Aug 14 2015

Nature walk this Saturday at 6:30 — Meet at east door of Museum of Science and Industry!

All photos have been taken in Hyde Park (Chicago) during the past few weeks.

Time to get out and see all these flowering plants before the goldenrods and asters take over! Nature walk is Saturday evening at 6:30. We meet at the east door of the Museum of Science and Industry.

Beaver spotted swimming off music bridge (bridge on north side of bobolink meadow -look away from the boat harbor)

rattlesnake master

moon rise on our last moon watch

photo darkened so you can easily see the rabbit in the moon.

Lots of green darner dragonflies were at the blue moon watch

silver-spotted skipper

question mark butterfly on butterfly bush

giant robber fly

Can you find the green caterpillar in this photo?

tall bellflower

fire pink (oops, this is royal catchfly!, thanks aaron!)

We”ll sort out all the yellow look-alikes on the walk! Is this a black-eyed susan, a coneflower, a cup plant, a sunflower or something else?

another yellow flower to sort out

a primrose family member

swamp milkweed

jewelweed or spotted touch-me-not

A new local! A deer, who has been spotted with 2 fawns

cormorants enjoying the turtle habitat

black-capped chickadee

juvenile spotted sandpipers

monarch on butterfly bush

crabapple with cedar apple rust

elderberry berries

Jun 30 2015

Summer Beauties: Butterflies, Dragonflies and Baby Birds

All of these photos were taken during the last couple of weeks in Hyde Park (Chicago)

We’ve got 3 nature walks on Thursday July 2:

12:30 at Burnham Prairie, 47th and Cornell, stroller and wheelchair friendly, parking $1.75 6:30 pm, meet at east door of Museum of Science and Industry-we’ll move cars to free lot before we start the walk
8:30 pm, meet at the Point, underpass at 55th and Lake Shore Drive, to watch the moon rise over Lake Michigan

To see some ducklings climbing up our make-shift ramp to escape from the 59th Street harbor, click on the link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bs3cyaipe3erjek/AAASs3wNMNKyVSVHieQAMv7ha?dl=0

We think these were the trapped ducklings who are now happily living in the Jackson Park lagoon.

tandem pair of green darner dragonflies. These dragonflies migrate in the fall like so many of our songbirds do.

white-spotted tussock moth

Lots of indigo buntings at Burnham Prairie (47th and Cornell). Come see them on our nature walk on Thursday July 2 at 12:30.

milkweed flowers

butterfly weed, another milkweed plant with some unopened buds

Baltimore oriole in her nest

Another photo of baltimore oriole tending her nest

deer hoof print in bobolink meadow?

great egret

Our goslings are now teen-agers

The goslings sleeping in a pile.

red-spotted purple butterfly

Three photos of the same great blue heron. Here he is very tall.

very short here

and in between

green heron

chickweed geometer

erfc

Video of spotted sandpiper (this bird nests in Hyde Park)

Spotted sandpiper is easy to identify because it wiggles its bottom and it is spotted but it only has the spots in the breeding season, see video above.

red admiral

gray catbird

question mark butterfly

The underside of the hind wings of the question mark butterfly has a dot and a curved line that sometimes, although not in this case, looks like a question mark. If the two marks are connected, then you have an eastern comma butterfly

coneflowers

Burnham prairie at 47th and Cornell

monarch butterfly

Dec 18 2014

Hyde Park Wildlife Calendars (extra calendars available for FREE for local teachers)

The second calendar, “Wildlife in Chicago Parks” is the one available for FREE for local teachers.

Order button at this website:

http://www.naturalhistorychicago.com/

Hyde Park Wildlife— all photos taken in Jackson Park

Wildlife in Chicago Parks – all but one photo taken in Hyde Park

some unusual shots, other silly shots.

Cape Cod Wildlife Calendar also available

Sep 7 2014

Green herons growing up, Great Egrets hanging around

All photo were taken in Hyde Park area during the last couple of weeks.

An American Dagger moth caterpillar

Young green heron hatched in the Osaka Garden still has a little baby fuzz left

A question mark on a butterfly bush

A good look at a hooded female merganser’s feet.

A female hooded merganser

We’ve had a couple of great egrets hanging around this past week.

Green Darner dragonfly–Large dragonfly that migrates south for the winter. Color of lower abdomen and tail changes color from purple to blue to silver depending on ambient temperature.