Good Natured

Squirrels

St. Charles Park District Nature News – January 29 Have you noticed what’s up with squirrels lately? Only a week or so back, they were hopping about in minimalist survival mode: foraging; keeping an eye out for predators; and in general trying to stay as warm and dry as their furry little bodies—and fluffy tail-that-doubles-as-a-blanket-and-umbrella—would

Opossums

St. Charles Park District Nature News – January 22 I can still picture the old photograph that hung in my folks’ hallway when I was growing up. It dated to around 1870 and showed my mom’s Great Grandfather and Grandmother Heyen, along with their daughters Martha, Tildie, Katie and Rachel, decked out in somber black

Tarantula

We had a little discord in the naturalist department a while back, something I suppose was bound to happen eventually. Our staff is small, and our work space is limited. It was inevitable that, one day, someone would move somebody else’s stuff around and trigger some resentment. Thankfully, the conflict was short-lived. Even better, it’s

Franklin Creek

Sometimes the best plan is to have no plans. Take last weekend, for example. My friend Jessi and I had “planned”—as much as we ever plan anything—to head out for a hike at White Pines State Park in Oregon, IL. Neither of us had been there in a long time, the trails there are nice,

Knowledge Cards

St. Charles Park District Nature News – January 1 It’s the day after New Year’s, and boy is my head spinning. Like a lot of other people around the TriCities, I’m completely responsible for my condition. But unlike those other folks, I’m hoping my current state sticks around awhile—the longer the better, in fact. Thankfully,

Woodpecker

Knock knock. Who’s there? For those of you who live in houses with certain types of wooden siding, your visitor may be a woodpecker. 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 and Flickers. This time of year, woodpeckers are in

Turtles

I watched in amazement the other day as my buddy Arthur wolfed down his plate of sweet potatoes. They were made just the way he likes them—baked, no butter, with just a bit of the skin left on. And as he gulped down bite after bite I thought, “My goodness, it’s like he hadn’t eaten

Black Squirrel

Sometimes, when you write a nature column, you just don’t know when inspiration is going to strike. Ideas for columns have come while walking to work, while working in the yard and once, memorably, when I stepped in something icky. But this week was different. I wasn’t anywhere near the outdoors and, in fact, was

Coffee Tree

Coming Soon!

KyCoffee

Anyone care for a little coffee? Kentucky coffee tree, that is? These unusual trees, with their sparse branches and chunky seed pods, are a fairly common site in parks and along streets in St. Charles and other suburban communities. They’re planted with regularity, thanks to their tolerance of both dry conditions and poor soils, as

Barker Lake

Make no mistake, I’m a big fan of our local natural areas. Scenic vistas? We got ’em. (Sunset at Nelson Lake in Batavia is a personal favorite.) Cool plants? You betcha. (Not one but two rare orchids were found this summer in wetlands within the St. Charles Park District.) And wildlife viewing opportunities abound. (Did

Wolf Spider

We had a Little Miss Muffet Moment the other day here at the Pottawatomie Community Center. No, it didn’t involve a tuffet (which I understand is some sort of footstool), nor were there any curds or whey. But there was a spider. Man, was there a spider. It showed up, quite unannounced, in Multipurpose Room

MALB

So this week I was going to write about the amazing wildlife I saw while on vacation last week in Wisconsin’s Northwoods葉ales of places where grouse hunters roam, and deer and otters play耀hoot, there was even a bear in a grocery store’s beer cooler. But those stories will have to wait, because here on the

PureFall

If you listen to the radio or watch TV much, you’ve probably noticed that tourism officials for the state of Michigan have picked 2009 as The Year to Spend A Lot on Advertising. You may even have noticed that they picked a famous resident to make the sales pitch—Tim Allen, of Home Improvement and Santa

Dogs

-My friend who lived on a dairy farm had a coffee mug that depicted a peaceful pastoral scene: barn, pasture, trees, cattle. Beneath the cows, which I believe were smiling, was a memorable phrase that’s been on my mind a lot lately: “Some days you step in it, some days you don’t.” The other day,

