Tag: birds

Breeding Birds of Thompson Road Preserve

Written on August 1, 2025.

by Lisa Maier Summer is beginning to wrap up and so is the breeding season for birds! For the past five years, I have had the privilege of monitoring bird life at Thompson Road Preserve. The site offers a variety of...

Splendor in the Grass

Written on August 31, 2020.

After traveling 6,000 miles from Argentina, you make a stop in Alden, Illinois. You are a bobolink, one of the most traveled migratory songbirds in the world, and the only male songbird in North America adorned with the...

The Birds and the Bees

Written on August 10, 2016.

This is a story about the birds and the bees (and the bats and the bugs). That’s right, it’s a story about plant pollinators. Insects like bees and butterflies, as well as animals such as birds and bats, are...

Bird Migration over the years

Written on February 16, 2015.

Today, most people know that birds migrate by flying south during winter, and then fly north again as the days grow longer and temperatures rise. We also understand that some birds fly great distances each year to move...

November

Written on November 5, 2013.

November has always been a misfit month to me. Fall colors are giving way to browns and greys. The bright white of the first snow usually waits until December. Sure, there’s Thanksgiving – my favorite holiday – but not...

Natural Mosquito Control

Written on July 23, 2013.

I read this great article about how native plants can help reduce mosquito populations by attracting more of the critters that eat them! I saw it on the blog for a company based in Idaho called Conservation Seeding &...