Every year about this time, certain wild neighbors start making headlines. Their behavior gets labeled aggressive, and people start calling them jerks—or worse. Inevitably, someone will make an analogy to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, and then all heck breaks loose. “It tried to peck my eyes out!” someone will cry. “Scared the living [daylights] outta
Bird, Fly, Red-winged black bird
The woman’s voice quavered in agitation as she described her predicament. “I have a milkshake on my driveway,” she squeaked over the phone, her words barely discernible above the squeals emanating from her equally distraught children. I winced as I listened, thinking back to the time I watched a Superdawg chocolate shake meet a similar
Milksnake, Reptile, Snake
June 3, 2016 Plume Moths You’ve got to be careful this time of year. Springtime—that long-awaited, much-heralded season of color and warmth—can be positively overwhelming. The sights of brightly colored blooms and birds in breeding plumage; the sounds of mating calls and territory songs; the sweet smells of plants doing their darnedest to attract pollinators…
Fly, Moth, Plume MothMay 27, 2016 Fishing Spiders With the explosion of color that spring brings—the woodland wildflowers, the migrating warblers, the sheer greenness of the land—it’s only natural that some of us would be seeing spots before our eyes. I know I am. Lots of spots, in fact. Paired symmetrically along the back of Dolomedes triton, the
Arachnid, Fishing Spider, Spider
Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries. And thank goodness. Because here at Hickory Knolls, solving mysteries is all in a day’s work. Take, for instance, the months preceding our grand opening in 2011. Back then we were faced with all sorts of new-construction puzzlers, like The
Bee, Beehive, Bug, Honeybee, Insect
With the explosion of color that spring brings—the woodland wildflowers, the migrating warblers, the sheer greenness of the land—it’s only natural that some of us would be seeing spots before our eyes. I know I am. Lots of spots, in fact. Paired symmetrically along the back of Dolomedes triton, the six-spotted fishing spider. I encountered
Arachnid, Six Spotted Fishing Spider, SpiderWhen I think of the word gypsy, two images come to mind. One is ca. 1972 and features the stage at Wheaton’s Longfellow School—my alma mater. I was auditioning for the school play, of a title I can’t remember, and I had to read the line, “I can dance the tarantella.” My acting skills being
Gypsy Moth, Insect, MothMay 6, 2016 Ospreys Wow, how lucky are we? Over the past several years, it’s gotten increasingly easier to witness one of nature’s most breathtaking spectacles: the majestic sight of bald eagles soaring overhead. Improved water quality in the Fox River as well as other habitat-saving measures have given these magnificent creatures exactly what they
Bird, Fly, OspreyApril 29, 2016 Bladderworts Mention the word carnivore and folks tend to picture animals known for their meat-eating ways. Lions and tigers and bears (though the latter actually are omnivores). Tyrannosaurus rex. Linebackers. Carnivorous plants, however, are a whole other matter. If you ask someone who’s not a botanist to name three different types I’ll
Aquatic Plant, Bladderworts, WetlandApril 22, 2016 Gigantic Caddisfly This week’s column actually had its beginnings last summer, though I didn’t know it at the time. I can still picture it: The warm July sun streaming down, the flowers shimmering in the bright light. I could feel the heat beginning to build even though it was barely 8 a.m.
Bug, Caddisfly, Gigantic Caddisfly, Insect