Hunting for Frogs on Elston, and Other Tales from Field & Street
9780226779942
Hunting for Frogs on Elston, and Other Tales from Field & Street
A selection of savvy observations on urban ecology from one of the Midwest’s foremost authorities on the subject, Hunting for Frogs on Elston collects the best of naturalist Jerry Sullivan’s weekly Field & Street columns, originally published in the Chicago Reader. Engaging, opinionated, inspiring, and occasionally irreverent, Hunting for Frogs on Elston pays tribute to Chicago’s natural history while celebrating one of its greatest champions.
Published in association with the Chicago Wilderness coalition, Hunting for Frogs on Elston comprehensively chronicles Chicagoland’s unique urban ecology, from its indigenous prairie and oft-delayed seasons to its urban coyotes and passenger pigeons. In witty, informed prose, Sullivan evokes his adventures netting dog-faced butterflies, hunting rattlesnakes, and watching fireflies mate. Inspired by regional flora and fauna, Sullivan ventures throughout the metropolis and its environs in search of sludge worms, gyrfalcons, and wild onions. In reporting his findings to otherwise oblivious urbanites, Sullivan endeavors to make "alienated, atomized, postmodern people feel at home, connected to something beyond ourselves."
In the sprawling Chicagoland region, where an urban ecosystem teeming with remarkable life evolves between skyscrapers and train tracks, no writer chronicled the delicate balance of nature and industry more vividly than Jerry Sullivan. An homage to the urban ecology Sullivan loved so dearly, Hunting for Frogs on Elston is his fitting legacy as well as a lasting gift to the urban naturalist in us all.
Published in association with the Chicago Wilderness coalition, Hunting for Frogs on Elston comprehensively chronicles Chicagoland’s unique urban ecology, from its indigenous prairie and oft-delayed seasons to its urban coyotes and passenger pigeons. In witty, informed prose, Sullivan evokes his adventures netting dog-faced butterflies, hunting rattlesnakes, and watching fireflies mate. Inspired by regional flora and fauna, Sullivan ventures throughout the metropolis and its environs in search of sludge worms, gyrfalcons, and wild onions. In reporting his findings to otherwise oblivious urbanites, Sullivan endeavors to make "alienated, atomized, postmodern people feel at home, connected to something beyond ourselves."
In the sprawling Chicagoland region, where an urban ecosystem teeming with remarkable life evolves between skyscrapers and train tracks, no writer chronicled the delicate balance of nature and industry more vividly than Jerry Sullivan. An homage to the urban ecology Sullivan loved so dearly, Hunting for Frogs on Elston is his fitting legacy as well as a lasting gift to the urban naturalist in us all.
Read an excerpt.
320 pages | 33 line drawings, 3 maps | © 2004
Biological Sciences: Ecology, Natural History
Reviews
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Glenda Daniel
1 State of the Prairie
Prairie Cathedral 9/27/85
Fragmented Grasslands 5/22/87
Managing Nature 10/9/87
Too Many Deer 1/3/92
Middle Fork Savanna 7/9/93
Biodiversity 2/22/91
Transanimaling 6/26/92
Prairie September 9/25/98
2 The Seasons
Spring Comes to Chicago 2/24/95
Early Spring 3/13/98
Early Risers 3/9/84
