Enjoy spring on local nature trails
After a long and bitter winter, there's nothing like enjoying the new life of spring. The season's fleeting beauty won't last long, but you can make the most of it by stretching your legs and taking in the scenery at a local hiking trail.
Crabtree Nature Center3 Stover Road, Barrington, (847) 381-6592; fpdcc.comHours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. dailyPrice: Free
Since the first months of spring were so cold, this May will see a very concentrated flowering season as plants try to play catch up.
#8220;People come out for a walk and to see the flowers and relax, but the flowers aren't relaxing,#8221; said naturalist Sue Dombro. #8220;The minute the snow disappears they start sending up these shoots and they have to produce their leaves, flowers and seeds and go back in the ground within two months.#8221;
Crabtree has three trails ranging from a half mile to three miles that pass through a mix of woodlands, marsh and prairie. Wildflowers are concentrated in the woodland areas, while you'll see the prairie blooming in late May. Spring also brings out plenty of animals. You'll hear toads and leopard frogs singing and can spot herons, white egrets and bluebirds. Tree swallows nest over the lake and you can see the bright blue males skimming the water catching insects.
Chicago Botanic Garden1000 Lake-Cook Road, Glencoe, (847) 835-5440; chicago-botanic.orgHours: 8 a.m. to sunset dailyPrice: Free
The trail at Chicago Botanic Garden's 100-acre McDonald Woods shows off flowering grasslike sedges, blooming shrubs and spring ephemerals. In May, you're likely to see the white-to-pink flowers on wild plums, white and yellow lilies, greenish Jack-in-the-pulpits and glossy yellow buttercups. The garden also has plenty of unusual plants, such as skunk cabbage, whose bizarrely shaped flowers produce their own warmth, and false mermaids, which form a carpet in the woods made of hundreds of thousands of the tiny green plants.
Many of the blooms are pollinated by bees, so you can spot the insects hard at work. May also brings out deer, chipmunks and migrant songbirds returning from their winters in Central and South America.
#8220;You can have days, if the weather is right, that you have hundreds of warblers and flycatchers in the trees singing,#8221; said senior ecologist Jim Steffen.
Morton Arboretum4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle, (630) 968-0074; mortonarb.orgHours: 7 a.m. to sunset dailyPrice: $11, $10 for seniors, $8 for kids ages 2-17, free for kids under age 2
The Morton Arboretum is filled with color in mid-May. Visitors can expect to see white and pink crabapples, white, pink and violet lilacs, pink-to-white weigela, yellow barberry and rhododendrons in white, lavender, dark purple, yellow and orange.
#8220;May is sort of the transition month going from spring wildflowers and spring blooms into summer,#8221; said Ed Hedborn, manager of plant records.
The flowers attract insects, which in turn bring out bats and birds. Mid-May is nesting season, so you might spot robins, cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks, great blue herons and a wide variety of song birds. The arboretum also offers night hikes where you'll have the opportunity to look and listen for great horned and screech owls.
Volo Bog28478 W. Bradenburg Road, Ingleside, (815) 344-1294; dnr.state.il.usHours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. dailyPrice: Free
Volo Bog features a three-mile trail that starts and ends at the same spot, taking visitors through wetland, marsh, woodland and prairie ecosystems. The walk includes views of woodland flowers, mature oak and hickory trees, leafing shrubs and floating moss.
You can also spot wildlife including egrets, herons, cranes, ducks, white-tailed deer, squirrels and frogs providing music in the bog.
#8220;Everything's starting to come alive in May,#8221; said site superintendent Greg Kelly. #8220;We're a little behind because of the weather we've been having.#8221;