Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) The Bluegill is the Illinois State Fish, and rightly so. If an Illinoisan has only caught one fish in their life, there’s a good chance it was […]
Fish Friday with…. the Bluegill
Tag: natural history
Fish Friday with… the Rainbow Smelt
Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax) Netting buckets of Rainbow Smelt once provided Chicagoans and Lakefront suburbanites with an annual rite of near-spring. News that spawning smelt had begun to run sent […]
Fish Friday with… the Starhead Topminnow
Starhead Topminnow (Fundulus dispar) At just three inches long, the Starhead Topminnow invites predation. But as they say at the Charles Darwin School of Business, predation spurs innovation. “Starhead Topminnows […]
Fish Friday with… the Walleye
Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) The Walleye can reach 36 inches in length. As you might guess, a yard-long sport fish offers sport indeed. The range map above, courtesy of the Atlas […]
Fish Friday with… the Chinook or King Salmon
Chinook or King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) The largest North American salmon, the Chinook or King Salmon grows to 58 inches and can weigh over 30 lbs. The Chinook, like the […]
Fish Friday with… the Northern Pike
Northern Pike (Esox lucius) In middle school, I knew a kid with one of those dads who spent every spare moment fishing. This man went straight from work to the […]
Fish Friday with… the Northern Brook Lamprey
Northern Brook Lamprey (Ichthyomyzon fossor) A poll on Favorite Fish of Illinois would presumably return zero votes for any lamprey. Granted, most of us do not consider the lamprey a […]
Backlist Bop: May Berenbaum on what’s the buzz
It’s spring, and the insects have returned in force. Though, unless you live in Antarctica, it’s doubtful you go a day without seeing an arthropod even in winter. These creatures […]
200 Years of Illinois: The long and writhing road
Clear LaRue Road. Today marks the day officials close the storied roadway to assist of one of Illinois’s majestic natural wonders: the spring snake migration in Shawnee National Forest. The limestone bluffs […]
Exploring Illinois: Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge
The Upper Mississippi River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge stretches for 261 river miles from Cordova, Illinois to the mouth of Wisconsin’s Chippewa River. Dozens of bird species can be […]
Exploring Illinois: Ayers Sand Prairie
Ayers Sand Prairie in Carroll County was once the western edge of the Wisconsin Glacier. Among the small dunes explorers can spy plants and animals friendly to the dry growing […]
Exploring Illinois: Kickapoo State Park
The middle fork of the Vermilion River runs through Kickapoo State Park. Just a short walk from Middle Fork Woods Nature Preserve, explorers will find forest-lined bluffs and a a […]