Outdoors column: Afternoon bird songs fill neighborhoods in March
Hearing those lilting songs on a March day in the middle of the afternoon makes me happy.
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Outdoors column: I welcome the quiet and calm of the falling snow
Before the shovels or snow blowers come out when dawn is just awakening, it’s nice to stand outside and experience a certain kind of peace you never feel except at...
Outdoors column: Celebrate the bald eagle’s national bird designation
The bald eagle is a true American comeback story, and that’s why it made sense for President Joe Biden to sign the bill that officially named the bald eagle as...
Avian flu likely culprit in death of dozens of waterfowl across Illinois, officials say
Wild aquatic birds, including ducks, geese, swans and gulls, can spread the virus, often without showing symptoms of being sick.
Outdoors column: Great white egret symbolizes summer, conservation
A summer wetland landscape scene is only complete if a great egret is standing on the edge of the water. Its bright white plumage and elegant S-curved neck belie its loud...
Captive-reared piping plovers making history with 2 separate nests with eggs in Waukegan and Chicago
3 of 4 parents-to-be hatched in a facility in Michigan, while Imani was born in the wild at Montrose Beach to popular plover pair Monty and Rose.
Outdoors column: Wild hyacinth proliferates in this wet, warm spring
Wild hyacinths were already blooming in the middle of May at both Wright Woods and Reed Turner Woodland. As a group, they created lilting, white patterns that seemed to connect...
Outdoors column: Dandelions are more than just lawn invaders, and deserve a little respect
The better question might be to ask what is good about those unwanted lawn ornaments that torment some of us each spring.
Fewer loon chicks surviving because of climate change, researchers say
Increased rainfall due to climate change is reducing water clarity in Wisconsin lakes making it harder for loons to find food for their chicks, researcher says.
Outdoors column: Return of the eastern phoebe a sight for sore eyes
Flycatchers are a family of birds that eat insects and cannot live in northern Illinois in winter when their food choices are scarce. But phoebes seem to come back even...