A yellow-crowned night heron at Lincoln Park Zoo, a tale of bald eagle sightings rife with memories, a rise in immediate-release fishing tournaments in Wisconsin and the meaning of opening day in Wisconsin are among the notes around Chicago outdoors.

A yellow-crowned night heron at Lincoln Park Zoo, a tale of bald eagle sightings rife with meaning, a rise in immediate-release fishing tournaments in Wisconsin and the meaning of opening day in Wisconsin are among the notes around Chicago outdoors.

By Dale Bowman

A yellow-crowned night heron at Lincoln Park Zoo. Credit: Dr. Elizabeth Pector — A yellow-crowned night heron at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Notes come from all around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Dr. Elizabeth Pector photographed this “yellow-crowned night heron hanging out with a large nesting colony of black-crowned night herons at Lincoln Park Zoo.”

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

SHOWTIME

Next Saturday, May 8: Fish & Hook Sports Show, VFW Post 5788, Lockport, fishandhook.net/

ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS

Turkey hunting: Through Wednesday, fourth season, north zone; Thursday to May 13, fifth (final) season, north; through Thursday, fifth season, south.

Tuesday, May 4: Applications begin for fall shotgun turkey permit lottery

A bald eagle with a nest. Credit: Sondra Katzen — A bald eagle with a nest.

DALE’S MAILBAG

“I had quite a morning—saw five bald eagles! I was then driving back home on I-88 and one flew over my car (possibly could’ve been the mate of the one at the nest). Driving further east on I-88, I looked to my right and one was sitting in a tree not far from the highway. I exited . . . and saw another one flying above the tree before it landed. Then, I was near Bolingbrook and looked to my left and one was in a tree just off the road along a bike/walking path. So, I parked and started walking toward it. . . . A guy was riding his bike past me and asked if that was an eagle. I said it was and he kept riding. As I was walking back to my car, the same biker was coming towards me and said he had to get a picture too. Funny how if you don’t look up or around, how much you can miss.” Sondra Katzen

A: That’s a Sunday morning.

A bald eagle sitting starkly in a tree. Credit: Sondra Katzen — A bald eagle sitting starkly in a tree.

BIG NUMBER

More than 30: Average number of immediate-release fishing tournaments in Wisconsin from 2015-20; up from an average of six per year between 2010-15.

LAST WORD

“It’s like Christmas for most outdoor enthusiasts, the opening day of inland fishing season.”

Guide Dave Duwe, on Wisconsin’s opener the first Saturday in May

Next Up In Outdoors

High hopes for Heidecke Lake fishing: Prospects look good for the season, despite a brutal opener

Chicago fishing, Midwest Fishing Report: Hoping on a warm-up, coho, smallmouth, browns, steelhead

A little help from friends on bagging first spring gobbler leads to Turkey of the Week

An old favorite of the Chicago River, the common carp, still have ‘Big Shoulders’ downtown

Chicago outdoors: Frog sounds question, inquisitive mink, early hummingbird, big Shabbona walleye

Rare wild turkey sightings along lakefront come to a tragic end