Brown snakes are also called Dekay’s brown snakes. Their scientific name is Storeria dekayi. The Storeria part of the name honors an...

Here’s a challenge for you today: Put on your nature detective hat to solve a mystery – the case of the much-maligned double-crested...

Newts are not just magical ingredients for witches’ brews. They are also the leading character in their own fairy tale. Each year, they...

When you think of owls, it is probably the great horned owl that you first think of. It is the owl most familiar to many people. Great...

American kestrels are common throughout the United States. They have bold color patterns that would make you think they would be hard to...

Woodpeckers are unique among birds for how they make their presence known. They have chisel-like bills that are perfect for their...

For many fish, winter is a time of rest. They head down into deep waters, slow their heart rates and eat far less often. Walleyes, on the...

A “hoooo, hoo, hoo” outside your window can be exciting to hear. An owl is nearby and making its presence known! Sometimes, though, those...

The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) is the only canid in America that climbs trees! A canid is a member of the animal family Canidae,...

It’s Groundhog Day, and that means it’s time for our annual celebration of groundhogs. Did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow and curse us...

Winter is a great time to get into bird watching and bird feeding. You can spend time exploring new places to hunt down that elusive owl...

Did you see a big, hairy spider crawling quickly across the ground? It was probably a wolf spider. Because they are big and hairy, wolf...

Winter is the best time to learn your birds! The leaves from the trees that block the view of birds flitting from branch to branch are...

What do you think of when you think of owls? Big birds that hoot into the night? That’s the common perception of owls, but there’s more...

Illinois is home of two weasel species, the long-tailed weasel and the least weasel. Both have long, slender bodies with short legs and...

Hooded mergansers are small ducks with yellow eyes and slender bills. Like most ducks, the males are much more colorful than the females...

Meet the animal that spends most of its life underground: the mole! We might think of the world below our feet as a dark, forbidding...

The white-footed mouse is common in Illinois and most of the eastern United States. Its scientific name, Peromyscus leucopus, is very...

If you see a small brown animal running across the ground, your first thought might be that it is a chipmunk. You might be right, but it...

Crows are recognizable as big, black, noisy birds. They have lots of interesting quirks, like eating basically anything, having the...