Letters

DISCORDANT HARMONY

To the Editor,

Chicago Wilderness magazine is chock full of valuable information about the ecology of northeastern Illinois. Peppered throughout, however, are references to “balance of nature” and “natural equilibrium.” I’d like to suggest another perspective.

We have been inculcated with the balance-of-nature gospel for decades. Does such a thing really exist? With the broader perspective of time (as in millennia) one can see that ecosystems are dynamic, not static. Ecosystems are always changing; populations are always in a state of flux. Sometimes change occurs abruptly with Katrina-esque drama. Sometimes the change is subtle, as in the insidious spread of suburban strip malls.

Within and amongst the flora and fauna are fluctuations driven not only by external environmental change, but also by the intrinsic evolutionary maxim: make more of yourself. A coyote doesn’t “care” if there’s a balance in the Illinois landscape. She just wants to make more coyotes. Prairie dock isn’t concerned about a balanced prairie community. Prairie dock is hard-wired to produce more prairie dock.

Thus, natural communities comprise populations that are not headed towards balance per se. A more accurate description is offered by ecologist Daniel Botkin as “discordant harmony.” The oak-hickory woodlands at the time of European invasion were not in an idyllic state of balance. The tallgrass prairie as the Euro-Americans saw it would have changed with or without our help. There is, indeed, discord in the transformation of the landscape, but one can hear strains of harmony in the cacophony of change.

As a naturalist and educator, I feel the balance-of-nature theme is misleading. I think it’s important to communicate to people that the goal of natural areas management is to restore integrity to dynamic natural systems and to enhance biodiversity. Our woodlands, wetlands, and prairies are going to change, whether we like it or not. The beauty of nature is the Technicolor motion picture of change, not a Kodak moment in time.

Valerie Blaine
Somewhere in the Woods at the Edge of the Prairie
Kane County, IL

TURKEY TIME

Hello,

I live in Old Edgebrook in Chicago. It is surrounded by the forest and just off the river. On Sunday, August 31st, we discovered a wild turkey (male, we believe) in our yard. We took a few pictures. Upon further research I learned that pine trees over water are a favorite roosting sight. We have pine trees in our yard and are not far from the river. I have lived in Chicago a total of 40-plus years and in this home about 15 years. I have never seen a wild turkey here. There are plenty of deer, raccoon, etc. Is it unusual for this to occur?

ViDina Marie
Chicago, IL

Editor’s note: By recent estimates, there are about 130,000 wild turkeys living in Illinois. They typically live in more remote wooded areas and are more common in northwestern Illinois than in northeastern. Cook County is the last county in the state to document wild turkeys in modern times. They aren’t likely to make a stronghold here, but they do turn up. There was a sighting of a small group in Lincolnshire a few years ago.

LET IT SNOW

Dear Editor,

On November 12 at 6:30 p.m., I was in Skokie, Illinois, in a parking lot at the Old Orchard mall, when I noticed a large white bird flying to my left. I assumed it was a gull since I could not see very far in the dark. But as it swooped into and then perched on the light I knew it was a snowy owl. Then all of a sudden it dove down to the ground after a rat, and my mom and I in our excitement ran over towards it. I stood probably ten feet away from the bird for about two minutes as it looked at us and we looked at it. (I was also digging for my phone to try and take a picture.) Then it flew to the top of another light stand (where I did finally get my phone and a pic) and then back into the night. I just thought it was interesting to see a snowy owl hunting in the middle of Skokie.

Ashley Jennings
Wilmette, IL

Response from Marianne Hahn, Thorn Creek Audubon: What a wonderful sighting! Congratulations. Author Ken Brock says that November and December are the best months to see snowies. When food supplies dwindle up north young owls are forced to leave in search of better hunting grounds. The older birds have established territories, which they defend, thus we see mostly young birds coming this far south.

Migrating raptors tend to follow the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and the mall is only about four miles away. Furthermore, the mall is adjacent to a large cemetery and a big golf course. Both of these are attractive open spaces for raptors.

Snowy owls are not strictly nocturnal. I have seen them hunt in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Chicago’s lakeshore during the daytime. If you think about it, this owl normally lives in a part of the planet that has 24 hours of darkness, but also summers with 24 hours of daylight, so it cannot be too tightly bound to photoperiods.

Seeing the owl this early might mean that it will be a big year for them in Chicago. If so, good places to find them are Montrose Harbor, Northerly Island, or Navy Pier! (And see Raymond Barlow’s photo in the table of contents in this issue.)

CORRECTIONS

The purple flower labeled as blue lobelia in “North Shore Ravines” (CW, Fall ’08) was not our native lobelia. Also, Nancy Irons wrote to straighten us out: “The photo of the mud dauber wasp nests in the Natural Events (Fall ’08) is displayed upside-down. The wasp always builds its nest with the opening pointing downward. If the nest pointed up, it would catch the rain and drown both the egg and stunned prey.” CW regrets the errors.