Conservation – Wild Things Community

Updated Singing Insects Of The Chicago Region For 2017

The Chicago region for this project includes 22 counties from southeastern Wisconsin around to Berrien County, Michigan. Singing insects are defined here as the cicadas, crickets, katydids, and members of two grasshopper subfamilies with sound displays that people can hear (though the songs of some are so high pitched that only young people can hear them unaided). There are around 100 species, though some I haven’t found outside historical records. I update the guide each year, and this year’s version is just over 100 pages.

The most important changes in the 2017 guide:

Added species pages for Cuban ground cricket, prairie meadow katydid, short-winged toothpick grasshopper, and clipped-wing grasshopper.
Removal of the page for the delicate meadow katydid (previous observation proved to be a variant of the dusky-faced meadow katydid; I am concerned that both delicate meadow katydids and slender coneheads may be extinct in the region).
Change of identification: the species previously labeled northwestern red-winged grasshopper proved to be a color variant of the autumn yellow-winged grasshopper.
Addition of 145 county records for all species combined, with the filling out of 9 species’ maps.
Added finds of persisting populations for 3 rare species.
Continued northward range expansion for the jumping bush cricket.

The guide is available for free as a highly compressed PDF document. (See Online References—Insects for the 2017 guide.) There are maps showing current and historical county records, graphical devices indicating seasonal and time-of-day information, and descriptions of the insects and their songs. Information is presented as well on conservation concerns and ongoing range expansions. To get on the mailing list for future updates, send your request to me at wildlifer@aol.com.

Those who wish to follow the in-season progress of this research, or with more general interests in natural history, can check out my blog, https://natureinquiries.wordpress.com/ .

—Carl Strang, Wild Things presenter

Moraine Valley CC Partnership Pilot

MVCC-Birders-2016-04-25 10.10.37cropped — MVCC Bird Monitoring – 3/30/2016, © Pat Hayes

A series of field study classes, honors program social media support, and year round, non-wage intern positions in several disciplines resulted when Pat Hayes, site steward from Orland Grassland, reached out to Dr. Sylvia Jenkins, President of Moraine Valley Community College and member of the Conservation and Policy Committee of the Next Century Conservation Plan Commission. The question raised was, “Is there a college partnership opportunity at Orland Grassland for students to participate in broad restoration activity for their learning enrichment and Orland Grassland’s restoration benefit?” After a series of meetings with school staff and other key stakeholders, the answer was a resounding, enthusiastic, “Yes!”

The Moraine Valley Community College Partnership Pilot was born.

All agreed to go slow with hopes of expansion over time. Better to go slow, acquire successes upon which to build, and identify that which can be improved. As a result, a multi-faceted plan emerged…

Continue reading Moraine Valley CC Partnership Pilot

Updated Singing Insects Guide

In 2015, I completed my 10^th year of studying the singing insects of the Chicago region, and have begun to distribute the species guide that is the project’s main product. The Chicago region for this project includes 22 counties from southeastern Wisconsin around to Berrien County, Michigan. Singing insects are defined here as the cicadas, crickets, katydids, and members of two grasshopper subfamilies with sound displays that people can hear (though the songs of some are so high pitched that only young people can hear them unaided). There are around 100 species, though some I haven’t found outside historical records. I update the guide each year, and this year’s version just reached 100 pages.

Title page 2016

The guide is available for free as a highly compressed PDF document that nevertheless occupies over 5MB, thanks to the many photos. (See Online Resources—Insects for the 2016 guide.) There are maps showing current and historical county records, graphical devices indicating seasonal and time-of-day information, and descriptions of the insects and their songs. Information is presented as well on conservation concerns and ongoing range expansions. To get on the mailing list for future updates, send your request to me at wildlifer@aol.com.

Those who wish to follow the in-season progress of this research, or with more general interests in natural history, can check out my blog, https://natureinquiries.wordpress.com/

—Carl Strang (previous Wild Things presenter)

Remembering Margo Milde

In Memoriam

Margo Milde

4/10/1956 – 9/26/2015

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

Many botanists and birders in the Chicago region have seen Margo Milde in the field. She was generous in sharing her knowledge of natural areas with others. Margo was particularly gifted in recognizing bird song and sounds, a skill she attributed to the many years of arduous classical piano lessons she was forced to endure as a child. Musical training gave her ability to appreciate the subtle nuances of tone, pitch, timbre, and rhythm, just as important in identifying bird songs as they are in appreciating and performing classical works of music.

In addition to the study of piano, Margo dedicated herself to studying the plant and bird life of the Chicago region, and its interrelated human history as well. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago) in Biology-Environmental Studies in 1993.

In 1994 she had obtained her first professional survey contract for an updated plant inventory of Pistakee Bog Nature Preserve (Ingleside, IL). In an article she authored of her bog adventures for the Friends of Volo Bog, Bog Log in 1995, she wrote that her small stature—being less likely to sink in treacherous areas of the bog, and affording her ease of crawling through thick brush—as well as owning a functional washer and drier at home were essential attributes to her success in bog field surveys. Her work at Pistakee Bog led to numerous other botanical and bird surveys professionally for both various governmental and private agencies until her move to Pennsylvania in 2014. Continue reading Remembering Margo Milde

Welcome to the Wild Things Community

Welcome to our community of inspiring souls who live and breathe nature in the greater Chicago region called the Chicago Wilderness!

Lake Herrick Forest Preserve - 4/19/2008, © Marilyn L. Schweitzer — Lake Herrick Forest Preserve – 4/19/2008, © Marilyn L. Schweitzer

Wasn’t the 2015 Wild Things Conference terrific? (Read about it and some of the other the past Wild Things conferences.) The volunteers who brought you the 2015 conference, plus new volunteers are creating this community website and blog to keep you abreast on the latest happenings—we invite you to join the conversation.

Readers of our blog will find feature articles on a wide range of topics:

Arthropods, Birds, Fish, Herps, Mammals, Reptiles, Plants
Dunes, Lakes/Ponds, Prairies, Rivers/Streams, Savannas, Wetlands, Woodlands
Backyards/Gardens, Neighborhoods, Urban Environment
Advocacy, Citizen Science, Monitoring, Restoration, Stewardship, Volunteering
Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, Invasive Species, Native Species, Rare Species, Research, Rewilding, Sustainability
Arts, Culture, Heritage, Tools for Educators, Youth

Individuals really can make a difference, as the 2015 conference presentation “Wild Things – People make the difference” 17mb, prepared by Pat Hayes and Karen Tharp beautifully illustrates.

Through citizen science, volunteers monitor wildlife such as birds, frogs and plants, working with best practices developed and supported by professionals from a wide range of institutions.

Similarly, volunteers also work to restore wildlands habitat in conjunction with organized volunteer groups and agencies. Please join and support them.

To also help you on your way, we have a long list of conservation-minded resources.

And, oh, the 2017 Wild Things Conference is already on our minds!