Chicago outdoors: Swallowtail bits, flea market trolley lines, Michigan record king, loving ‘Home Waters’

Notes come around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Dan Davies was in his backyard in Griffith, Ind., watering when he saw a butterfly that made him email, “I’ve never seen one that colorful.” Michael Jeffords, entomologist for the Illinois Natural History Survey and one author of “Butterflies of Illinois: A Field Guide,” identified it as a yellow morph of a female eastern tiger swallowtail. Then he added, “They also come in black that is a mimic of the pipeline swallowtail. All tiger swallowtail males are yellow, but [there are] different morphs of the female varies, depending on location. Yellow are more common in the northern part of it’s range.”

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

Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 18-19: Kankakee, (815) 935-2700

Thursday and next Saturday, Aug. 19 and 21: Mundelein, (847) 918-6145

Friday-next Saturday, Aug. 20-21: Ingleside, shawnfrey33@gmail.com

Aug. 28-29: Palatine, palatineparks.org

FISH GATHERING

Thursday, Aug. 19: Dale Bowman on “Pandemic changes,” Fish Tales Fishing Club, Worth Township offices, Alsip, 7 p.m., fishtalesfishingclub.com

LUNCHTIME LECTURES

Monday, Aug. 16: Austin Happel, a research biologist at the Shedd Aquarium, Bridgehouse Museum on Chicago Riverwalk, free, noon-12:45 p.m., bridgehousemuseum.org/events

SAFARI CLUB

Through Sunday, Aug. 15: Online auction for Safari Club International Illinois and Chicago chapters, 2021-on-line-fundraiser

CONSERVATION WORLD

Through Aug. 22: Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., www2.illinois.gov/dnr/ConservationWorld/

U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY

Next Saturday, Aug. 21: Boat America, Waukegan, Curt Schumacher, curts402@aol.com

ILLINOIS PERMITS

Through Monday, Aug. 16: Applications, third lottery, firearm/muzzleloader deer

Monday, Aug. 16 to Aug. 31: Applications, first lottery, duck/goose blinds, www2.illinois.gov/dnr/hunting/waterfowl/Pages/OnlinePermitApplication.aspx

Aug. 31: Deadline, applications for free upland game permit

DALE’S MAILBAG

Ron Wozny

“From one guy at the flea yesterday eight trolley rigs. . . . Allstate [Arena] parking lot, every Sunday a.m. You would find tons of stuff you don’t really need but can’t live without.” Ron Wozny

A: Wozny proving why he is one of the great collectors of Chicago fishing memorabilia with a great find. Just another reason we need that Chicago Fishing Museum.

BIG NUMBER

47.86: Official weight of the Michigan state-record Chinook, caught Aug. 7 by Luis Ricardo Hernandez Martinez while trolling with Capt. Bobby Sullivan of Icebreaker Charters.

Provided by the Michigan DNR

LAST WORD

“I just finished `Home Waters.’ It was a great as advertised (apparently writing talent is an inheritable trait). I had to limit myself to no more than two chapters/day in order to avoid racing through it.”

Pete Lamar, describing the joy of reading “Home Waters,” by John Maclean, who is the son of Norman Maclean, author “A River Runs Through I.t” Click here for my review of it.