Chicago outdoors: City buck, shed antler, Indiana grouse, Montrose birds

A buck roaming the Northwest Side of Chicago. | Provided

Notes come from around Chicago outdoors.

BUCK OF THE WEEK: UNPLUGGED

Beside being ‘‘The Lakefront Lip,’’ Ken Schneider also notices wildlife, especially when a big buck is walking down his street on the Northwest Side. BOTW Unplugged, the celebration of live big bucks around Chicago outdoors, runs as apt in the special two-page outdoors section in the Sun-Times Sports Saturday. Send nominations to @BowmanOutside on Twitter or Instagram, to Dale Bowman on Facebook or email BowmanOutside@gmail.com.

WILD TIMES

HUNTER SAFETY

Feb. 15-16: New Lenox, tjstack@comcast.net.

Feb. 16 and Feb. 23: Waterman, asced3568ucationdept@gmail.com.

Feb. 22-23: Essex, (815) 458-3568.

PHEASANTS FOREVER

Saturday, Feb. 1: Lake County banquet, Maravela’s Catering & Banquets, Fox Lake. Contact Jordan Marcelain, (224) 381-1912.

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Friday, Jan. 31: Canada goose seasons end in the central, south-central and south zones.

SHOWTIME

Click here for the master list of shows, classes and seminars.

Through today, Jan. 26: Chicagoland Fishing, Travel & Outdoor Expo, Schaumburg Convention Center

EAGLE WATCHING

Today, Jan. 26: Final day, Starved Rock Bald Eagle Watch Weekend, bit.ly/2QNa2VR

MIDEWIN LECTURE SERIES

Wednesday, January 29: Gavin Van Horn, Director, Cultures of Conservation at the Center for Humans and Nature, ``Desire Lines: Daring to Follow Trickster Coyotes and Rambling Bison,’’ Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Welcome Center, Wilmington, begins 7 p.m., registration required at (815) 423-6370 or SM.FS.Midewin_RSVP@usda.gov.

DALE’S MAILBAG

A shed on a road in southwest Wisconsin.

‘‘Easiest shed ever encountered! . . . SW Wisconsin. Unglaciated paradise.’’ — Tom Owens on Twitter

A: He’s right on both counts: easiest shed antler ever and the unglaciated paradise of southwestern Wisconsin.

BIG NUMBER

1: Percent of ruffed grouse in Indiana, compared with populations in the 1980s. Ruffed grouse were just added to Indiana’s list of endangered bird species.

LAST WORD

‘‘2019 was a phenomenal year for birds and birding at Montrose Point in Chicago, both for migration and the number of rarities and vagrants seen. We also had a historic nesting record. I can’t remember a more exciting year, and I’ve been birding Montrose for over 40 years.’’

— Robert Hughes, who, besides the first successful nesting of piping plovers in more than 50 years, noted first-site records for ancient murrelet, Cassin’s kingbird, long-billed curlew, black vulture and barred owl. Click here for his master list of Montrose birds.