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Everyday Environment delves into the intricate web of connections that bind us to the natural world. From water, air, energy, plants, and animals to the complex interactions within these elements, we aim to unravel the ties that link us to our environment. Through a variety of educational formats, including podcasts, blogs, and videos, we strive to foster a deeper understanding of these connections among the residents of Illinois. Explore more at go.illinois.edu/everydayenvironment.
Hosted by: Abigail Garofalo, Amy Lefringhouse, and Erin Garrett
Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Environment podcast, where we explore the environment we see every day. I'm your host, Abigail Garofalo.
Darci:And I'm your cohost, Darci Webber.
Abigail:And today, we're here with Brodie Eddington, the senior Farm Bill wildlife biologist for Pheasants Forever Inc and Quail Forever. And he is here to chat about Illinois quail. Welcome, Brodie.
Brodie:Thank you very much for having
Abigail:me. Of course. Now, we are excited because this season, we're diving all into wildlife, and we get to dive into this very specific type of bird. And so we wanna hear all about that. But first, tell us about your work with Pheasants Forever.
Abigail:Like, what does that look like? What does your day look like? what do you do?
Brodie:So we have a program called the Farm Bill Biologist Program, and it's a partnership with the USDA and just specifically the NRCS. So we have biologists covering all 102 counties in Illinois, and I believe we're up to 15 biologists. And we work out of the USDA county offices, and each of our biologists have a range of four to eight counties they cover. I myself have five counties in Western Illinois. I'm based out of the Quincy office, but I cover McDonough, Brown, Schuyler, Hancock, and Adams County.
Brodie:So we basically work with the USDA to assist them with some of the CRP planning stuff, the conservation reserve program, and we help them do write some of the contracts, check all of the properties, and make sure that everything's kinda up to up to the standards. And then if any landowners need any help, we just kinda help them along the way. That's most of our job. We also do some, private sector stuff where we can work with other partner agencies like the US Fish and Wildlife, I do Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and then we also have just working with private landowners and private residents that have land and they want, like, convert it to quality habitat or pollinator stuff or just improve their land. And we just kinda can come out and give good assessments and and maybe even find programs or grants that can help help them accomplish their goals.
Abigail:What a great resource for landowners. I mean, like, you know, wanting to meet their financial goals of getting that CRP land, their, like, that land management goal, as well as just their personal and ecological goals for their land. That's so cool. I didn't know about that. And you all I'll let you listeners may be familiar.
Abigail:You're like, wait. That sounds like Amy's neck of the woods. This is Amy's connection. So Amy was like, I know Brodie. He could help us out.
Abigail:And so we're excited to have you and, yeah, we get to rotate host, so Amy didn't get to be here.
Brodie:We'll miss her.
Abigail:Yeah. We'll miss her. She'll hear it later. Well, what made you wanna work in this field?
Brodie:I grew up hunting and fishing and spending a lot of time outdoors, and, you know, the classic story of the Western Illinois kid that just likes being outside and playing in the timber, walking the creeks and stuff. And then I eventually got a job straight out of high school with the IDNR working at a state park that was right next to where I grew up, Weinberg King State Park. And I was a summer conservation worker there straight out of high school all the way through college in the summers. I think I worked there for about six years, six summers. And I just learned everything there was to know about upland habitat with Upland Prairie and stuff that they have there, food plots, trail maintenance, just meeting with the campers and the park goers, and that's one of the main inspirations that I drew and then obviously college classes and meeting a lot of people that were in the same field kinda further that drive brought me into this world to begin with, the wildlife world.
Darci:It's really nice to have that community to, like, encourage and just build you up and, like, get to do this work together with the same mindset of caring for the environment.
Brodie:Absolutely.
Darci:So today's episode is specifically talking about quail. So what are some characteristics that distinguish quail from other bird species and what type would we see here in Illinois?
Brodie:So the type that we have in Illinois is the northern bobwhite quail. They're one of a handful of species throughout North America. They cover all of the American South, Midwest region, and all the way up into, like, parts of Wisconsin. And so they have probably the widest range of all the quail subspecies, but they're kind of like a they're a smaller round nesting bird that has kind of rust and brown and white and black accent colored feathers. And they have kind of a crest on their head, and I'm sure you guys have all heard their special call.
