Fungus, Feathers, and Foliage

09/07/2026

The day is beautiful. We still have several hours of daylight. If you're not doing anything, here's your sign to go look at some flowers out there. We only get them for so long and then comes The Long Dark Grumptime Of The Soul 🥲

Cut State Park

09/04/2026

I know people are more interested in truly colorful insects, and if we're talking moths specifically, beauties like the cecropia and io.

I'd love to change your mind about "just them little brown dudes" too, though.

Just 3 little brown dudes I found while seed collecting at Sugar River Alder Forest Preserve today - the triangle-backed pelochrista moth, what I think is likely a clover looper moth, and the celery looper moth.

The first looks a tiny bit large-headed for a moth, but it brings a fancy cape with a couple of bold markings, the uppermost of which gives it the common name.

The second one is a little harder for me to nail down, because while the two-three dark dots near the tip of each wing are indicative of clover looper, I haven't seen a specimen online yet that has that absolutely gorgeous zigzag pattern seen on this one. For some reason it's giving me Old Forest Spirit Wearing A Cloak vibes.

The last one? Look how cool 😍 it's almost like the shape of a wicked blade in a fantasy game.

I just want people to love the little browns too 😅

09/03/2026

👀 I found something very nice to see at one of our Forest Preserves of Winnebago County

It had just rained (because it's not my luck if I'm not getting tricked by the weather), so please pardon the just-out-of-the-shower wet look!

09/02/2026

I think the newest Forest Preserve in Winnebago County - Paula Swanson FP - is a pretty special little spot. See what buzzed me last time I was there? It's great at hiding.

09/01/2026

I lived in a place that wasn't Illinois for a while, and I discovered something about myself - while I can appreciate a good mountain or large hill for its majesty, I missed waking up to very early mornings like these, and the sun went away too early. It's a little weird to feel like you're too late to the sunrise or you got fed night-time too soon because a big ol' mass of land was in the way of a perfectly reasonable amount of light.

We're the 7th or 8th flattest state depending on where you look, and, I dunno, I find comfort in my horizons.

09/01/2026

Just wanted to boost this - while I've had photos in the last few, I absolutely love seeing photos from people who haven't had a chance to be featured. We have so. Many. Forest preserves. And I know we are drowning in nature lovers, and people who would be nature lovers if they took those first few steps into a preserve.

Now is a great time to try to snag a few photos of migrating birds especially!

Please, please make sure your photos are from one of the 45(!) Forest Preserves of Winnebago County. No yard photos, no state park photos, no other counties. We have enough cool stuff to be getting on with in the FPWC.

One thing I'd recommend, if you're newer to photography - phone photos are great for online, but these photos print out pretty large, so often, phone cameras won't cut it. Plus so many phones use AI to fill in areas so the photos look funky blown up. Look into rentals if you're not ready to buy - it's an awesome kick in the 🍑 to get into a new hobby.

📢 It's that time of year again! 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟕 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫! To be considered, photos must be taken on FPWC property and must have a minimum dpi of 200.

📩 Photographs can be submitted by email to [email protected]. For photos with too large of a file size to email, please contact us for a submission link.

08/31/2026

I've been challenged this year to try to learn more about ants. It can be a little overwhelming, because there are a ton of species, and - gotta be honest - to a pleb, they all seem very similar.

It's cool to be proven wrong. In my own back yard, even.

08/30/2026

"DoN'T tOuCh FUzZy CAtERpILLarS, they'll STING YOU" - just about every ID post on Facebook
Meanwhile, here comes this guy, rappelling directly at my eye while I'm trying to mind my own business.

Not to worry, I spend most of my life wearing sunglasses because the sun also harms me like it's personal, so it bounced off harmlessly (though I definitely flinched like I didn't have eye protection), but this little tussock moth caterpillar probably wouldn't have done as much damage as some of the other spiky caterpillars could. While tussock moth cats might leave a small bit of their hair in your skin like a fiberglass fiber, it might just be a bit itchy for a while. They're called urticating hairs. The mechanism is also found on stinging nettle.

More like HURTicating, eh? Ehhhhh?

Now, if it was something like an io moth, saddleback, or hag, you'd be dealing with venom and a much worse time.

Especially in the eye.

Just kind of, like, leave caterpillars alone, man.

Some caterpillars use threads like these to escape danger, find a better food source, or just spread out away from others of its own kind shortly after hatching. It's not fun having to share a leaf with 200 of your siblings.
[Kishwaukee Gorge North FP]

PS the longer black tufts are called hair pencils, an old term for little fine paintbrushes, so that's pretty cute.

08/28/2026

As I spend more time outside, I find interest even in "common" things I previously passed by without thought. These fronds stood out to me at the newest Winnebago County Forest Preserve. I know I've walked past them before, but they just hit me as interesting this day. So a photo and an ID later, a little internet searching, and I've learned a little about:

Smooth witchgrass, aka
Fall panicgrass, aka
Autumn millet, aka
Autumn panicgrass
Panicum dichotomiflorum.

It likes warm weather, likes disturbed soils (so seeing this growing along a cornfield was not surprising), and is native here, providing a food source for lake birds, game birds, song birds, AND deer. It's doing a lot of work!

Despite one of the common names, the genus name Panicum has nothing to do with freaking out, but from the Latin word for bread, panis. The seeds of the common millet plant, another in the genus, have long been ground into flour for bread.

Some sources I pulled up want to say that the "witchgrass" name comes from a broom-like or even creepy, tangly hair-like look as the plant starts sprouting, but it's more likely etymological in nature - botanists say that the word "witch" can be a fudging of the word "quitch" or "twitch" - which were applied to grasses that spread quickly.

So, yeah
I just talked about grass for paragraphs
This is my hobby now

08/27/2026

Apparently cicadas have interlocking parts, which helps them complete the deed when mating.

This is fine and good if they stay on a branch up in a tree where I can't see them.

It's a little more intimidating when they get blown off the branch they were on and fall, helicoptering awkwardly together at my head, screaming the entire way.

Fortunately, the screams helped me step out of the way in time so I didn't get hit with... bugs in the act of duplication.

You go, you little ex**********ts.