The season wrap-up for Illinois bobcats, a question on red-tailed hawks along interstates, crying for the planet, and an Iceland gull photograph are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
Six whooping cranes in Kankakee County, a note from the late Dan Gapen, a "crazy person" (me) asking ice on the Chain and a sequence of the lunar eclipse are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors.
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.
Sondra Katzen
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 toward
Chris Strahlman, uscgachicago@gmail.com . . . Fox Lake,
ILLINOIS PERMITS/SEASONS
Friday, April 16, to April 23: Third season, south . . .
Monday, April 12, to Friday, April 16: First season, north
CLEANUP
Next Saturday, April 17: Busse Woods Litter Obliteration, meet at boating center, bring own garbage bags and gloves, 9 a.m.
BIG NUMBER
6,354: Steelhead through the St. Joseph River in Indiana in March, a record since the Indiana DNR switched to a video software capture in 2008, according to Lake Michigan biologist
Ben Dickinson.
LAST WORD
“I remember back in the day, not sure on the year, catching smelt while in a snow squall. But when they were running, caught and in the bucket, the smelt smelled like cucumbers.”