Brodie:They say Bob White, their actual name. And so they have a little two part call. And, so they're one of the key prairie ground nesting species for Illinois, and they're kind of been having a really tough time, especially over the last thirty, forty years, but we're still we're still seeing a kind of a 3% decline in them. So it's we're trying to do our best to keep working with them.
Abigail:Yeah. Well, and then so we're seeing that decline. What are some of the main threats that we're seeing in these quail populations?
Brodie:For quail, there's a number of reasons. Like, the one of the main ones that we run across is habitat fragmentation. You know, as farm and operations and implements are getting bigger, they're needing more room. They're able to farm more places than they were before. In some context, they can.
Brodie:But it seems like there there's a incentive to take out some of the habitat like the fence rows and edge feathers that are, you know, characteristic to the 1970s farm operations that we knew in in Illinois. So now it's a lot more squared up fields for the most part. And so a lot of that habitat degradation and habitat fragmentation, so they're having a far quality habitat is farther apart than it used to be. Another main component of that would be the rise in nest predators. You know, with trapping becoming a lost art to a degree, there's still quite a few trappers out there, but not not like there were back in the back in the days.
Brodie:But, with the drop in fur prices, it's really got the populations of nest predators like coons and possums and skunks. So our quail and other ground nesting birds are really taking a hit from that. And that's the majority of the reason, I would say, is is between the habitat fragmentation and that. But I've also heard I was reading a study actually just the other day, so I'm not exactly how sure how my mind's made up on it, but I've heard about the increase in hail that we've had over the last few decades, and that, you know, could have implications of, you know, maybe pushing hens off nests and and breaking eggs, but that's something I'll have to look into a little bit more. But I thought it was kinda interesting and thought provoking.
Abigail:Interesting. And also, my brain just went to these poor little, like, birds, and they're the hail just,
Brodie:like Yeah.
Abigail:Thunk. Thunk. Like, so like, and I'm just like, oh, no. The birds.
Abigail:But when it comes to the you're saying, like, the nest robbing or nest predation, you're saying, like, they're eating the eggs of these quail?
Brodie:Yep. They're a lot of like, they're opportunistic, hunters, like, especially raccoons. So whenever they can find a quick and easy meal, especially an nest full of eggs, it they're gonna take it when they can find it. And, you know, that's nature, but that's when we have an overbalanced population, then obviously, it has has far reaching effects. So, yes, that's that's exactly right.
Abigail:Well, and a lot of those sound like even too, like I mean, I'm up in Cook County. So, when I say urban, sometimes that means something different. But I feel like urban generally, like, those are the kinds of animals that kind of take advantage to, like, the human ecosystems. Right? Like, they thrive really well in these kinds of spaces. And so, yeah, like you're saying, we're seeing this imbalance because they're getting this advantage in human spaces, but, like, the quail have this more specialized habitat.
Brodie:Precisely. Yep. It seems like with with our their habitat getting even more focused in specific areas, like they have far less reaching habitat areas now. With the booming population of these predators, they're obviously everywhere, and so they're not only the areas the quail are, but in the areas that the quail aren't. And that's not just for quail. That's for turkeys and pheasants and all all sorts of other bird species.
Abigail:Could you talk a little bit more about the habitat requirements for quail? Or Absolutely. Specifically, you can speak about the bobwhite as well.
Brodie:Yeah. Yeah. So for bobwhite quail, they're usually, historically, are kind of a prairie savannah timbers open timber species. So they have kind of a niche habitat and habitat requirements. So what we we try to typically plan quail areas, we're looking for, like, short grass prairie mixtures for good brooding habitat and also for foraging habitat because they need both insects and seeds, so we're looking for that food source.
Brodie:And, obviously so when we're planting, like, pollinators and and prairies, we need diverse wildlife mixtures because that provides all of the seed source for them. And it also attracts the insects. And because a chick especially quail chicks, diet is mainly, I think, about 90% insects. So having that insect area is highly important for these species. And, also, they need to have a a bare ground component because if there's a lot of filler on the ground, it's hard not only hard for them to walk and navigate bait, but especially for chicks too.