Pokeweed

It’s been said that the longest journeys start with a single step. But what I learned this week is that some journeys start with a single click. The adventure started innocently enough, on Labor Day, with a walk to Geneva Commons to meet my friend Lisa. Along the way I ran into friends Nanette and

Sit

When was the last time you went out for a sit in the woods? And by sit I mean just that: to seat yourself down, on the ground or a convenient rock or log, and take it all in. The sights, the sounds. The aromas. Has it been awhile? Maybe it’s time to give this

Cicadas

When was the last time you saw a little green man? For me, it was last Sunday. I was just going into the garage when something small and bright caught my eye. I looked down and there he was, all shiny and chartreuse: a freshly emerged cicada, clinging to his now-empty shell. Cicadas are reliable

Shagbark

I’ll admit it. I’m a cookie-dough freak. Even though I know full well that baked cookies taste really good, I just can’t resist digging into the bowl with a spare spoon and letting a gooey glob, gritty with sugar, slide down my gullet. If the dough happens to contain chocolate chips, look out; the oven’s

Clearwing

“What is that?” Here in the naturalist department, it’s a phrase that’s repeated often. And, I’ve got to admit, it’s one I love to hear. Over the last few months, we’ve answered questions about and helped identify ticks (American dog as well as deer); skulls (mostly raccoon, with the occasional opossum and coyote); birds (Cooper’s

Araneus

Regular readers of this space might recall that, last winter, a critter took up residence inside my vehicle. (If you were one of the many people who wrote or called in with a car critter solution, thank you! But the rodent had other plans; it moved on before I was able to put any of

Sallies

If lately you’ve found yourself leaving no stone unturned, it could be that you’re a very thorough and exacting individual. Or maybe, like some of us here at the park district, you’ve just finished a week of Reptile and Amphibian Camp. Also known as Herp Camp, this program focuses on the scaly and smooth-skinned critters

Evening

Somewhere, sometime, somewhere along the way, someone got the idea that naturalists should wake up early, in order to catch nature’s sunrise show. As our life-giving golden orb creeps above the eastern horizon, animals rise to greet the day. Flowers unfurl to soak up the sun, and dewdrops sparkle on silken spider webs until the

Gypsy

I ran into a gypsy again the other day, and I wasn’t happy about it. Don’t get me wrong—human gypsies seem pretty cool, and I really wouldn’t mind meeting one of them. The gypsy I’m talking about, though, is Lymantria dispar, the gypsy moth, an imported insect with a penchant for feasting on forests. I

Native Bees

Some people attract wildlife to their yards by hanging up birdhouses. But this weekend, I’m putting up a bee house. That’s right. Bees. Those insects which are, for the most part, peaceable and mild, yet have an undeserved reputation for being cantankerous and hostile. The ones that supposedly sting every chance they get, but in

Nighthawks

Judging by the comments last week’s crane fly column generated, folks in the TriCities don’t particularly care to read about “larvae” over breakfast, nor “maggots” during lunch. And I apparently misjudged people’s appreciation for flies in general. So, this week, let’s take a look at the other end of the food chain—creatures that eat flies,

Bobolink

This time of year there’s lots to see in Bobolink Field, a natural area just west of the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles. Managed by the St. Charles Park District, the gently rolling field features many species of native grasses and forbs, plus mammals, birds, herps (reptiles and amphibians) and insects galore. In fact,

Coots

You just gotta love a coot. An American coot, that is. American coots are water birds that many folks would classify as ducks. After all, they do look like dark-colored ducks—from a distance. But if you take the time to observe more closely, you’ll notice that the bill is a) white, with a dark vertical

Underwings

Seeing as it’s June, the most popular month for weddings, it only seems fitting that we talk about…underwing moths. I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “Moths? Eww. Aren’t they the critters that eat my wool sweaters and hatch out of my birdseed?” Well, yes, but that’s a topic for a whole different column. Many other fine

Cottonmouths

Coming Soon!

«‹23 24 25 26 27 ›»

Good Natured

FIND US EVERYWHERE YOU GO