Fall 2001

Letters to the Editor

DISPLACED MIDWESTERNER

Dear Editor,

Your editorial in the Summer 2001 edition was very moving. For July 4 this year, I felt a similar literary urge to wed environmentalism to the nation’s founding declarations, in a call for the freedom to bike and walk in our North Carolina community without the constant danger of automobiles.

I’m a displaced Midwesterner, delighted to have discovered prairies here in the form of diabase glades surviving as remnants along roadsides. It took five years to come across populations of big bluestem and switchgrass, stunted by poor soil but alive and well in the Piedmont.

Chicago Wilderness and its underlying philosophy is a great inspiration for all of us urbanites working to reclaim a rich natural heritage.

Stephen K. Hiltner
President, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Assoc.
Durham, NC

BONK?

Dear Editor,
Regarding the story about the red-winged blackbird at Navy Pier (Summer ‘01, p.4), I just wanted to let you know that I got attacked by a red-winged blackbird in Evanston by the university! I was walking with my headphones on and all of sudden I felt something on my head messing up my hair. I finally swatted it away! Maybe next issue you can feature red-wing blackbird strikes again but in Evanston.

Shirley Bonk
Evanston, Ill.

MORE BUSHES

Dear Chicago Wilderness,
Now that Pritzker Park [in Chicago’s Loop at Van Buren and State Streets] is being re-opened, I thought this might be a good time to plead for more bushes in it. The old park, with its stands of low bushes, was a great place for migrating birds to hang out.

I used to walk through it on my way back and forth in the Loop. I kept a list of the birds seen either in the park or flying over it while I was in the park. The list is 27 species long! The only American pipit I’ve ever seen, and only the second sora I’ve seen, have been in Pritzker Park. Without the bushes, I wonder how many would have been there?

Here is my “Pritzker Park Life List”: American pipit, American redstart, Brown thrasher, Catbird, Common yellowthroat, Downy woodpecker, Flicker, Grackle, Herring gull, Hooded warbler, House finch, House sparrow, House wren, Junco, Northern waterthrush, Ovenbird, Peregrine falcon, Pigeon, Pine warbler, Robin, Song sparrow, Sora, Starling, Veery, White crowned sparrow, White throated sparrow, Wood thrush.

James Tibensky
Berwyn, Ill.

MISSING BUGS, MARSHES

Chicago Wilderness:
I have been wondering for years if it would be possible to create marshland along parts of the Chicago lakefront. I have never seen but have read about Gateway National Recreation Area in New York City.

Last year I was in Florida and I noticed that along the beaches they are trying to return some of it back to a more natural state. Even in Miami Beach there was a long boardwalk that you could walk along and see how it used to be sand dunes and grass, etc. I would think Chicago also could turn over a portion of our beaches to a more natural state. I enjoyed walking along the board walk in Miami Beach – it was very relaxing. Even now that they are making the lagoon between Fullerton and Diversey more natural the very small marsh on the north end had a blue heron. I see more people walking along this lagoon than ever before, which only goes to show people enjoy nature more than mowed lawns. I would think that at least 40 percent of the park could be replanted in a natural state for people to walk along and enjoy. I am sure it’s cheaper to allow plants to grow than to mow the lawn every week or so. Plus there are quite a few areas that are always waterlogged most of the time. I would think they could build some observation towers and boardwalks and every one would enjoy seeing nature close at hand. I believe it’s time we give back to nature some of what we took.

I remember when I was a kid the night sky was full of nighthawks, also bats. I don’t see or hear them anymore. Pretty sad. I hardly see lightning bugs either. I believe Raid has done its job too damn well. I don’t see hardly any insects any more: angel flies, ladybugs, moths, millers, June bugs, frogs, toads. We need to help these bugs out too. Maybe they ought to teach kids how to play regular games and go for hikes, make some hiking trails through the park. That was a long, long time ago. No, I am not 100 yet, only 53, but I am getting like all the old people.

You hear so many people saying the same thing, how urban sprawl is destroying this country. If you have ever lived in McHenry or Crystal Lake or the Woodstock area, then you know firsthand how destructive urban sprawl can be. Subdivide every field and build non-stop, make all the money you can, then run away to some other location. Greed is a destroyer, that’s for sure.

P.M.B.
Chicago, Ill.

Editor’s comment: Yes, we agree and so does the Chicago Park District. They’re restoring nature in many areas. And that’s what Mayor Daley has proposed for Meigs Field. He deserves support.

NIGHTHAWK SPECTACLE

On the way to Baker’s Lake this evening, I came across a big flock of common nighthawks swirling around some big trees at the edge of Deer Grove and Northwest Highway. They must have discovered a big hatch of some kind of insect because they all stayed right in the same 1/4 acre or so. I pulled off the road right up underneath the group and turned on the emergency blinkers. Then I opened up the sun roof all the way and sat back and watched the spectacle of approximately 150 nighthawks swooping to within 10 feet of my head. It was awesome to see their tails open and close with different aerial maneuvers. Every now and then I could focus on one insect for a short time and then watch it disappear as a nighthawk swooped in out of nowhere.
I made it to Baker’s Lake before dark in time to see a Cooper’s hawk, osprey, and a few blue-winged teal come in with the hundreds of mallards and Canada geese in the evening “arrival” spectacle.

A couple more nighthawks zigzagged over the lake. I don’t think I could get tired of nighthawks, but I’ve enjoyed trying.

Carolyn Fields
Palatine, Ill.

POSTED ON IBET - THE ILLINOIS BIRDING LISTSERV.

Reader to Reader

We have launched a message board on our Web site – chicagowildernessmag.org – to give our readers a chance to communicate with each other. Post your questions, sightings, nature
stories, wild mushroom recipes. Let’s talk.

– The Editors