Tag: nature

A Very Eventful Day And Bats Monitoring

Yesterday was one of the record days in terms of the number of times the weather changed, and how much it took to an extreme. I had a nice early morning bike ride before work, then, it was a tornado warning during the day. Fortunately, it didn’t touch Rogers Park, but in the office, we were instructed to shelter in place, and it continued for 45 minutes. The rain was pouring, and it was very windy, and it was hard to believe it will get better any time soon.

Then, suddenly, things started to clear up, and by 4 PM, there were no traces of it. I was hoping I could go to the beach right after I get home, but for some reason, the beach alert ws not removed. The red flag was up, and a lifeguard was marching around the pier. I was extremely disappointed, but decided to repeat the attempt at 7 PM. The problem was that I also wanted to attend the Bat Monitoring event, which was scheduled for 7:30, so I had very little time. Still, I decided that something is better than mothing, and I didn’t regret it! Just half on hour was plenty to be thankful to the lake and the happy fact that I live so close to it!

The Bat Monitoring was another super-interesting thing. The presentation took place at the Loyola fieldhouse. Liza Lehrer, Assistant Director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo, gave an overview of the Urban Wildlife Institute’s bat research program and its key findings. I learned a lot! For start, I didn’t know we have bats right here, in Chicago! I didn’t know that they migrate, like birds, and that some of them hybernate in winter! And I didn’t know they are closer to humans than rodents.

The most exiting part was a live demo! It turned out, that there is a special equipment one can use to detect and record the bats that are flying around us! Also, there is a program which can autoamtically decode the sounds and identify the species, and also record the place were recording was made. The Lincoln Park Zoo people had two of these sets, and we had an opportunity to see them in action! It was surreal – I never ever thought that there are bats, and so many, right there, by the beach, where I walk almost every day.

If it wouldn’t be so late, I would stay longer!

Fort Sheridan And One More Thunderstorm

Since the time I first learned about Fort Sheriday Forest preserve, I try to visit it a couple times a year, and at least once in summer. I didn’t have a chance to go there this summer yet, and I wanted to make sure I sivit it before summer ends. Even in July, I knew I will have very few options, and this Sunday was “one before last one.’ Usually, I listed to my gut feeling very careflly, gaging whether I should or should not do something, but this time, I was not sure. I felt like I am trying to squizz in too many things, and the weather was not ideal, but then I thought that if I would give in and not go, I will regret it, so I decided to go even though I knew it will be a very short visit,

The prairie exceeded my expectations :). Because of so many rains we had this summer, it was in bloom like I never saw it! I walked on the trail with a smile on my face, and was quitely saying hello to all my wild friends.

Continue reading “Fort Sheridan And One More Thunderstorm” →

Traveling

A very short trip to Helsinki. Left lots of loose ends in Chicago, in the office, and otherwise, and trying to take care of at least some of them remotely.

My flight was on Friday evening, and I decided to take the L to the airport, thinking that at least the travel time would be predictable and I could do some work on the train. Didn’t exactly work as planned, since I had a medium-sized luggage which was rolling around all the time, and I had to hold it, and a Blue Line train moved as if it was a race car, but I made it to ORD, and even had a relaxing hour in the LOT lounge (that’s where Finnair is sending their eligible members these days).

It was nice to see the welcoming screen 🙂

I have been in Finland for three days, and I did a lot of biking, met with friends, attended an organ concert, and worked from my favorite coworking space. Some clothes shopping. A lot of time with Boris. Sleeping for 7 hours a night (I will be back to six tonight, most likely, but the first two days are like that).

When we biked to Natasha’s place on Saturday evening, we passed multiple green areas with lots of wild flowers everywhere. All the flowers were the ones I saw in the countryside when I was a child, everywhere I ever spent my summers. If there is anything from my childhood I am nostalgic about, it is nature in the places where it was almost untouched by civilization: meadows, strawberry patches, wild blueberries, and lingonberries; high pines, ferns, and horsetails. And this soft light-green grass, which is surprisingly different from the prairie grass, and I never thought about it until the first time I came back from the prairies to the European North. And that might be the main reason I would always want to come back to Finland 🙂

New CAC Exhibit: Flyway City

Wednesday was the opening day of this exhibit, and I had a member preview ticket. I figured the exhibit wouldn’t be that large, and I could probably go there around my lunchtime. That worked well!

The exhibit was very informative. I was shocked to learn how many birds die every year during migration because the collide with the building glass! The exhibit provides valuable suggestions on what each homeowner can do to make it safer to igratory birds – I will definitely try not to leave the lights on when it’s not necessary!

