Some of you have noticed, and a few have even called to comment on the fact that my role at the St. Charles Park District…
Nature Embassy
Boom & Bust Cycles of Acorn Production
It’s a nature fact we all learn pretty early in life: Oak trees produce acorns. Except…sometimes they don’t. Now by this I don’t mean they…
Braconid Wasps
Judging by the yields in the community garden plots at James O. Breen Community Park in St. Charles, 2019 is a big year for local…
Crane Flies
The other night a large, mosquito-like insect was flying around the kitchen. I waited until it landed, then let it outside. Not five minutes later,…
Chimney Swifts – Part 2
Last week we relayed the story of two young chimney swifts who found themselves in a spot of trouble, and the people who came to…
Chimney Swifts
The other night around 8:30 my phone started blowing up with texts that, at that moment, were going to have to go unanswered. I was…
Stag Beetles
The heady aroma of fine cigars. The rise and fall of male voices, punctuated with deep, booming laughter. It didn’t take a girl popping out…
The Jumper and the Pollinators
Location, location, location. It’s a cardinal rule for real estate, and for spider webs. Think about it. Where are the thickest, juiciest spiders? In webs…
Mourning Doves
From time to time at Hickory Knolls we hold a program called Superheroes of Nature. We look at how real-life turtles’ talents compare to those…
Leeches
Leeches as weather predictors? It could have happened, had George Merryweather of Yorkshire, England been more successful in marketing his Tempest Prognosticator, a fanciful, annelid-powered device. Good Natured: Leeches July 12, 2019 “Say Pam, how’s that leech of yours doing?” said no Good Natured reader, ever. But, just for conversation’s sake, let’s say someone did