Good Natured | Hickory Knolls Discovery Center

Boom & Bust Cycles of Acorn Production

It’s a nature fact we all learn pretty early in life: Oak trees produce acorns. Except…sometimes they don’t. Now by this I don’t mean they suddenly switch to making walnuts and hickory nuts, or Fudge Stripes and Deluxe Grahams-despite what the Keebler Elves would have us believe. […]

Braconid Wasps

Judging by the yields in the community garden plots at James O. Breen Community Park in St. Charles, 2019 is a big year for local produce. Even in my little home garden, which isn’t much more than a few determined plants scattered amid some daylilies that refuse to go away, is looking rather bountiful this season. […]

Crane Flies

The other night a large, mosquito-like insect was flying around the kitchen. I waited until it landed, then let it outside. Not five minutes later, I spotted another. Out it went, too. Then Tuesday, at work, someone reported, in a frequency only slightly lower than a dog whistle, that we had a GIANT mosquito in the lobby. I went to investigate […]

Chimney Swifts – Part 2

Last week we relayed the story of two young chimney swifts who found themselves in a spot of trouble, and the people who came to their aid. This week we’re taking a step back and looking at the species as a whole. As you’ll see, Chaetura pelagica is in a spot of trouble too. […]

Chimney Swifts

The other night around 8:30 my phone started blowing up with texts that, at that moment, were going to have to go unanswered. I was in the car with my 88-year-old mother, driving back from an afternoon of celebrating Cousin Ruthie’s 98th birthday. As we rode along we mused as to what all the commotion was about. […]

Stag Beetles

The heady aroma of fine cigars. The rise and fall of male voices, punctuated with deep, booming laughter. It didn’t take a girl popping out of a cake to tell us, a stag party was underway in the pavilion of the Hickory Knolls Natural Area. Meanwhile, a stone’s throw away at the Discovery Center, another gathering of stags was in full swing: […]

The Jumper and the Pollinators

Location, location, location. It’s a cardinal rule for real estate, and for spider webs. Think about it. Where are the thickest, juiciest spiders? In webs near outdoor lights. Why? Because of all the insects-a.k.a. spider fodder-that are drawn to them. […]

Mourning Doves

From time to time at Hickory Knolls we hold a program called Superheroes of Nature. We look at how real-life turtles’ talents compare to those of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; how the special skills of spiders stack up against Spiderman’s superpowers; […]

Leeches

“Say Pam, how’s that leech of yours doing?” said no Good Natured reader, ever. But, just for conversation’s sake, let’s say someone did inquire about the Placobdella species we found last fall. I’d proudly respond that our little Loren is doing just fine, thank you very much. […]

Glowworms

A picture of a male Phengodes beetle on the Facebook page What’s Happening in St. Charles showed that this species is still alive and well in our area. It also put me in a nostalgic mood. Please enjoy this Good Natured column from Summer 2013: […]

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