Chicago outdoors: Backyard red fox, suburban bald eagle, Christmas Bird Count, Theodore Roosevelt

A backyard red fox around Chicago outdoors. | Provided by Kevin lavergne

Notes come from all around Chicago outdoors.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Kevin Lavergne apparently knows that red foxes are my favorite mammal. He sent several photos of a red fox four blocks from Schiller Woods on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

WOTW, the celebration of wild stories and photos around Chicago outdoors, runs most weeks in the special two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Saturday. To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).

WILD TIMES

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Today, Dec. 20: Snipe season ends

Tuesday, Dec. 22: Duck season, central zone, ends

Saturday, Dec. 26: Second dove season opens

DALE’S MAILBAG

“My wife and I were driving south on Naper Boulevard just south of Butterfield Road and saw a bald eagle [this month]. I almost wrecked my car. I couldn’t believe it. The bird was huge. This is by Herrick Lake Forest Preserve so I guess he/she hangs out there.” Rick Kyle

A: I find the appearances of bald eagles, even to the point of nesting, around the suburbs and Chicago proper over the last decade one of the most gratifying stories of modern conservation. And I am glad people still find awe in it.

BIG NUMBER

121st: Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, longest-running wildlife census in the world, began Monday, Dec. 14. Click here for details from Audubon.

LAST WORD

“We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.”

Theodore Roosevelt, whose quote is used as a donation pitch by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (trcp.org)

FILE—President Theodore Roosevelt, outdoorsman and naturalist as seen in this 1903 portrait, may have been the last American to see and recognize a flock of passenger pigeons in the wild. First Lady Edith Roosevelt bought, remodeled and named Pine Knot for the President. (AP Photo/Theodore Roosevelt Association)

FILE—President Theodore Roosevelt, outdoorsman and naturalist as seen in this 1903 portrait, may have been the last American to see and recognize a flock of passenger pigeons in the wild. First Lady Edith Roosevelt bought, remodeled and named Pine Knot for the President. (AP Photo/Theodore Roosevelt Association)