When you think of nuts – the kind that grow on trees – it’s hard to not think of squirrels. They are, after all, the most highly touted nut-gatherers in these parts, collecting the trees’ bounty almost as quickly as it falls. In fact, squirrels will even chew off acorn-laden branches to make the harvest
Bird, Blue Jay, Fly
This summer’s rains have left a host of lingering effects, including robust gardens, mosquitoes and fuddles. If you’re like most folks, you’re probably enjoying the beauty and bounty of that first result and slapping and cursing the second. But unless you’re a birder, you’re likely scratching your head at the third. A fuddle, or fluddle,
Bird, Black Necked Stilts, Fly
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
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 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 15, 2016 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers Springtime means—finally—warmer temperatures along with visits from a host of migrating birds, including yellow-bellied sapsuckers. Please enjoy this column, which first ran in April 2010. My dad was a big fan of the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners. (So big a fan, in fact, that when he began seeing my mom,
Birds, Fly, Spring, Yellow Bellied SapsuckersApril 8, 2016 Mourning Doves A few weeks ago at Hickory Knolls we held a program called SuperHeroes of Nature. We looked at how real-life turtles’ talents compare to those of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; how the special skills of spiders stack up against Spiderman’s superpowers; and how bats’ ability to echolocate rivals any aspect
Birds, Fly, Mourning DovesMarch 11, 2016 The Geneva owl legacy continues Among nature nerds, there’s an unwritten code of conduct surrounding sensitive organisms. If there are rare orchids growing in a natural area, you don’t advertise the location. If someone poaches prairie seeds, you don’t publicize the act, lest others come with similar mal intent. This code extends
Bird, Fly, Geneva OwlsFebruary 26, 2016 American Coots You just gotta love a coot. An American coot, that is. American coots are water birds that many folks would classify as ducks. They do, after all, look an awful lot like dark-colored ducks – from a distance. But if you take the time to observe more closely, you’ll notice
American Coot, Bird, FlyFebruary 19, 2016 Red Winged Blackbirds Every year about this time, people start getting itchy for spring. With the weather warming up, they look for signs that winter’s winding down: a swollen leaf bud, a green sprout, a red, red robin bob, bob bobbin’ along. But as we learned last week, robins aren’t the sure
Bird, Fly, Red-winged black bird