Nature's Storytellers

A Blog About Nature in Our DuPage Forest Preserves

Spring is in the Air

March ushers in the official start of spring, and soon you’ll begin seeing signs of it everywhere. Once the snow melts, you may even be able to smell it as the ground starts to thaw to welcome early blooming wildflowers like spring beauties.
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Kline Creek Farm Welcomes Cotswold Sheep into Fold

on 2/26/20 9:02 AM By | Forest Preserve District of DuPage County | 0 Comments | Insider Locations
The first Cotswold longwool lambs are being born at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago, after the 1890s living history farm welcomed five ewes and a ram into its fold last fall.
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Get Healthy With Forest Therapy

on 2/20/20 10:19 AM By | Abby Dean | 0 Comments | Insider Health and wellness Recreation Take 5 Conservation Nature
Looking for new ways to improve wellness and promote relaxation this winter? Try forest therapy! Inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, forest therapy involves taking in the atmosphere of the forest. Translated as "forest bath," shinrin-yoku does not refer to actual bathing. Instead of submerging in water, forest bathers soak up the atmosphere of the forest. 
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Have Coin, Will Travel

on 2/11/20 1:58 PM By | Jennifer Rydzewski | 0 Comments | Insider Locations Recreation Group
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
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Rare Northern Goshawk Released from Willowbrook

A spirited juvenile northern goshawk eagerly regained its freedom Thursday after being nursed back to health at Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn.
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We've Got the Cure for Cabin Fever

Are you done with this weather? Are you fed up with being cooped up? Are you keeping a mental tally of how many days it's been since you've seen the sun, or have you started a countdown calendar to spring? It sounds like you've got a classic case of cabin fever! 
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District Rolls Out New Electric Vehicles

The DuPage Forest Preserve District is looking to add up to four more electric and hybrid vehicles to its award-winning fleet this year, after having much success with two electric vehicles added in 2019.
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Ecologists Shed Light on Issues Facing Oaks

Trail users at Herrick Lake Forest Preserve will soon see more forest through the trees along the southern portion of the preserve’s Green Heron trail.
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Release Your Inner Hippie

Birkenstocks are back in style. Essential oils are all the rage. And “living green” is basically “the new black.”
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Home for the Owl-idays

Thanks to the dedicated staff at the Forest Preserve District’s Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, a now-healthy short-eared owl has made its way back home in the wild in time for the owl-idays. (Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves with that one! What a hoot!)
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Pine-Siskin-feeder

Birding in Blustery Winter Pays Off

Savvy birders know that the coldest months can be some of the hottest times for backyard birding. You can attract birds to your yard by providing them with food, water and shelter. But what if you can’t do that and still want to birdwatch?
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large-tree-parlor

Christmas Traditions

on 12/10/19 10:41 AM By | Dennis Buck | 0 Comments | Insider Locations Take 5
For centuries, many cultures have decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs as symbols of life and renewal. Even so, the Christmas tree is an instantly recognizable symbol of the Christmas holiday itself. 
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West-DuPage-Wood-leaves-on-trail

Be-leaf-ing

Autumn is a time to enjoy the crispness of the weather and the colors of the trees. The yellow, red and orange colors of the oaks, maples and hickories paint a beautiful landscape, making this time of year an experience in art.
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standing-crane

Sandhill Cranes Overhead!

What is that loud, bugling call high in the sky? It's sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) on their fall migration!
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DuPage Forest Police Get an Eye in the Sky

on 11/7/19 10:07 AM By | Forest Preserve District of DuPage County | 0 Comments | Insider police
DuPage Forest Preserve Police are adding a thermal-imaging drone to the police force to help improve response and recovery time in the Forest Preserve District’s more than 60 DuPage forest preserves.
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frog-finished

Garden Blooms at Mayslake from Worker's Creativity

Mayslake Peabody Estate is now home to a garden that blooms year-round, thanks to creativity, recycling and automotive paint.
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pelican-stretch

Pelican Reunited with Birds of the Same Feather

An injured American white pelican is back on track to fly south with its feathered friends after being treated at Willowbrook Wildlife Center and released near a flock of pelicans on the Des Plaines River in Will County.
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group shot edited

Scientists Search for Clues to Grassland Bird Habitats

More than a dozen ecologists from local conservation agencies toured the 1,800-acre Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve in Naperville recently to explore and learn more about the high-quality grassland habitat that has been transformed into a birder’s paradise by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.
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injured-owl-duane-marski

Great Horned Owl Returned to its Home at Kline Creek Farm

Duane Marski was walking the grounds of Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago recently when he noticed a large bird walking on a back road near the orchards.
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covered-wagon-1000x600

Enjoy Fall Colors on Tractor-Drawn Wagon Rides

Experience autumn in the preserves on a leisurely tractor-drawn wagon ride at Danada Equestrian Center and St. James Farm.
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