Wild Things 2025

Accommodating beavers on our watersheds would allow us to reap the benefits of the many  ecosystem services that they provide. Beaver ponds protect and improve water quality by absorbing nutrients from agricultural runoff, stormwater, and wastewater, and by capturing and filtering out sediment. As a keystone species, beavers create habitat that supports multiple other species of fish, birds, amphibians, and other mammals. Beaver-created wetlands also create increased floodwater storage capacity and would help our region develop climate resilience in the face of increased precipitation patterns. In fact, beaver restoration is being used around the country to restore streams and boost biodiversity. While beavers can cause flooding problems, properly designed culvert fencing and pond levelers are effective at preventing beaver damage and ultimately less expensive than the continuous cycle of trapping and killing beavers.

This study investigates the impacts of weather on oak masting in the Chicagoland region and explores its links to Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) populations. Over a eight-year period (2017-2024), we collected acorn data from northern red, white, bur, and pin oaks within the Chicago Wilderness Region. We tested hypotheses regarding factors that influence annual acorn abundances, with a focus on spring and summer weather conditions such as precipitation and temperature. Preliminary findings suggest that acorn mast cycles—characterized by years of low and high acorn production—are influenced by weather patterns and may drive changes in the populations of acorn-caching species like the Red-headed Woodpecker. Analysis of eBird data from 2016-2024 shows that acorn availability could influence woodpecker overwintering behavior and year-round presence in Chicagoland forest preserves. Our study highlights the ecological importance of oak masting on wildlife dynamics and provides insight into the drivers of acorn production and seasonal Red-headed Woodpecker habitat use.

2024 treated the Chicago Wilderness region to raucous choruses of 17-year cicadas, genus Magicicada. Drawing on lessons from the Calling Frogs Survey and Singing Insects Monitoring Program, the Magicicada Soundmap Project recruited volunteers to measure sound levels and record these choruses. The project also made use of wildlife recorders to examine hypotheses related to the impact of ecological restoration on Magicicada chorusing. I will describe the methods, display initial data, and how we plan to use the data for monitoring and land management.

Creating native garden habitat connects us with nature and helps support birds, pollinators and wildlife. This presentation features Pam’s photos from her Chicago bird garden she created, illustrating how it’s possible to attract over 100 bird species. Tips include landscape enhancements, practices and plant selection, with an emphasis on native plants. Chicagoland’s location along the migratory route, bird species diversity, diet, nesting, supplemental support and community science will also be discussed. Doug Tallamy’s “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard” and Emily Murphy’s “Grow Now: How We Can Save Our Health, Communities, and Planet– One Garden at a Time” includes Pam’s garden, exemplifying the power of urban lots.

Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve is an 1800 acre preserve and Illinois Nature Preserve in Naperville, Illinois, owned and managed by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Springbrook is managed as a grassland and prairie restoration area and is known for its populations of breeding grassland birds. I have continuously monitored the breeding birds at Springbrook since 1994 using a network of point counts and transects. The presentation will present the results of this long-term monitoring and discuss the relationship of grassland bird diversity and density in relation to various habitats, site management, and prairie restoration efforts.

Reintroduction is a tool used in conservation biology to establish a new population of previously extirpated species. It is often necessary when habitat fragmentation prevents natural reestablishment. In freshwater turtle species, reintroduction is becoming more common, but questions about best practices remain due to their longevity. Here, we discuss results and lessons learned 4 years into an experimental reintroduced population of the state-endangered Blanding’s Turtles and explore adaptive management strategies to ensure this population reaches self-sustainability.

Join the Chicago Black-crowned Night Heron research and outreach team for a panel based-discussion about their efforts to conserve the Illinois state endangered Black-crowned Night Heron. Team members will discuss their research process, their achievements and goals to further engage Chicago communities on the subject of avian conservation, as well as their personal career pathways and what a successful night heron project looks like to them. This session will begin with roughly 20 minutes of introductory statements and questions from the panel's moderator Jo Fessett, followed by ample time for audience members to ask questions and get to know the team.

In 2018, Lincoln Park Zoo (LPZ) launched the Bat Tracker program to monitor the bats of Chicago through a community science network. After seven years of bat walks by dozens of volunteers, we have recorded thousands of bat echolocation calls. West Ridge Nature Park (WRNP) has been part of the program since the beginning, and has expanded the data collection events to include members of the public, turning them into engaging public programs. In this presentation, LPZ staff will introduce the program, results to date, and next steps, while WRNP leaders will discuss their experience using Bat Tracker as part of their public outreach programming.

