Notes come from all around Chicago outdoors.
WILD OF THE WEEK
“This guy and his mate [above] were nesting in my heavily populated condo community until their nest was blown away in a windstorm,” Joe Spence emailed. “Having great horned owls in the neighborhood was a very cool thing. I have not seen them since the nest went down.”
WOTW, the celebration of wild stories and photos around Chicago outdoors, runs most weeks in the special two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Saturday. To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).
WILD TIMES
HUNTER SAFETY
March 13-14: Bridgeview, (708) 594-1818
Feb. 18 and 20: Bonfield, (815) 635-3198
ICE FISHING DERBIES
Saturday, Feb. 6: Island Lake Lions Ice Fishing Derby, 7 a.m.02 p.m., headquartered at Eastway Park, adults $15, 15 and younger, $5.
Feb 13-14: Northern Illinois Conservation Club’s 61st annual Ice Fishing Derby, Chain O’Lakes, mynicc.org/event-info/fishin-derby/.
MIDEWIN
Wednesday, Feb. 10: Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Silver Anniversary celebration (virtual), Bill Kurtis and executive chef Sarah Stegner headline, 6 p.m., click here to register.
WILD THINGS
Feb.. 19-21 and 26-28: Wild Things 2021 Conference will held virtually, $15 per weekend or $30 for entire conference, wildthingscommunity.org.
BIRDING
Friday, Feb. 12, to Feb. 15: Great Backyard Bird Count, birdcount.org
FISH GATHERING
Wednesday, Feb. 10: Tony Grant and Gregg Thomas, ZOOM meeting Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies, Inc., 7 p.m., frvmuskie.com
ILLINOIS PERMITS
Tuesday, Feb. 9: Final day, third lottery, spring turkey permits
DALE’S MAILBAG
“Carp of the day.” Email from Ed Buric
A: I have the best readers. Buric reacted to the Final Word last week: “ `Carpe Diem’ does not mean `fish of the day.’ “ Buric caught the carp pictured from the Des Plaines River with a spinning rod he made himself at Corens Rod and Reel Service in Chicago.
BIG NUMBER
783: Wild turkeys harvested during Illinois’ 2020-2021 fall archery turkey Season, up from 740 in ‘19-20. For ‘20-21, 24,187 permits were sold, up from 22,728 in ‘19-20.
LAST WORD
“The ABA is proud that the Pileated Woodpecker, emblem of both the wild woods and the adaptability of birds to anthropogenically altered spaces, is our 2021 Bird of the Year.”
American Bird Association, on its BOTY, including some stunning artwork by Juan Travieso’s with stark red and fuchsia lines. For more, go to aba.org/2021-bird-of-the-year-pileated-woodpecker-dryocopus-pileatus/
