GOLF HAZARD
Dear Editor,
While I am mightily heartened to learn that golf
courses are not the environmental morasses that
I believed them to be (CW, Summer 2003), my joy
is muted. I congratulate and applaud the advanced
thinking that has emerged in the maintenance of
the courses mentioned; the environment as a whole
benefits from their long-awaited enlightenment;
thus, so do I. However, the only people who directly
reap the enjoyment of these "wilderness"
areas are those who belong to the club (if private)
or those who play golf (public courses).
Those of us who like to birdwatch,
or hike, or sit by the edge of a pond and enjoy
the view are "non-privileged" persons.
Thus, my happiness over the existence of these green
sanctuaries cannot be fully realized.
Janice E. Tonietto
Berwyn, Illinois
NATURE WELL-GUARDED
Hello,
I was looking over your article on The
Magic Hedge at Montrose (CW, Spring 1998). I
work as a security guard right next to the Magic
Hedge, at the reconstruction of the Chicago shoreline.
I have seen many different types of birds in the
construction site, but I don't know what they are
all the time. I have, however, watched a breeding
pair of killdeers for the past two years of being
a guard there. They let each other know when I am
making my rounds. It is then that they fly away
from the nest and act all sick and hurt. I did find
the nest, though, when I walked up onto a large
pile of rocks. Two different times the female laid
eggs in that nest, and each time there were four
eggs. Then, sadly to say, the construction company
moved the rocks into the water.
But one night, I saw in my headlight
four little white fur balls moving across the ground.
I stopped and watched them hurry to the grown killdeer.
They got up under her wings, and all I could see
then was the little legs sticking out from under
her wings. She ran off with them tucked safely away.
She must have gotten used to my visits, because
she started to do her little "hurt act"
right next to my feet. I wanted to feed her and
the babies, but I was afraid that the scent of the
food might attract animals that might cause them
harm. So I left it up to them to find their own
food to eat.
I have also been visited by
a fox, one that likes to eat the rats there at the
lake. One time, the fox ran right past my car as
I sat there addressing my Christmas cards. First
I saw the big fat rat, so fat it could not run or
even walk very fast, and then, a few minutes later,
I saw that same rat hanging out of that fox's mouth
as it ran past me.
Then there is the snowy owl.
I only saw that the first winter I was at Montrose.
It liked to perch high on the link belt boom that
stuck up in the air waiting for the work crew to
get there the next day. I was told that it was a
baby that hatched at Montrose. It was a beautiful
baby if you ask me. Breathtaking.
Mary D. Pruter
Addison Security Guard
at Montrose Harbor, Chicago, Illinois
