This is literally a hidden gem. Bluff Spring Fen in South Elgin is tucked between a cemetery, the Metra train tracks, a gravel pit/industrial park and a well-traveled road. Even as I tell you about it, driving up on it, it seems unreal – dump … Continue readingConeflower Explosion
I turn off Hwy 31 in Dundee onto Country School Road and immediately all the stress and chaos of suburbia falls away. I am heading to the Spring Bird Cottage, a retreat on fourteen acres of oak, hickory and maple woodlands with a network of … Continue readingAn Oasis of Nature
Spring woodland wildflowers are fleeting. They decorate the sunny forest floor before the trees leaf out and shade them for the summer. Two weeks ago the blood root bloomed, last week the trout lilies stole the show. This week, the ground here at Johnson’s Mound … Continue readingSpring woodland
I arrive before dawn on a cold, cloudless morning. As I gear up and start down the crushed limestone trail, the eastern horizon is beginning to lighten. At the footbridge near a beaver lodge, I slow down taking soft, deliberate steps. I think I might … Continue readingCounting Cranes
Just past the cattle pasture and crop fields, the terrain changes suddenly and dramatically. We’re heading through an oak forest, down a narrow gravel and dirt lane toward the river bottoms. There are tall, treed hills on either side of us and a meandering creek … Continue readingA Winter Morning on the Farm
After a harrowing 7 1/2 hour road trip yesterday (congestion leaving the city, then construction delays, then troopers escorting a wide load at 30 mph on the 70 mph bypass and finally a rollover accident that closed the road. Seriously. All of it), I needed … Continue readingThe Japanese Ritual of Forest Bathing
I’m sitting on my front porch on a comfy love seat. The wrens are busily feeding a noisy birdhouse full of chicks. They’ve been nesting in this birdhouse for years. Returning to the nest, the parents always perch a few branches away and announce their … Continue readingA Summer Morning with the Wrens
The early summer sun is hot, but an occasional, cool breeze raises goosebumps on my arms. I’ve settled down into a comfortable chair on the end of this dock with a book, my camera, binoculars and a notebook. My plan is to sit quietly and … Continue readingAn Afternoon on the Dock
I arrived in the dark rain at 5:15am to meet the local coordinator for the annual midwest spring survey of Sandhill and Whooping Cranes. He was there to unlock the gate and let me into this state park that doesn’t open until dawn. When I … Continue readingAnnual Midwest Crane Count
There’s eight inches of snow on the ground with another four expected as the snow is continuing to fall. The roads are slushy, snowy, slippery and dangerous. Work called a snow day – stay home, stay safe. The wind periodically gusts blowing the snow sideways, … Continue readingSnow Day