Project Coyote is a lead proponent of legislation to ban wildlife killing contests in Illinois. The House passed this legislation in the 103rd General Assembly, but time ran out in the Senate. It will be reintroduced in the 104th General Assembly, starting in the Senate. Just as it is hard to believe wildlife killing contests are conducted in Illinois in the modern day, equally disturbing were perspectives voiced about the state’s predators in legislative debate. On display was a pitiful and painful lack of thirst for and familiarity with the science. The IDNR did not contest the bill. The agency has long held that indiscriminate killing is not predator control. Decades of research show that predator populations are self-regulating. All the killing accomplishes is to disrupt self-regulation. Thus, it makes the killing a self-fulfilling prophecy. Behaviors that humans consider problematic occur when humans continually disrupt the animals’ self-regulation. The session will explore how we move beyond predator fear to a day of a better understanding of predator/carnivore ecology reflected in science-based policy.

David Parson, MS, Carnivore Conservation Biologist, USFWS retired, Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Coordinator 1990-1999, will co-present this session.

Saw-whet owls are a secretive seasonal resident of Illinois unlike local species that are yearlong residents that make their presence known. We’ll do a brief discussion of owl species found in the state that includes basic owl life history and behavior. From there we’ll talk about what is known about saw-whet owls and what we are trying to learn about them as part of our research. We’ll finish with a talk about good conservation practices that benefit owls and the larger ecosystem.

There was an unexpected large expansion of the cicadas’ main emergence area in DuPage County, compared to 2007. Island biogeography theory provides one explanation for this. The series of 4-year-early emergences, now established as self-sustaining, appears best explained by nymphal overcrowding. Magicicada septendecula has not been found here. The Valparaiso Moraine proves to be the dividing line between Broods XIII and X in northwestern Indiana.

As human influence has spread further into natural areas, some species have adapted their behaviors so they can live in proximity to humans. The coyote’s notorious behavioral flexibility has allowed the species to thrive in both natural and highly urbanized settings. To determine how environmental pressures from urbanization may influence coyote behavior, we examined coyote exploration tendencies by conducting novel object tests throughout the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area. In this session, learn how something as seemingly simple as a garden gnome can elicit a variety of responses from one of the region’s top mammalian predators.

A number of shoreline restorations along the Chicago River have been completed in recent years. We compared three of them - one unrestored, one restored, and one where the clearing and bank restoration happened, but the bulk of woody plants were not yet installed. Hear about the results and research-backed suggestions for improving river bank restoration. 30 minute presentation (4 presenters), 20 minutes for discussion

Avian migrations are spectacular natural phenomena, but human activities can pose acute threats to migratory birds. The urban habitats in which many birds attempt to rest and refuel contain many hazards, including light pollution, predators, vehicles, and reflective surfaces with which many birds collide. This talk will highlight recent advances in our understanding of key threats to migratory birds in developed areas, with a focus on the Chicago region—and highlight how new, integrative approaches are shedding light on the link between aerial and terrestrial habitats. These insights are both contributing to scientific knowledge and stimulating public interest and political will to take meaningful conservation action.

The coastal region of Illinois, a five-mile band hugging the shore of Lake Michigan is tremendously important for millions of birds that migrate through our area every spring and fall, stopping over at important stopover natural habitats that many people and partners manage, to rest and refuel on their migration journey. Audubon Great Lakes is excited to share a new interactive web tool to inform the enhancement of coastal habitat for birds during this critical migratory stopover period.

Vic’s presentation will discuss how some raptor species are adapting to an urban and suburban environment. He will show examples of raptors using a human dominated landscape and how some species are thriving and becoming more dependent on humans.

We are a group of Tri-Point School students from Ford County who have been working to re-establish the prairie cicadas in Don Gardner’s reconstructed prairie in Kempton, Illinois. The prairie cicada was once a thriving species in Illinois prairies until extensive habitat loss led to a fragmentation of the populations. The species persists in Illinois at a few small remnant prairies and is at risk of regional extirpation. We are working to reintroduce this rare species of cicada from threatened habitat to a reconstructed prairie which will have long-term management.The on-going project is intended to re-establish a sustainable population of prairie cicadas with the intent to expand the population to other restored prairie sites.