SCHWEET! MUSIC

Dear Editor:

About monk parakeets: these birds helped make my move to Hyde Park in Chicago from southern Arizona easier a few years ago. They are terrific to watch.

I love their squawks. I have some pictures of them at my feeder during that gigantic snowstorm a couple years back.

We don't live in Hyde Park anymore, but we used to get oodles of birds in general at our feeder. We had so many, though, that I finally had to limit my feeder to an upside-down thistle-seed type.

Well, this deterred the monk parakeets not one bit. Instead of feeding upside down, they sat on a bottom rung and twisted around to get the thistle seed out of the next-level hole! They had no trouble getting the small seeds with the ends of their pointy beaks.

We had dozens of these birds. We were on Drexel, two blocks north of the University of Chicago hospital. I think our bunch was nesting over in Washington Park. They tried to make a nest next to the transformer on the pole behind our house, but it never quite worked out. We must have raised several generations on the taste of thistle seed.

My neighbor also had the pleasure of nursing one individual back to health. It was a very cold day when Fluff-fluff was too exhausted to get over the fence from my neighbor's feeder and smacked into it. The bird was stunned, and my friend brought it inside and kept it warm in a pet porter in her kitchen half-bath. After a couple weeks' fattening up, Fluff-fluff was singing and carrying on while the neighbor baked bread. She let the bird go after that. Schweet!

WilmaWildcat
posted to the CW message board

EQUAL TIME FOR PAGANS

To Whom it May Concern,

I am writing in regards to "Faith and the Ecosystem." While I give a tremendous kudos to the "Faith in Place" Circles, and all of the hard work they do, I had a disappointment in the article. Nowhere did the article mention any earth-based religions, such as Paganism or Wicca.

For many people who follow the Pagan paths, there is an inherent respect for nature, as the Pagan holidays and calendar revolve around the changing seasons and the cycles that nature follows throughout the year. There are many Pagans who are extremely active in the Chicagoland area, as well as the outlying suburbs. I believe that many of us will take this article as a lesson to ourselves to network more with our interfaith partners in this.

Bethany Figuray
Woodridge, Illinois

RUNAWAY AIRPORT

I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Heuer's "Runaway Airport." Heuer has a unique ability to lead readers through political ruse and manipulation to the factual underpinnings of an issue. You now need to focus Mr. Heuer's talent on a natural sequel to the Peotone distraction: the transportation solution that should be pursued for the Tri-state region.

Two constituents of that solution are Greater Rockford Airport and high-speed rail. But the master politician whom some call "the Wizard of ORD" has thus far been successful in constraining intermodal solutions and considerations to the airports he controls (O'Hare, Midway, and Gary). Turn Mr. Heuer loose on him!

James H. Powers
Rockford, Illinois

GOOD DATA FOR GOOD DECISIONS

Kudos to Forest Preserve District of DuPage County staff John Oldenburg and Bob Vick for recognizing the value of Springbrook Prairie's grassland bird habitat and acting to protect it from human disturbance.

I recently learned about a limestone trail slated to go through a large fescue field at Springbrook Prairie in Naperville.

I knew from monitoring bird populations at the site for nine years that the proposed trail would bisect habitat supporting the preserve's greatest diversity and density of grassland birds, and the center of the site's Henslow's sparrow population. I called the district and explained my concerns. Placing the trail in that location would essentially destroy the value of the habitat, since nesting grassland birds are very sensitive to habitat and human disturbance. Studies have shown that grassland birds generally will not nest within 50 meters of such a trail, and construction of the trail would result in the loss of a large percentage of the nesting birds in this field.

Oldenburg, manager of grounds and resources for the district, and Vick, director of planning and development, quickly recognized the problem and took action. With input from their staff and further consultation with me, they rerouted the proposed trail through a different field to the south. My monitoring data shows that the birds utilize this field less and it contains no state-endangered Henslow's sparrows.

This is a great example of how volunteer efforts can support and inform decisions on our public lands. I am happy to report that, here in DuPage, our efforts can pay off.

Joe Suchecki
Naperville, Illinois

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