Several Canada geese got into scuffle this week at Lake Katherine Nature Center and Botanic Gardens in Palos Heights, getting feisty on the otherwise serene lake, as passersby with their children and dogs watched.
“They’re starting to get a little more territorial because it’s breeding season,” said Sophia Shukin, one of the center’s four naturalists as she pointed out signs of spring during a tour of the same name. “The two males don’t like each other.”
The geese are just some of the many animals, plants and flowers popping up in recent weeks at the popular nature center as the Southland gradually thaws out from the long, cold winter.
Shukin pointed to huge flocks of sandhill cranes making trilling noises as they fly by on their way to Wisconsin. The ring-necked ducks have been there for weeks, she said, and red-winged blackbirds arrived a few weeks ago. The resident mute swans are hanging out on the lake, though they have been there for a while and tend to come and go, moving over to the canal when the lake is frozen.
“They consistently breed here, so we have baby swans,” Shukin said.
Signs of the resident beavers are more obvious now, with some branches of trees gnawed through and high waters caused by their dams in the outflow system. The critters themselves come out at dusk.
“Every day, we come by and unplug it,” Shukin said, but the beavers stay busy. “They will chop down what they want.”
Over time, the Lake Katherine staff has learned to coexist with them, and now, “we like the beavers,” she said.
The muskrats just arrived a few weeks ago, building homes and “getting their act together for summertime,” Shukin said, and the painted turtles recently emerged too.
The wildlife was a big draw at this week’s hikes for families with children and dogs.
“I like that you can see everything,” said Emily Cruz, of Palos Heights, who was there with her daughter, Eleanor, 2. “We like coming to see the ducks. They’re pretty friendly, too.”
Center staff and volunteers have been conducting prescribed burns of last year’s detritus, which Shukin said boosts plant growth and gets rid of invasive species such as buckthorn and honeysuckle. On one patch recently burned, healthy looking plants were already starting to grow.
The first flowers to appear recently were crocuses — some of Shukin’s favorites — and now there are daffodil and wild onion shoots are coming up green. Buds are starting to show on trees.
“It’s really a wonderful time,” Shukin said. “It shows up out of nowhere.”
More Top Picks Luxury
People visit the nature center year-round, but several said the milder weather and emerging wildlife and plants are much appreciated.
Linda Chrystall was visiting with 3-year-old Atticus, enjoying the ducks, frog and swans. Chrystall started visiting the nature center daily amid the pandemic, enjoying walks there even in cold weather.
“It’s getting him outside and it brings energy,” said Chrystall, who lives in Oak Lawn.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.