abderholden
No Excuses weekend is coming up next weekend
OUTDOORS: Time to just let it happen, no excuses, take the kids and find some water at the Forest Preserve, the big Lake Michigan, the always popular Chain O’ Lakes or one of the many private lakes with resorts that let you fish from the pier and go fishing.
High School Sports
IHSA governs preseason football practice
Fishing conditions on Chain are picture perfect
OUTDOORS: Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words. Meet John Hartl, presumably dressed for success as the Creature From the Black Lagoon, who is shown standing outside his C.J. Smith Resort on Grass Lake Road in Antioch during a floods a few weeks ago.
There’s no excuse for staying indoors this weekend
OUTDOORS: So, you feel like you need to get out and go somewhere. How about the native plant sale this weekend at Independence Grove Forest Preserve on Route 137 in Libertyville, where what you plant can actually help those winged travelers.
Funding needed for movie about passenger pigeons
Conservationists are flocking together to bring the world a unique history of a flock of birds that became extinct in North America 99 years ago: the Passenger Pigeon.
Local scouts ready campgrounds at state park
Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers and Sea Scouts, which are for older and even more adventurous youths, all gathered near Zion at Illinois Beach State Park for the second year in a row to help out one of the state’s most visited parks.
White pelicans feel right at home on Chain O’ Lakes
If the Beach Boys had been birders, they may have sung “good, good, good, good migration” because of all the good vibrations this season’s migration is giving us as it finally starts to warm up.
Eagle joins gulls on Lake Marie
So there I am about a week ago, feeling a little blue while covering a senseless murder/suicide in Antioch Township, and I went into the nearby Sandbar Bar & Grille on Douglas Road on Lake Marie to write the story. Lunch, e-mails and updates, and after a few hours I had turned in everything I knew for the story and I was waiting for the editors to set me free for the day and I went outside for a break.
Monarch population is continuing to dwindle
The Lake-to-Prairie Wild Ones got snowed out the last time they tried to hold this program at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, so it’s nice to see they were able to reschedule Pat Miller, monarch watch conservation specialist for Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2 at the Fremont Public Library, 1170 N. Midlothian Road, Mundelein.
Disease threatens bat population in Illinois
OUTDOORS: The Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced that the dreaded White-Nose Syndrome has been confirmed in four counties: LaSalle County in north-central Illinois, Monroe County in southwestern Illinois, and Hardin and Pope Counties in extreme southern Illinois.
Bird of prey will swoop down and steal your heart
OUTDOORS: I was on my way to Antioch on Route 173 this week when a red-tailed hawk swooped across the roadway, grasped its talons into the grass without landing, grabbed a mouse or a vole (and a clump of grass) and flew back up without getting hit by traffic.
Landing a huge muskie about as good as it gets
OUTDOORS: How fun would it be to have a giant muskie to show off after catching it on the Chain O’ Lakes or Fox River? Ryan Stochl of Fox Lake landed a big one back in 2011. His was a 50.75-inch muskie, with a girth of 23 inches.
Ducks Unlimited banquet is Friday in Fox Lake
OUTDOORS: The Chain O’ Lakes Chapter of Ducks Unlimited in Fox Lake will host its 30th annual Membership Banquet at Maravela’s Banquet Hall in Fox Lake at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
No generation gap when it comes to fishing
OUTDOORS: The father-and-son team Steve and Dyllan Herrington of Ingleside did it again. People are going to start following these two to their spot near Pistakee Lake where they keep hauling in huge catfish that have won the last three ice-fishing derbies held by the Northern Illinois Conservation Club.
Bald eagle spotted at Independence Grove
OUTDOORS: The annual Christmas bird count in Lake County went, well with a bald eagle sighted at Lake County Forest Preserve’s Independence Grove in Libertyville and a tiny (size of a robin) northern saw-whet owl seen at Bowen Park in Waukegan on Jan. 1.
In Lake County, finding shrimp is a big deal
OUTDOORS: I like to keep an eye out for news about new species being discovered, or species being discovered where they used to be but had disappeared usually because of mankind’s actions, then make a comeback. WildlifeExtra.com is one with lots of news on Africa and around the world.
Coyote sighting hits a little too close to home
OUTDOORS: Got a closeup view of a very healthy coyote in my neighbor’s backyard, just a few blocks from Milwaukee Avenue and Route 176 in Libertyville. Tried to get a picture, but the camera wouldn’t focus and actually died right after I snapped a fuzzy photo.