And a literal “cherry on top” – Fannie May now serves gelato with all their signature creations!

Mindfulness In Nature: Spring

On Saturday, I attended a meditation session organized by the Nature volunteers group. I attended a similar session last year, and I liked the experience and the instructor. As last time, we gathered by the Leone Beach clubhouse, observed the lake, and recalled our previous interactions with nature. We shared our stories, and then we walked in the Nature Area, paying attention to the signs of awakening nature, and then gathered together again to share our thoughts and observations.

With the weather being like it was for the previous month, I was surprised to see that many flowers were blooming! In early spring, I always notice new bright green coming out of the dry brown patches of the previous season grass. Life goes on :).

Signs Of Spring

1.

I saw people at all the beaches last Sunday while my mom and I were in an Uber on our way to the CSO concert. Not only were each beach we passed filled with people, but I swear that each piece of concrete which was close enough to the lake had at least one person sitting on it :).

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go to the beach on Sunday, but on Monday, when I was walking from my mom’s house to my house, I stopped at Loyola Leone beach and touched the water for the first time this season 🙂

2.

Everything is on bloom along the Lakefront Trial

3.

Peach blossoms delivered with my CSA box

4.

Also, today was Earth Day. Last year, the weather on this day was very gloomy and wet, and also, it was too close to the conference, so I ended up not doing any community cleanup. This year, I saw a workday at the Leone Beach Nature Area. Sensing that it might be one of the very few opportunities for me to do something nature-related, I signed up.

We put new mulch over the pedestrian paths. I didn’t have time to take a picture while we were working, but I took one when I walked to my mom’s house later today.

The Lake In Winter

There have been a couple of sunny days since I came back, and although I am mostly working all day long, I had a couple of opportunities to walk on the winter beach and say hello to the Lake!

Nature In The City

I went for a bird-watching session for the first time in my life! The only reason I could do it was that I was leaving for Finland today and therefore didn’t have my usual gigantic list of Saturday activities. And also, it was just a five-minute walk from my house.

I actually learned something! I was able to spot a bird at least four times! Obviously, it would take me forever to memorize the local birds, and I will never be able to identify dozens of species at first glance as our guide Scott can, but still – I got it! I actually got a feeling of how to follow a bird and to direct your binoculars right there!

The birds I was able to spot (all pictures are from the internet, of course!)

Pine Warbler
Yellow warbler
Starling
Flicker
Brown thrasher

I am sure I won’t be able to identify them by myself, except possibly the yellow warbler and the starling – it was able to spot them several times, but as I said, it was a new experience, and I enjoyed it!

Weekend With Lena

Lena finally made it to Chicago – in September instead of July, and it turned sharply cold, and we could not go to the beach. Still, our interests are so much aligned that we made it an absolutely perfect weekend.

Lena arrived on Friday evening and met with her Chicago-based coworkers. We chatted for a bit before and drafted the plan of activities.

Saturday was chilly, and since Lena uses each of her Chicago visits as an occasion to dress nicely, and I am happy to join her, we ended up being dressed not precisely to the weather, and were moderately cold most of the time :).

We started the day in the Field Museum, and I was able to properly see all the exhibits (and the recent updates to the “Evolving Planet,” which Lena didn’t see yet).

Continue reading “Weekend With Lena” →

Fort Sheridan

To continue the topic of the beach-going: the best thing about my current location is that the lake (and the beach) are a ten-minute walk away, and I can go there any time I want, and if I only have thirty minutes, I still go. I love that “the lakefront is Rogers Park backyard.” Once again, you can live in a mansion, or you can be unhoused and live in a tent – the lake is for everyone. With all of this being said (and appreciated), sometimes, a “backyard” analogy is a little bit too direct.

As I mentioned, there was hardly any space anywhere around the beach on Friday, and I thought that my vague idea of going to Fort Sheridan on Saturday is not so bad, because I could also swim at the place where swimming is strictly prohibited. I was looking at the train schedule and going back and forth with this idea, and saying to myself that with all of the amont of work-non-work I have, I absolutely can’t afford to waste half a day; and in any case, I have a beach ten minutes away, and I wanted to go for a long bike ride… But I already figure out the only combination of trains both way that would work for me, and even though I went for a long bike ride, the idea was still there. Then I funny thing happened: I thought that I am still deciding, and realized that I am already packing my backpack for a trip!

If was an amazing outing! It was cooler there than in Rogers Park; the water in that part of the lake was also a little bit cooler, and insanely clear… and there were less than ten people as far as I could see!

Continue reading “Fort Sheridan” →