Chicago outdoors: Black red fox in Lockport, butterfly close-ups in Villa Park
Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.
WILD THINGS
Dan Grabon sent photos of a black fox kit from his daughter who lives in Lockport. He said both parents are regular red foxes and it was one of four kits. Black (or dark silver) is a very rare morph in red foxes.
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), Instagram (@BowmanOutside). or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).
DALE'S MAILBAG
"The black swallowtail and the red admiral are on . . . purple coneflower. A neat feature on my iPhone is that it can identify both butterflies using Visual Look Up." Tony Davies, Villa Park
A: Nice shots. I double-checked to see what my Seek app (the country cousin of iNaturalist) had and it matched.
WILD TIMES
PHEASANTS FOREVER
Saturday, July 13: Tallgrass Introduction to Shotgun Shooting, Palos Sportsman’s Club, Frankfort, https://pfqf.myeventscenter.com/event/Tallgrass-Introduction-To-Shotgun-Shooting-92038
ILLINOIS PERMITS
Thursday, July 11-Aug. 16: Third lottery, deer firearm & muzzleloader
Through July 20: Second lottery, site-specific dove permits
HUNTER SAFETY
Aug. 8 & 10: Mundelein, arodkey@countrysidefire.com
Aug. 24-25: Morris, (815) 941-1366
Full state listing is at dnr2.illinois.gov/SafetyEd/SafetyEdClassByCounty
HALL OF FAME
July 15: Deadline, nominations for 2024 class of Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame, details at ilconservation.org/Who-We-Are/Outdoor-Hall-of-Fame
WINGSHOOTING
Aug. 17 or 18: Introductory days, Shabbona Lake SRA, rakcarlson@comcast.net or (815) 757-2949