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The Wild Things Conference Returns Saturday, March 1, 2025 - SOLD OUT

We’re thrilled to welcome you again to learn and share your expertise with our community. We’ve put together an exciting lineup of workshops and sessions from regional and national experts, plus meet & greets, video content, exhibitors, and sponsors. With over 140 presentations and discussion panels to choose from, the in-person program engages a diverse range of topics, research, and skills, and plenty of opportunities to meet with friends, old and new.

Thank you as well to our sponsors, scholarship supporters, and exhibitors who are all helping to make this another tremendously successful Wild Things.

Tickets for Wild Things 2025 are sold out. For additional information on the 2025 conference, visit wildthingscommunity.org.

**PLEASE NOTE: Some details are subject to change.**

NOTICE: Please be advised that photos and videos will be taken during Wild Things 2025. By attending, you consent to be photographed, filmed, and/or otherwise recorded. Your attendance on this event constitutes your agreement to the use of any resulting media by Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves for promotional, marketing, or any other purpose in perpetuity, without further approval or any compensation. 
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Ecology of Oak Masting Cycles and Red-Headed Woodpecker Behavior: How Weather Drives Acorn Production and Wildlife Dynamics
Saturday March 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:00am CST
Room 29
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.
Presenters
AR

Anastasia Rahlin

Associate Research Scientist, Ornithology, Illinois Natural History Survey
Migratory bird diversity, wetland bird conservation, oak woodlands, red-headed woodpecker declines
AY

Addy Yoder

University of Missouri in St. Louis
Saturday March 1, 2025 10:15am - 11:00am CST
Room 29
  Wildlife, General

Attendees (198)


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