Brodie:It's kind of an energy input versus energy output issue because, like, if I was to tell you to walk over, you know, 10 miles of log jams to be able to get a mark a lot more output than it would be input. So it's the same as, like, if they're walking in a lot of cool season grass and and there's not enough bare ground, they're putting so much energy out that they wouldn't be getting back in. They also need shrubby areas and some open timber really helps too. So some of the areas that we'll try to plant, especially, like, on timber edges and even pockets within fields, is to get red osier dogwoods, American plums, chokecherry, serviceberry. There's a bunch of different species of shrubs that you can put in, and we try to plan those areas strategically.
Brodie:You want to be able to have them far enough apart that they can fly to or then be able to utilize. So I always heard that if you can throw a softball from one shrub planting to another shrub planting, that's about perfect. That's about as far as they wanna fly to be able to get away from predators. Also, the open timber aspect, which we're running out of because of bush honeysuckle and winged wahoo and a lot of other invasive species. That's typically what we're looking for is kind of that mixture of pastureland habitat with prairie mixed in, you know, just kind of a savannah style.
Abigail:Very particular birds.
Brodie:They can be.
Abigail:That's I'm hearing particular.
Brodie:Yep. That's exactly right.
Darci:So how do quail contribute to the ecosystem in which they live?
Brodie:That's a good question. The way they contribute to their ecosystem, I would say through seed dispersal would be a good one, I would say, because when they're picking up and digesting seed, they're also, you know, excreting those seeds in other places. So they're, you know, that's bringing in more biodiversity to a lot of these prairies. They're also, you know, really good consumer of insects. That'd be another good one for them.
Brodie:That would be two of the bigger ways that they contribute to their ecosystem, but I would also say that they're a good indicator species, if that makes sense as well, that you know you can you're having exactly. He's that's exactly right. When you have good habitat and you have quail on it, that's just further reinforcement that you're doing a good job. And it's harder now because you can have quality habitat without quail just because they're so localized now. They're not quite as widespread as they were, but still it's a great sign when you have them.
Abigail:Beyond like an ecosystem or, you know, ecological impact, I feel like we as, like, humans care a lot about them. There's this cultural and historical context. Could you speak a little bit to that? Why pheasants forever, quail forever? Kinda like, why have these organizations centered around, you know, quail?
Brodie:Yeah. Quail have, especially in Illinois, and they have really conjured throughout the throughout the hunting history, especially a rich heritage through it for them, especially when you get into the history of bird hunting, you know, primarily centered around pheasants and quail and some other upland game bird species. Quail was a big one, especially for the American South and for, you know, the Southern Illinois region, Western Illinois region. Quail were everywhere. I mean, in the 1950s it would be nothing for a harvest report to be like I think it's like 2,000,000 birds.
Brodie:And now we're harvesting about 10,000. So it was such an important game species for a lot of hunters. And my grandfather's one I could speak to directly because he was a only quail hunter. That's the only thing he cared about is he would walk creeks and fields for arrowheads, and he would quail hunt. That was about it.
Brodie:And so between that and, you know, obviously, you get into bird dogs. That's another rich American history, Illinois history. And I would say that they're also a good poster child too for conservation because they've been a driving force for a lot of programs like the SAFE initiative, the state acres for wildlife enhancement through CRP that has now spread to the state because of quail or especially half of the state because of quail, making it a lot easier to get habitat in the CRP. And there's also, like, the EQIP act now, Bob White initiative does a similar thing with helping get Bob White habitat on the ground through EQIP. There's also the DNR quail areas.
Brodie:And, I mean, there's even just their state sites having prairies. That's another really good driving force is having the quail as a kind of poster child for that. And not only are they, you know, doing this out of their you know, are we doing this out of quail's interests, but quail have also helped so many other species by being the poster child for these kind of programs. So there's so so many benefits. And even at Pheasants Forever Quail Forever, our main focus may be, you could say, is pheasants and quail, but really it's just habitat at the end of the day.
Brodie:We do more more work with habitat, you know, and that benefits, you know, all Illinois wildlife. That it's been a really good, I would say, poster child for conservation would be a really it's that's a good way to put it, I would say.
Abigail:That's such a good point. I feel like to when we think about looking at, okay, what needs to get done conservation wise and how we can get there. We have to think about the social science aspect side. What makes people want to care about this, want to do it? What makes you know, incentivizes investment?
Abigail:Right? We have to think about where the money comes from as well and thinking about, well, what do people care about? What is tying people to the land in the first place? What did people's experience with the land have, and how did that connect them? And for a lot of people across Illinois, it's hunting.
