hike-to-elk-lick-falls-tickets-1975023932749?aff=oddtdtcreator

03/11/2026

As winter moves into spring, there has been a lot of wildlife activity at the sanctuary. From birds, amphibians, and butterflies, to wildflower and fungi - here are a few highlights from the past couple of weeks:

1. White trout lily
2. Snow trillium
3. Bloodroot
4. Northern red salamander
5. Spring salamander
6. Twinleaf
7. Woodcock
8. Eastern phoebe
9. Scarlet elf cup
10. Northern spicebush
11-12. Streamside salamanders
13. Spring peeper
14. Rue anemone
15. Mourning cloak

Photo credits: Beverly James (1-6, 12, 15); Ward Ransdell (7); Ben Kleppinger (8-9); Isabel Cochran (10-11); Elizabeth Hench (13-14)

03/05/2026

The size difference between a hairy woodpecker (left) and a downy woodpecker (right) is much more obvious when viewed side by side. Every week November-April, Floracliff volunteers count birds at the Trail’s End Lodge. Observations are documented through Project Feederwatch, a community science program operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that tracks long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. Many thanks to volunteer Ward Ransdell for capturing this illustrative image during yesterday’s count!