Photo Caption: If you get up and out early, you might be lucky enough to follow a single animal’s tracks through pristine snow. However, well-traveled trails are more the norm in our suburban natural areas. Can you spot the wildlife sign among these many prints of boots and shoes? Good Natured: Intro to Tracking January 17, […]
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When it comes to tiny arachnids, there’s one individual that grabs a disproportionate amount of the glory. We all know her, and the song that made her famous: The Itsy Bitsy Spider. But you know what? This world of ours has many more awesome arachnids, some of which are not merely itsy bitsy but pretty darn close to microscopic. […]
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Depending on how your holiday season is playing out, you may have, in the past few days, found a certain classic Saturday Night Live skit playing on continuous loop in your brain. “The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave” was a 50-second bit that starred John Belushi as a houseguest who snarfed chips, […]
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Now that we’ve entered that interstitial period between Christmas and New Years, you may find yourself with a little extra time on your hands. Time to ponder and reflect; time to consider some of the traditions that make the holidays so meaningful. How, for instance, did fruitcake become a staple, both on the table and as a punchline? […]
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Nature on a train. I know, it sounds like an oxymoron. Or maybe the title of a toned-down Samuel L. Jackson movie. But it’s also an apt description of last week’s work adventure. Alas, my little expedition didn’t involve Amtrak’s Empire Builder or Southwest Chief, or even the Illini, which I rode a fair number of times during The College Years. […]
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With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe, I offer you the following recap of my Thanksgiving weekend: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping near my chamber door. “‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping near my chamber door- Only this and nothing more.” […]
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Remember The Far Side, those classic bits of natural history humor by cartoonist Gary Larson? One in particular showed three hawks in a tree. All had sunglasses on; one even was wearing headphones and clutching a Walkman in his talons. […]
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Last week we embarked on a story of Kane County squirrels-specifically black squirrels, which are a dark form of our common gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis-and even more precisely, two taxidermy mounts of black squirrels held in the collections at Hickory Knolls. […]
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They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice. But I wonder, is the same true of cars? And what about squirrels? These questions have been rolling around in my head for several weeks now, and actually have their beginnings in a gift we received several months ago: a taxidermy mount of a beautiful black squirrel. […]
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They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice. But I wonder, is the same true of cars? And what about squirrels? These questions have been rolling around in my head for several weeks now, and actually have their beginnings in a gift we received several months ago: a taxidermy mount of a beautiful black squirrel. […]
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