Master Naturalist

Author’s Note:  In January of 2022, I embarked on a year of daily half-hour observations in my backyard. This essay is a partial accounting of what I discovered. There’s nothing special about my backyard.  It’s one of countless tracts surveyed and mapped into thousands of neat urban...

Spring has sprung! Birds are active, insects are emerging, and the early bloomers are starting to show their bright flowers indicating the cold days of winter are almost behind us. You may notice the brilliant displays of blooming trees, particularly a white one, that feels like it is THE tree for...

Illinois has some of the most beautiful areas to hike across the state. State parks alone have over 270 trails that total more than 700 miles. Each area of the state offers many different landscapes to enjoy. You may encounter rugged bluffs with waterfalls at Starved Rock State Park in northern...

From turkey hands made by schoolchildren to presidential pardons at the White House, November is turkey time. And while we may think we know a lot about these birds, here are a few things that might be new to you. Fast Turkey Facts Wild turkeys, (Meleagris gallopavo) are one of...

When people get excited about supporting wildlife on their property, they are usually referring to charismatic wildlife. The ones that bring us joy or whimsy or that serve a function such as pollination. Or even the ones that encroach on our lives the least. For most of us, that is in the form of...

Walking through the woods, you will notice that not all forests are the same. The plant composition, elevation in the land, geography, and soil composition all make for a variety of forest types. One of my favorites and most unique is the flatwood forest. A flatwoods is a level area with a hardpan...

Spring is a mere 90 days away, and every year sightings of the first American Robin (Turdus migratorius) are hailed as the spring weather harbinger, but did you know we have...

When I sat down to write this blog, I didn’t have a clear topic in my mind. So, I did what I usually do when I want to think and looked out my office window. Through this window, I can see just the tops of three oak trees which today were covered with crows. I counted more than two dozen with more...

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a showy plant that makes you stop and ask questions about it whenever it is stumbled upon - whether in your garden or along a hike. From its impressive height, sometimes up to 10 feet tall, to its distinctive reddish-purple stems - you stop and ask...