The pandemic year outdoors delivered some unexpectedly good consequences around the Chicago area

Warren Jones, Ph.D, professor emeritus of biology at Loyola, sent tales of the big bucks near LaBagh Woods on the North Side. | Provided

Big bucks visit the backyard of Warren Jones on the Northwest Side near LaBagh Woods.

“They’ve also broken several bedroom windows over the years, taking exception to their own reflection,” emailed Jones, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biology at Loyola.

“Exception to their own reflection” seems like a perfect lead-in to looking back on 2020 in the outdoors around Chicago.

Obviously, the pandemic was/is the most significant impact, but I will focus on the tangential impacts of the pandemic.

Two things most struck me: People are paying serious attention to what wanders their backyards and neighborhoods; and numbers back up a big return to the traditional outdoor pursuits of hunting and fishing.

A hen turkey graced South Shore Cultural Center Park in October.

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Increased interest in neighborhood/backyard wildlife most interests me, in part because feeling a connection is the first step in conservation. I also think an increased interest in nearby wildlife may last after the pandemic is beaten back.

Because of the isolation and stay-at-home focus, people noticed the red foxes roaming their backyards; documented an apparent increase in white squirrels around the South Side and south suburbs (look out Olney); saw the deer coming by; marveled at the bald eagles around the city and suburbs; and noticed the spread of turkeys into even Chicago proper, most recently a hen wandering near South Shore Cultural Center Park in October.

Personally, it was noticing the coyote tracks between our house and the neighbor’s in the snow during the first lockdown. Then weeks later, more brightly, watching the orioles drawn to our hummingbird feeder, strongly enough that I set up my first oriole feeder with cheap grape jelly and oranges.

One of the Baltimore orioles that came first to the hummingbird feeder, then an impromptu feeder of oranges and grape jelly.

On the historic level, John Weisgerber found a great kiskadee, believed an Illinois-first, on Dec. 2, drawing birders by the dozens to Minooka.

Also Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area southeast of Valparaiso, Ind. drew great numbers of visitors and sandhill cranes alike. While attendance records are impossible to keep, I suspect it could be a record. The sandhills set an informal record with three consecutive counts among the top 15 all time: 25,092 on Nov. 24; 30,701, Dec. 1; 26,533, Dec. 8.

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Numbers back up a huge jump in sale of fishing licenses, putting some data to the spike in fishing many of us in the outdoors noticed. Using the numbers from March 1 to Nov. 30, Illinois saw a jump in sale of fishing licenses of more than 86,000 compared from the same dates in 2019, according to Rachel Torbert, deputy director for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

With the increased fishing effort and interest, I thought we might see lots of state record fish. Not quite.

It wasn’t until Aug. 13 when Austin White caught the spotted gar record (8.4 pounds) from Kidd Lake Canal, an agricultural drainage in Monroe County. Interestingly, he was targeting bowfin.

Then came two Illinois-record burbot from around Diversey Harbor on the Chicago lakefront within less than a month.

Saro Kevorkian, 34, of Rogers Park, caught the Illinois-record burbot (11.78 pounds) on Dec. 7. By 2 pounds, 2 ounces, it crushed the previous record (9.68 pounds), caught Nov. 18 by Luc van Brenk.

Illinois-record burbot, caught by Saro Kevorkian Dec. 7 around Diversey Harbor, was the second state-record burbot caught this fall on the Chicago lakefront.

It wasn’t just fishing that spiked. Archery applications in Illinois increased in 2020 from 2019 (March 1 to Nov. 30) by 10.5 percent; firearm applications increased by about 2 percent, emailed Torbert.

One hunting story is not finished, but Illinois is on track for another record deer harvest by bowhunters, something I suspect at least partially attributable to the pandemic.

A white squirrel spotted at George W. Dunne National Golf Club was one of many white squirrels reported this year around the South Side and south suburbs.