Sep 10, 2021
Learn about one of the rarest owls in Illinois, the common barn owl in an question and answer session conducted by the Living with Wildlife Illinois team.
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A message from Chief Mike Wefer
Welcome to the August 2021 edition of the online magazine OutdoorIllinois Journal, featuring timely, seasonally based stories about the Prairie State’s wildlife resources, with an expansion of content to include a broader range of subjects—including endangered and threatened species and Illinois’ unique, high-quality habitats and the people working to preserve, protect and manage these resources.
Aug 30, 2021
Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Agricultural and Grassland Wildlife Program Manager Wade Louis provides an overview of upland game populations with a look toward the 2021–22 hunting season.
MoreAug 2, 2021
The glaciers that moved across much of Illinois during the last Ice Age avoided about 15,000 square miles in the Midwest. Northwest Illinois contains a portion of this glacier-free area, known as the Driftless Natural Division.
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Help wanted. People passionate about preserving Illinois’ precious natural resources. No experience necessary. Knowledgeable and dedicated mentors will show you the ropes. Become a Friend of Illinois Nature Preserves today.
MoreAug 2, 2021
In June of 2021 the residents of four east central Illinois counties (Clark, Crawford, Edgar and Vermilion) were treated to a truly wonderous experience—the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicadas known as Brood X.
MoreAug 2, 2021
From blue-winged teal to redhead ducks to black crappie and bluegill, wildlife soars and swims through acres of restored floodplain at Emiquon Preserve. Yet beneath that lies another teeming world: the tiniest of microscopic organisms and macroinvertebrates.
MoreAug 2, 2021
A rare geological feature in Illinois, the algific talus slope, harbors some of the state’s rarest plants and animals, including the federally endangered Iowa Pleistocene snail (Discus macclintocki). As the climate changes these flora and fauna could be in jeopardy.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Wild Turkey Project Manager Luke Garver provides insights into the hunting preview for the 2021 fall turkey gun and archery seasons.
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Most people assume that coyotes, the top predator in Illinois, are eating up our wildlife. While coyotes are opportunistic feeders and no doubt take their fair share of fawns and other wildlife, most studies show their diet is primarily small mammals.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Our state has fewer grasslands, trees, wetlands and natural waterways. And the few remaining wild places are often isolated from one another. We can do something about it. Whether you’re an apartment dweller or a landowner, you can help Illinois’ wildlife.
MoreAug 2, 2021
The Owned, Managed and Leased Properties project goal is to determine what land the Illinois Department of Natural Resources owns, manages and leases that was purchased with Federal Aid funds. Digital maps of IDNR sites are available to the public through ESRI Arc Online mapping applications.
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More than 95 percent of the land in Illinois is privately owned. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service offers their Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program to private landowners who wish to undertake habitat restoration projects.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Habitat strike teams are composed of individuals working closely together toward the goal of improving habitat and restoring floral communities for wildlife and ecosystem function. Hence, the team sport of restoration.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Habitat loss, overhunting and targeted predator removal all resulted in the extirpation of these large carnivores from the Prairie State. Due to the successful conservation efforts in neighboring states, seeing a large carnivore in Illinois, although rare, is a possibility.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Landowners have multiple goals for managing their property including creating inviting habitat for turkeys, deer and other wildlife. The Habitat Incentive Program provided cost share assistance to private landowners to help achieve their forest management goals.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Watching a hawk soar through a cloudless blue sky or listening in the dark of night to the distant call of an owl are not usually triggers for thinking about cat parasites, but that is the funny thing about nature—everything really is connected.
MoreAug 2, 2021
From deer to migratory birds and from research to private land habitat management, Kahl’s extensive experiences are skills valuable to his role as supervisor of IDNR’s regional and district wildlife biologists.
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Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Deer Project Manager, Peter Schlichting, provides insights into the hunting forecasts for the 2021–2022 white-tailed deer hunting season.
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A preview of the 2021–2022 Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations reveals user-friendly updates and the inclusion of a quick reference card in both Spanish and Polish.
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Despite the mudpuppy’s wide distribution, information on the species’ populations and trends are lacking. Thus, more extensive monitoring efforts are needed to better understand the species’ conservation needs.
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With a flurry of wings and unearthly whistles, upland sandpipers once rose from the prairie sea on summer mornings. Evening calls marked mid-summer dusk. This crepuscular delight was once part and parcel of the prairie experience. Today, it is a rarity in Illinois.
MoreAug 2, 2021
The worth of a plant is often judged by the eyes of the beholder. A “weed” is sometimes defined as a plant out of place, leaving much to personal discretion. Consider two goldenrods—tall goldenrod and stiff goldenrod.
MoreAug 2, 2021
The next time you are in a mature forest at night and hear some peculiar high-pitched chirps above, and then detect something passing overhead in the trees, the UFO may be the southern flying squirrel.
MoreAug 2, 2021
Illinois Department of Natural Resources Office of Realty and Environmental Planning review projects that imperil Illinois-endangered and -threatened species habitats. A recent project is near a location of the state-endangered spotted dusky salamander (Desmognathus conanti).
MoreAug 2, 2021
Reliable information on the movements of bird species is important for management decisions, but which method is best to identify between a resident or a migrating Cooper’s hawk?
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