Abigail:Right? That's like they learned the land. We have a archived episode that hasn't seen the light of day yet, which we should probably just release with this episode, honestly, about hunting and the the history of hunting as well as hunter safety. Talking about how it's like, no. You have to do a lot of learning about the ecology of that area and the ecology of that particular species that you're hunting and understanding it on a larger level and taking that and thinking about that aspect and then using what I consider, like, a newer form of conservation.
Abigail:If you look at conservation and restoration thirty years ago, people were like, forests. Forests mean trees. Any trees. Trees are great. You know?
Abigail:And now we look at we look at we're like, oh, no. We're restoring this particular species. They need all of the things to survive. Let's look at all the different pieces. And so the way you were describing it, I feel like the quail in Illinois are like the wolves of Yellowstone, it feels like, If anybody's kind of familiar with that story. You know,
Brodie:we're less feeling controversial.
Abigail:Less controversial, yes. But, like, thinking of quail is like we're building all these habitat elements that are beneficial to so many different species and like feel essential to the cultural history of this state. Right?
Brodie:Absolutely.
Abigail:Which is pretty cool.
Darci:So you're seeing the decline in the populations, but since quail forever and pheasants forever has been building, are you seeing the positive sides of quail coming back or what are some trends you've seen of those populations?
Brodie:The trends, it seems like it's plateaued a little bit, which is good. That's what we want because we've had a steady decrease of about, I think, roughly about 3% a year is the number I usually see, decline in quail and, especially in recent history. But it seems like it's like, I know anecdotally, could say last year, I saw probably the most singles and pairs of quail that I've ever seen. And granted they're in areas where I know there's probably a good shot to see quail, but usually, I could drive the roads or walk fields and and not see them. However, last year was a really good one, and this year's starting off really well as well.
Brodie:So I'm hoping to see more positive outcomes on that front. But and especially as much as I do CRP checks, I'm out in the counties, out in the fields quite often. And I'll step out of the truck and I'll hear quail, which is another obviously great sign and get to talk to him and everything. So it's been it's been really great, and I really hope that we see a resurgence. Right now, it seems like we're more at a steady pace, so I'm hoping we're not drastically losing like we were, especially in the 200s and the early 2010s , especially.
Abigail:The 2020s. It's our time. The quail's time.
Brodie:The chirping twenties.
Abigail:The chirping twenties. That's so good. Now I'm, like, picturing you getting out of your truck or something and being like, what's up, guys? What's up?
Brodie:That's basically me every time.
Abigail:Bob White. What?
Brodie:Yep. That's exactly right.
Abigail:So good. Well, you know, speaking of stepping out of your truck, any memorable experience or anecdotes from your fieldwork that you wanna share?
Brodie:I would say getting out there and talking to them is one of my favorites. I mean, other than walking fence rows or timber edges and stuff and having them flush from under your feet and feeling your heart drop all the way to your stomach when they all flush out from underneath you, that's a really exhilarating and and crazy feeling at the same time. But one of my favorite things to do is as soon as I step out of the truck, like I was just saying, is just whistling at them and hearing them talk to you and trying to get them to come in a little bit. But that's that's usually one of my favorite things to do.
Abigail:How often do they come like, so you whistle it. Do they come in? They're like, what's up, Brodie's here. Amazing.
Brodie:Yeah. He's here again. I'll be back. That crazy guy. But, no, I usually whistle.
Brodie:They don't usually come in, especially if they're in, like, a more timbered area where they feel more secure, they're less likely to come out. But, I mean, even in my personal life on my back deck and stuff, I can whistle to them, and I've had them come all the way in the backyard, which is awesome. I'm sure they were very disappointed when they got there, but it was
Abigail:You are not who I was looking for.
Brodie:Kinda catfished them a little bit, but
Abigail:Yeah.
Darci:So you talked a little bit about CRP. Do you wanna explain more about what that means for our audience and how
Brodie:Yeah. Absolutely.
Darci:Your efforts help the quail?
