St. Charles is known for many things, not the least of which is Sculpture in the Park. Hosted by the St. Charles Park District, the annual event showcases sculptural arts in innovative fashion. Each summer, sculptors display their works among the scenery at Mt. St. Mary—the riverfront, the arboretum, the gazebo and water feature. It’s
Beavers, Critter, Dam, RiverCanada geese, you may have noticed, are everywhere these days. With the summer breeding season over, these ubiquitous waterfowl are back in their flocks—a great winter survival strategy—and are teeming about cornfields, athletic fields and other grassy expanses. They’re also paddling around local wetlands and other water bodies, and in general making themselves hard to
Bird, Canada Geese, Fly, Geese
Tick tock, tick tock, Merrily sings the clock. It’s time for work, it’s time for play And so it sings throughout the day Tick tock, tick tock, Merrily sings the clock. This English nursery rhyme was a part of my early elementary education, and maybe yours too. But believe it or not, it may be
Bird, Fly, Woodpecker
Knock knock… Who’s there? For those of you who live in houses with certain types of wooden siding or shingles, this time of year your visitor may be a bird. Those same shingles/shakes/clapboards that caught your eye as a home buyer can prove irresistible to your industrious neighbors the Downies, Hairies, Red-Bellieds, Flickers…or Chickadees! Right
Bird Visitors, Birds, Cavity-Rooster, Fly
Well folks, the race is on. Not NASCAR at Talladega—that’s not til a week from tomorrow. Nor the Cubs’ race for the National League pennant. (But golly, wouldn’t it be something if they went the distance?) Nope, this week’s topic is The Race to the Finish. That is, the rush for animals to finish all
Race, Season, Winter
Did anyone else catch this Washington Post headline a few weeks back? “Lady snake gives birth after being alone for eight years, doesn’t need men” Other news media jumped on the story too, crafting equally tantalizing titles. From the web site livescience.com: No Boys Allowed: Snake Mom Has ‘Virgin Birth’. And from Discover magazine: Water
Garter Snake, Reptile, Snake
It’s a fact of life when living in and around nature. Sooner or later you’re going to ask, or be asked, “What’s that smell?” The question, by itself, is fairly innocuous. But rarely are those words uttered alone. More often than not, they are accompanied by an interjection of one sort or another that provides,
Bee, Goldenrod, Honey
“Let me show you something hideous!” My friend Mrs. Janet was pretty emphatic as she pulled her phone from her purse. While under different circumstances I might have been intimidated by her phrasing, in this case I was anything but. Because, as she scrolled through her photos, she muttered two of my very favorite words
Arachnid, Argiope Spider, Spider
Walking up to Hickory Knolls each morning, I never cease to be struck by the abundance of beauty displayed by our native wildflowers. More than once this summer I’ve stopped to take pictures of the magnificent milkweeds, the stunning coneflowers, the St. John’s wort so irresistible to pollinators that it was positively swarming with bumblebees
Rattlesnake, Reptile, Snake
Last week the mystery and allure of the Geneva Snake grew too strong to resist; I had to go check things out for myself. And while the snake itself proved elusive, I did see lots of other cool things: Argiope (a.k.a. “garden” or “banana”) spiders’ intricate work—delicate webs complete with a trademark “zipper” in the
Beetles, Bugs, Insects, Water Scavenger Beetles