Two photographers from Batavia and one from Sugar Grove recently were honored as the top three finishers in Cantigny Park's annual Cantigny in Focus amateur photo contest. The winners were selected by visitors to the park. The winners are: First p...

Bird names can be misleading as most of us know. Case in point, the red-bellied woodpecker, whose pinkish underparts are one of its least conspicuous field marks. Or the Nashville warbler, a species that not only doesn't live in its namesake city b...

Cantigny Golf will sponsor the first Cantigny Golf Show from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, at 27W270 Mack Road, Wheaton. The show will be the first opportunity of the year for area golfers to sample the new 2012 equipment lines from major clu...

Most of us jump at the opportunity to see a species for the first time, especially if it's a bird uncommon to our region. The key is knowing the what, when and where. My last column referred to the online community known as IBET, which stands for I...

Lt. Col. Pat Proctor, an active-duty officer, will discuss his new book, “Task Force Patriot and the End of Combat Operations in Iraq” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, at the First Division Museum in Cantigny Park, 1S151 Winfield Road, Wheaton. ...

When Jeff Reiter leads the Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, Dec. 17, at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, chances are the 20 or so participants will record sightings of birds they’ve seen before. But you never know. Reiter, who leads monthly bird walks at ...

This year began ominously when thousands of blackbirds dropped dead out of the sky in Arkansas. Remember that? A few days later, in Louisiana, it happened again. Thankfully, it was not a nationwide trend and avian conditions soon returned to normal....

Well, that was fast. “The Big Year” came and went like a fall warbler in a hurry to go south. It didn’t hang around very long because box office duds never do. I liked the movie, did you? “The Big Year” wasn’t the only thing birdy about October. For...