The more you know

What purpose does our cold winter season serve? Do we really need winter? What does winter do for nature?  So many things.

Love is always in the air, but at this time of the year the love in the air may smell a lot like skunk. That's because we are right in the midst of mating season for striped skunks. And with mating season comes increased activity as male skunks search for female mates.

Animals that stay active during winter in cold climates rely on many adaptations to help them survive. For a select few, their winter survival strategies include a unique adaptation: turning white. 

Illinois has a state bird and a state tree and even a state mineral. Here's your chance to learn all about fluorite.

Weather and climate are related, but they are two different things. One simple way to explain the difference is with a well-known saying from American writer Mark Twain: "Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."

Eight owl species call Will County home. And most of our local owls are nocturnal, so seeing them is a real treat. More often than not, we know owls are nearby because we hear them singing and calling. But owls don’t all sound the same. They don’t even all hoot. Each species has its own unique song.

You probably know the classic carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but we are putting a local spin on it by featuring birds we see locally.

Ever since the first hunter-gatherers sat beside a buzzing log and got a whiff of a sweet honey coming from within, humans have been managing and keeping honeybees. Beehives in winter. (Photo via Shutterstock) The honeybee got its common name from its scientific name, which is Apis mellifera . In Latin, Apis means “bee,” and mellifera means “honey-bearing.” Who’s in the hive?  A beehive consists of three types of bees: queens, workers and drones. The first and most important