Chicago outdoors: Deciphering a woolly bear, an Indiana pelican, culture and nature, Wisconsin wolves

An American white pelican, a rare sight in the English Lake area of the Kankakee River in Indiana. | Joe LaMonica

Notes come from around Chicago outdoors.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Joe LaMonica photographed this American white pelican, first he saw in the English Lake area of the Kankakee River in Indiana.

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

HUNTER SAFETY

Oct. 30-31: Elgin, hsmagno48@gmail.com. . . Morris, click here to register and for info

FISH GATHERINGS

Tuesday, Oct. 12: Capt. Andy Schiera on tips/tactics for Lady of the Lake Tournament, Chicagoland Muskie Hunters chapter of Muskies, Inc., North Branch Pizza & Burger Co., Glenview, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 12: Salmon Unlimited, Thornwood Restaurant & Lounge, Wood Dale, 7 p.m., salmonunlimitedinc.com

Wednesday, Oct. 13: Capt. Andy Schiera, Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies, Inc., Schaumburg Golf Club, 7 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 14: Robert Bobich, “Pond Fishing Fun Tips & Tricks to Catching More Fish,” Riverside Fishing Club, LaGrange American Legion, 6:30 p.m.

TOUR

Saturday, Oct. 16: DuPage Forest Preserve District holds rare public tour of its Urban Stream Research Center at Blackwell Forest Preserve, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (tours leave every 30 minutes), all ages (under 18 must be with an adult), $5 per person, click here to register at or call (630) 933-7248.

NIGHT FISHING

Wednesday, Oct. 13: “Fishing in the Dark,” Rock Run Rookery, shoreline fishing after dark, 6-8 p.m. , must preregister at apm.activecommunities.com/fpdwc/Activity_Search/fishing-in-the-dark/7837 or call (815) 727-8700.

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Saturday, Oct. 16: Woodcock hunting opens

Saturday, Oct. 16, to Oct. 17: Youth waterfowl, north zone

Saturday, Oct. 16: Fall trout season opens statewide. Click here for statewide details.

DALE’S MAILBAG

An October woolly bear in the western suburbs.

A: Jeff Norris texted the first photograph of a woolly bear on Monday. It looks middle of the road for prognosticating the winter. I will, half seriously, analyze other woolly bears in coming days.

BIG NUMBER

130: Statewide quota for the 2021 wolf season in Wisconsin, 74 by state-licensed hunters and trappers, 56 by Ojibwe Tribes’ treaty right within the Ceded Territory.

LAST WORD

“Our understanding of nature has been profoundly shaped by our culture, our social norms, and our collective decisions about who gets to be a scientist at all. And our relationship with nature—whether we succumb to it, whether we learn from it, whether we can save it—depends on our collective decisions too. “

Ed Yong, from his introduction to “The Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2021,” excerpted in The Atlantic