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Windy City Cactus: Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus

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When you think of Chicago, you probably don't think of sand dunes, prairies, or large oak trees.  Yet despite Chicago being the third largest city in the United States and heavily impacted by urban sprawl and industrial blight, there remains thousands of acres of greenspace with wetlands, open woods, sandy beaches...and some rather surprising flora. The pictures below were not shot in Arizona nor in Southwest California, but were in fact taken at the 63rd street beach on a recently restored sand dune near Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois.  They are the eastern prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia humifusa ) . Figure 1:  Eastern prickly pear cactus, a native plant to the Chicago region and the only native cactus to the Great Lakes area.   The genus Opuntia is much more common out west where they have many different species, but in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions, the eastern prickly pear is the only native cactus.  It tends to be a little bit smaller than ...
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Natural Notes: Animals of the Night

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Are you a night owl?  If you're an Illinois wildlife species, than chances are, yes!  However, many animals besides owls are active at night.  In fact, the majority of wildlife species in Illinois are hunting, gathering mates, establishing territories, and moving about during the nighttime hours! A daytime walk on a trail through a forest preserve might yield some common wildlife sightings such as gray squirrels ( Sciurus carolinensis ) or sparrows.  Most animals that people see around Illinois are active during the day, or   diurnal.   Humans are a great example of a diurnal animal.   Other animals though are most active active at different times of the day (figure 1).  Late in the afternoon or early in the day, many folks encounter white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ).  Deer are a great example of a wildlife species that is crepuscular , or active at dawn or dusk. Figure 1:  In Illinois, most wildlife species are more act...
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Natural Notes: Mustelids of Cook County, Illinois

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This blog post consists of my notes from a lecture about Mustelids of Cook County, which was presented by Chris Anchor, wildlife biologist with the Forest Preserves of Cook County.  The presentation took place at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, Illinois on February 16, 2018 and was presented to an audience that consisted mostly of naturalists and resource management specialists from local Forest Preserves and affiliated non-for-profit organizations.   Mustelids, or weasels, include weasels, otters, and mink, among others.  At one point, skunks were classified as members of the weasel family, but are now considered their own unique group of mammals.  The Forest Preserves of Cook County has been actively tracking and monitoring weasels and other fur bearers for many years now.  Weasels are most often tracked using radio-transmitters.  All native weasels are voracious predators and will often hunt down more than their fa...
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