Brodie:Mhmm. So CRP, for those of you who don't know, is a is the conservation reserve program through the USDA. And that primarily helps people who have cropland acres and want to get your crop ground enrolled into CRP and enrolled into a lot of times for soil erosion reasons or for habitat reasons. And it'll help people transition their farm to especially if we're talking my native habitat that I'm used to working with with CRP. It's getting people to unenroll their cropland acres and put it into native warm season grasses and forbs.
Brodie:So they can eat get a rental rate, still maintain some income, but also it helps get habitat on the ground. And if they're interested in hunting, they have all the recreational opportunities that you would on on a private prairie or private farm and you still get the the rental rate payment.
Darci:Outside of the CRP program, are there other ways the public can support quail populations?
Brodie:Absolutely. I mean, on your private farm, you were interested in building, habitat, I mean, we have other programs. Just feel free to reach out to me or to our team of biologists or even just go to your local USDA. And there's plenty of other programs aside from CRP that you could work with or do it on your own. You could definitely put in your own native native grass or pollinator habitat, and that's a great way to support quail if you have the opportunity.
Brodie:And if you don't, then one of the main things that you can do to help is just kind of doing research, learning a little bit more, or, you know, having conversations with people because spreading the word really helps the most. And being able to have a comprehensive knowledge of quail and quail habitat really is the best way. If we can get more of a community behind this push to be able to promote habitat and promote really anywhere that we can, it's this inner working is exactly what I was talking about with the habitat fragmentation. The more people in between those very vital areas of habitat, maybe thinking about putting some in or working with other agencies to be able to like, with CRP, be able to enroll to try to be able to get a more connective area allows these populations to be able to move throughout the region a lot better. So I think that's just having people know a little bit more and be interested in this topic, I think, really truly one of the best ways.
Abigail:Well, I'm definitely more interested. Now I wanna go call my brother-in-law who hunts. And I'm pretty sure he hunts quail, but now I'm not so sure. So now I'm like, I could I don't know enough to know. But I should call him and ask him just to, like, chat with him.
Abigail:Hey, should listen to my podcast, and b, tell me what you know or talk to me about it, just because I do feel like hunters care a lot about the land and develops people like you who wanna do good things for wildlife and the habitat, and just care for the landscape in general. And so I think that's really, really awesome and really cool, and yeah, I wanna see more of it across Illinois. Absolutely. Is there anything? Go ahead.
Abigail:Go ahead.
Brodie:I was about to say, in most of the people that I find in conversation that seem to be the most involved in habitat tend to be hunters. There's a lot of people that are interested without that hunting aspect, and by no means do you need to be to be involved. But it seems like when I run across most people, and it might just be my line of work, but it seems like the people who are the biggest advocates are oftentimes hunters as well.
Abigail:Yeah. You know, I realize we haven't really talked about that. When it comes to, like, hunting quail, tell us a little bit more about that in general. Is there like a season? What is the restrictions?
Abigail:Things like that that go along with that. Because we're talking about, you know, like this habitat and these declining populations, but we're also talking about hunting them. So give us a little more information about that so we can understand it all as a holistic
Brodie:Absolutely. And there's a lot of people do hunt quail, especially like, a lot of people that are doing bird hunts now, which means pen raised quail. But there's a lot of quail hunters as well. There it's just a lot hard to find the population. So a lot of times, these hunters are also pheasant hunters. They might be in a pheasant area, run into some quail, and that's how they'll get into them in this day and age.
Brodie:Back in the days of especially with the fifties through the seventies, that was everybody, you know, everybody would be out on the weekends quail hunting in the fall. And so the way that people typically quail hunt and other upland upland game hunt in general is you'll have a bird dog or a team of bird dogs that you'll hunt over, and you'll wait for them to kinda you'll go with the wind or against the wind. Wait.
Abigail:Pause. Pause. Hold on. I don't know anything about that. What's a bird dog?
Brodie:Okay. So select series of breeds of dogs that are specifically trained to be able to sniff out and point. Typically, there's also flushing bird dogs, but we'll get into that in a minute.
Abigail:Okay. Okay. Okay.
Brodie:bird dogs that so like German shorthairs, German wire hairs. I'm gonna miss so many people. It's gonna be so mad. Britney
Abigail:That's okay.
Brodie:English Setters.
Abigail:This is good, and a dog was all I needed. I was like, bird dog feels like a very specific tool. Just it's an animal. It's a dog.
