Environment

The email came in sometime in May of this year. A colleague in Northern Illinois contacted me with a wild bird concern. A woman had found a dead bird in her yard for a second day in a row and was wondering if something was wrong that she had not heard about.  I gave the standard answer:...

As the summer progressed and the news filled with increased extreme weather events came across our screens, it became even harder to ignore the impacts of climate change on our lives. Especially when those impacts hit hard at home from...

There's a social media meme that says, “There is no better karate instructor than a spider web in the face.” I don’t know about the karate skills, but nothing makes you swat, rub and dance quite like walking into a web. Just imagine how an insect feels. Growing up in the woods, I have walked...

As we transition to fall here in Illinois, you may see smoke in the air or see the grasslands or forests burning.  These could be signs of a prescribed fire being conducted intentionally to manage our natural ecosystems.  The use of prescribed fire is increasing throughout Illinois....

Many nature lovers take photos while they are out in the field. But not all of them come away with quality photographs. Why do some individuals always seem to get the best shots? And what are they doing that you might not be? Read more to discover five ways to bring new life to your photographs...

Of all the natural shapes, spirals are considered one of the most common in nature. We find spirals from giant galaxies down to the smallest gastropod shells.  Spirals shape who we are in our DNA double helix and appear in weather patterns as in hurricanes. One spiral giving us...

Spring has sprung! What nature-lover doesn't like to engage in a friendly little competition with their friends and family each year over who sees the first robin? Bird lovers often keep detailed notes year to year comparing when the first robin was seen and hypothesize why they were early or late...

Feral swine are also known as feral hogs, wild boar, wild pigs, or razorbacks and are defined by IL Admin Code Part 700 as populations or individual swine that are unrestrained and have adapted to living in a...

“Forty-two pounds of Edible Fungus In the Wilderness a-growin’ Saved the Settlers from Starvation,   Helped the founding of this Nation.”                 - Robert McCloskey, 1943...