It can really be hard to be optimistic during a global pandemic that has stretched on for over nine months. However, as I’ve written in previous columns, we continue to see people taking the opportunity to take this time to…
When I think back to when I first became interested in nature, the world seemed a relatively “wild” place. The nearby woods in an urban area was a place to explore. One November day, so long ago, I remember coming…
With all of the disarray and confusion that we seem to be experiencing each day, have you ever wondered “is it worth it?” COVID-19 has forced us to focus on what normally would be something quite esoteric. Did I wash…
Back in the August issue of Community Word, this column mentioned the fact that the Chimney Swift Tower at the Peoria Park District’s Tawny Oaks Field Station had a pair of swifts take up residence and build a nest. I’m…
Monday Aug. 10 started off as a sunny, clear day with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon in Central Illinois. I happened to be at our Tawny Oaks facility, when around 2:30 p.m. the sky to the west…
Are we at our “new normal” yet? In the age of COVID-19, that “new normal” seems to be an ever changing and fleeting reality. Many people have turned to the natural world as a place of stability, solace and escape,…
During the second week of June, I heard a noise from the canopy of the woods that I haven’t heard for some time . . . “weee-eeeerrr” repeated at regular intervals. Then it dawned on me –– It is a…
May was a month that all birders enjoy. This spring was no different. The peak of songbird migration usually occurs mid-May, and usually lasts only a short time. Many of the species that birders enjoy seeing only spend a couple…
During this unprecedented time, when everything we seem to know is turned upside down, there are still many steadfast harbingers of reality in the natural world. The chorus of Robins and Cardinals still begin at daybreak even if we are…
Anyone who wanders through our parks in April can’t help but notice the emerging spring. As Emerson penned, that the “earth laughs in flowers,” and indeed April is rich with such laughter. Wooded trails are alive with the hues of…
