Question Title

* 1. Evergreen trees are well known around the holidays, but can you tell them apart?  One easy way is to look at their needles.  Pine trees have needles that grow in clusters on the branch, and fir trees have needles that are attached individually to the branch.  Another way to check is to look at the cones, pine cones generally grow pointing towards the ground and fir cones grow pointing towards the sky.
Fir tree

Fun fact: evergreen "needles" are actually leaves!  They are short, spiky, and coated with a substance that helps them survive cold weather.

PDF, PNG, JPG, JPEG file types only.
Choose File

Question Title

* 2. Did you know that you can collect your own seeds from your garden to use next year?  Many flowers and vegetables contain seeds that you can collect and save in a cool, dry place.  For information on how to collect and store wildflower seeds, click here, and for information about vegetable seed collection, click here.

Please don't collect seeds on public lands, those are for nature.

Are there any plants or vegetables that you can collect seeds from?

Question Title

* 3. Maple trees are found all over Illinois.  They are easy to identify because of the shape of their leaves.  These trees are tapped in the fall and their sap is harvested to make maple syrup.

Maple leaves

Find a maple tree by you.  What color are the leaves?

Question Title

* 4. Oak trees are also a very common tree in the Chicagoland area.  These trees provide acorns for many animals who need them for the fall.  This includes woodpeckers, squirrels, raccoons, deer and foxes.
Oak leaf

PDF, PNG, JPG, JPEG file types only.
Choose File

Question Title

* 5. Eastern cottontail rabbits can be found almost everywhere in the suburbs. They are known for their cute noses and how quickly they bred.
Eastern cottontail
Fun facts:  a baby rabbit is actually called a kit, not a bunny.  They also build their nests in the ground, usually in grassy areas, so watch your step!

Take a walk and count how many rabbits you see.  Enter the number below.

Question Title

* 6. Raccoons are native to America, gaining their name from the Powhatan word aroughcun, which means animal that scratches with its hands.  They can be extremely clever and eat almost anything that's laying around.
Raccoon
Did you know?: Raccoons "masks" help them see?  The black fur absorbs the light around their eyes, just like the black under eye stickers athletes use.  

What time of day do you see raccoons the most?

Early morning Afternoon Late evening/night
Clear
i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

Question Title

* 7. Great blue heron are one of the largest bird in North America.  They are usually found near water and mostly eat fish.  
Great blue heron

Did you know?: Herons differ from cranes in the way they fly?  Heron's fly with their neck in an "S" shape and cranes fly with their necks sticking straight out.

Paul Douglas Preserve, Fabbrini Park, and Vogelei Park and Barn are all know for great blue heron spottings.  They are also seen on land and in the air around the Village Green.  

Have you seen a great blue heron in the last 4 weeks?

Question Title

* 8. Cardinals are the Illinois state bird. Their red color makes them easy to spot, especially for the males. The female is mostly brown, but has a red beak and some red on the tips or her head, tail and wing feathers.
Male and female cardinal
Bird feeders are a great way to see cardinals because they eat seeds.  

Fun fact: its very rare, but cardinals can also be yellow instead of red.  The color occurs when a rare genetic condition replaces the red pigment in their feathers with yellow.

If you have a feeder, count how many cardinals you see at your feeder in a day.

Question Title

* 9. Another water bird, Canada geese (yes, Canada, not Canadian) are found all year round in Illinois.  They do not migrate south in the winter as long as open water is still available for them.  Protection from hunting makes the suburbs a welcoming home for them.
Canada goose

PDF, PNG, JPG, JPEG file types only.
Choose File

Question Title

* 10. Having a hard time spotting Illinos' state animal, the white tailed deer?  That might be because they are crepuscular animals, which means they are active most at dawn and dusk.  
white tailed deer

Did you know?:  Deer have antlers, which they shed every year.  Horns are different because they continue to grow throughout the animal's lifetime and do not fall off.

PDF, PNG, JPG, JPEG file types only.
Choose File

Question Title

* 11. How can we contact you?

T