A Lake Michigan Calendar, Books Spotlighting Iconic Chicago Scenes and Destinations, and Nature Books to Fill Your Holiday Stockings

BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER & AUTHOR OF NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND If you’re looking for holiday stocking stuffers, consider the following nature- or Chicagoland-oriented calendar and books. My friend TED GLASOE, an environmental advocate and an award-winning nature photographer and a champion of protecting Lake Michigan, offers a 2021 calendar and photographic prints that feature breathtaking images of our …

Author Discusses the Joys of Dragonflies and Damselflies

BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER & AUTHOR OF NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND I love dragonflies. They’re beautiful, colorful, and diverse—and great for our area's ecosystems. Did you know that there are nearly 310 species of dragonflies in North America alone? Dragonflies are master aviators despite spending most of their lives as larvae in the water. Seeing a …

Goodbye 2019!…Hello 2020

BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER OF NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND I want to thank all my Nature in Chicagoland readers for visiting my blog in 2019. In nearly 35 blog posts and more than 59,000 words (I didn’t count them, so I’ll have to trust my data analytics software), I’ve covered everything from an adventurous trip down …

A Lake Michigan Calendar and Nature Books to Fill Your Holiday Stockings

If you're still looking for holiday stocking stuffers, consider the following nature-oriented calendar and books. My friend TED GLASOE, an environmental advocate and an award-winning nature photographer who loves Lake Michigan even more than I do, offers a 2020 calendar that features breathtaking images of our beautiful inland sea. You can purchase it at his website, and …

The 7 Most-Popular Stories at Nature in Chicagoland in April 2019

The terrible story of a boy who fell through the cracks, and what we can do to be better people A look at tallgrass prairies in Chicagoland and info on a new book The wildest nature spot in Cook County A story of three funeral directors (one of whom was my father) The remnants of …

Author Discusses the Joys of the Tallgrass Prairie

Willa Cather, one of my favorite authors, once described the Midwest (especially Nebraska) as a "Sea of Grass." But farms, miles of pavement, and cities and suburbs have replaced much of this vast ecosystem. This is especially true in Illinois, which is misleadingly known as the "Prairie State." Approximately 60 percent of Illinois, or about …