The Ephemerals’ Moment 4/12/85
Cherries 7/11/97
Bees 7/3/98
Fall Flora 10/17/97
Turkeys 11/16/84
Winter Reading 12/20/85
Squirrels’ Nests 1/27/95
Ice Fishing 1/20/84
Feeding Urban Birds 12/12/86
3 Creatures Great and Small
Hunting for Frogs on Elston Avenue 5/16/86
Caterpillars 8/30/85
Woodchucks 3/8/91
Counting Butterflies 7/15/88
Sludgeworms 2/14/92
Rattlesnake Hunting 8/14/92
Ant Transplant 3/27/87
Searching for Bats 8/10/84
Fireflies 7/19/85
Migrating Monarchs 9/7/84
Badgers 11/23/90
Chorus Frogs 3/27/98
Coyotes in the City 2/2/96
Yellow Jackets 9/11/87
Reading Animal Tracks 1/25/91
4 Birds and More Birds
The Bird Hunter 5/10/85
Woodpeckers 1/16/87
Looking for a Gyrfalcon 2/8/91
Sparrows 4/6/84
Red-Tailed Hawks 3/13/87
Birding in North Channel 7/17/92
Kestrels 1/18/85
Savanna Birds 2/19/93
Feathers 4/10/87
Winter Flocks 12/1/89
Christmas Bird Count 1/8/88
How to Find Nests 6/14/91
Mourning Doves 3/24/95
Goldfinches 9/28/90
The Passenger Pigeon 4/4/86
5 Plants
Healthy Communities 2/27/98
Oak Trees 12/16/94
Sedges 6/27/97
Nightshade 6/13/86
Purple Loosestrife 9/5/97
Jewelweed 10/3/86
Hazels 10/11/96
Raspberries 7/17/98
Wild Onions 1/31/92
Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid 10/1/93
6 People and Places
Field Guides 9/8/89
Surveying Illinois 6/21/96
Inland Marsh 1/5/96
Women Naturalists 7/25/86
Bird-Watchers 8/28/87
Henry Chandler Cowles 11/6/98
Poplar Creek Preserve 9/6/91
Lichen Scholar 11/3/95
Dinosaurs and Birds 11/9/90
Roger Tory Peterson 8/16/96
Introduction by Glenda Daniel
1 State of the Prairie
Prairie Cathedral 9/27/85
Fragmented Grasslands 5/22/87
Managing Nature 10/9/87
Too Many Deer 1/3/92
Middle Fork Savanna 7/9/93
Biodiversity 2/22/91
Transanimaling 6/26/92
Prairie September 9/25/98
2 The Seasons
Spring Comes to Chicago 2/24/95
Early Spring 3/13/98
Early Risers 3/9/84
The Ephemerals’ Moment 4/12/85
Cherries 7/11/97
Bees 7/3/98
Fall Flora 10/17/97
Turkeys 11/16/84
Winter Reading 12/20/85
Squirrels’ Nests 1/27/95
Ice Fishing 1/20/84
Feeding Urban Birds 12/12/86
3 Creatures Great and Small
Hunting for Frogs on Elston Avenue 5/16/86
Caterpillars 8/30/85
Woodchucks 3/8/91
Counting Butterflies 7/15/88
Sludgeworms 2/14/92
Rattlesnake Hunting 8/14/92
Ant Transplant 3/27/87
Searching for Bats 8/10/84
Fireflies 7/19/85
Migrating Monarchs 9/7/84
Badgers 11/23/90
Chorus Frogs 3/27/98
Coyotes in the City 2/2/96
Yellow Jackets 9/11/87
Reading Animal Tracks 1/25/91
4 Birds and More Birds
The Bird Hunter 5/10/85
Woodpeckers 1/16/87
Looking for a Gyrfalcon 2/8/91
Sparrows 4/6/84
Red-Tailed Hawks 3/13/87
Birding in North Channel 7/17/92
Kestrels 1/18/85
Savanna Birds 2/19/93
Feathers 4/10/87
Winter Flocks 12/1/89
Christmas Bird Count 1/8/88
How to Find Nests 6/14/91
Mourning Doves 3/24/95
Goldfinches 9/28/90
The Passenger Pigeon 4/4/86
5 Plants
Healthy Communities 2/27/98
Oak Trees 12/16/94
Sedges 6/27/97
Nightshade 6/13/86
Purple Loosestrife 9/5/97
Jewelweed 10/3/86
Hazels 10/11/96
Raspberries 7/17/98
Wild Onions 1/31/92
Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid 10/1/93
6 People and Places
Field Guides 9/8/89
Surveying Illinois 6/21/96
Inland Marsh 1/5/96
Women Naturalists 7/25/86
Bird-Watchers 8/28/87
Henry Chandler Cowles 11/6/98
Poplar Creek Preserve 9/6/91
Lichen Scholar 11/3/95
Dinosaurs and Birds 11/9/90
Roger Tory Peterson 8/16/96