Brodie:It is a dog. Yes. And it there is a big industry in bird dogs for sure. And there's competitions and all sorts of things that they do with them. But, anyway, they'll hunt with bird dogs and wait for them to point or flush the birds up, and then they'll be able to get a shot off at them.
Brodie:But, typically, yes, they they're walking these areas in the fall to be able to try to bag a couple birds. But, yes, bird dogs are, yeah, an interesting and beautiful part of it.
Abigail:You just mentioned it earlier, and I was like, wait, I forgot to ask about that because I don't know where my brain went, but it wasn't what it was. Okay. And then is there, like, a certain bag limit on quail specifically?
Brodie:There is. Yeah. There's a bag limit of eight. I believe there's a possession limit of 20. So you'll have a daily limit of eight birds if you if you were to go out and get that lucky.
Abigail:The populations we're seeing are declining, but they're not, like, endangered levels. We're not looking at, like, those kinds of issues. I guess I just wanna make sure I for our audience, they're like, well, we're hunting them, but we're also trying to conserve them. How does those kinds of concepts match up?
Brodie:And the birds typically I should have mentioned this as well. The birds typically only live about two years in the wild anyway. So they have quite a short lifespan. And even when the hunting was at its highest, like I was saying earlier with harvesting about, you know, two to two and a half million birds throughout the fifties, didn't seem to impact their populations within the years hardly at all. It just slowly started to happen over time.
Brodie:But I would say, I think the last harvest report I read, we're harvesting, like, right around 10,000, maybe 10 to 12,000 birds. And so I would say that it doesn't seem to affect them greatly and their hunting doesn't, but still it's a good idea to keep in your head on what kind of a ecosystem you're hunting if you're hunting kind of more of a sparse area or if you're hunting, you know, a very populous area because, you know, like we're saying, especially in Southern Illinois, there's areas with a lot of quail. I mean, then it's just not quite as widespread throughout the state as it used to be.
Abigail:Well, was gonna say, essentially, we're not looking at hunting quail during brooding though. Like, we're looking at
Brodie:No. It's during the it'd be technically during the yeah, the wintering season. They'll be nesting throughout the summer.
Abigail:Combined with their, like, short lifespan. Right? And we're not hunting them during brooding season, like, when they're nesting and things like that. Like, we're we're hunting them at times when they're, like, adults. That works with their ecology and life cycle with maintaining the population.
Brodie:Exactly. And there's a lot of debate that goes on with with inside, you know, like, the DNR, especially with I mean, every species, they'll have these debates on what what's the best time period should season get pushed forward or pushed back. But, yes, the they'll be hunted over the winter from, November, I think, till February as a lot of the other upland game species as well. Yeah. This will be during their overwintering season.
Brodie:Yeah. Their nesting season will be in through basically April 15 to August 1, but they usually have hatches mid June. Yeah.
Abigail:Cool. Well, Brody, thank you so much for sharing all things quail with us, and I'm sorry for the last minute round of questions about hunting that I did not prepare you for. But I learned so much, so I really appreciate it.
Brodie:Absolutely. Thank you guys so much for having me.
Abigail:Anytime. Well, now we are going to finish today's episode with everyday observations where we highlight the mundane and normal of our environment that is actually really interesting. So Darci, I'm gonna have you go first.
Darci:Yeah. So today's everyday observation for me is this morning, a coworker came by and he's like, look out your window. And I was like, what? And he's like, there's two egrets out there that are in the trees. They're bigger white birds that we only see when they're migrating around my area and so it's really neat to see them today.
Darci:Although they do stay along the River Of Illinois throughout the year. So it's just really fun to see them that I don't get to enjoy them very often, but they're fun to see.
Abigail:Yeah. The they're the white the great egrets. Right?
Darci:Yes. Yeah.
Abigail:Yeah. Those are so pretty and they're like . They're like a little extra special than a great blue heron. Right? Like you see great blue herons and you're like, that's so cool.
Abigail:Look, a great blue heron. Right? But then you see an egret and you're like, oh, like yeah. So cool. Alright, Brodie. What's your everyday observation?
Brodie:I would say this past weekend was turkey season, was on the river and I was able to see a a float right up next to as we're in the kayak, float up right up next to a family of wood ducks, which is really awesome. And one of the we saw one of the babies first, and he was swimming around. Was like, oh, no. They're without his mom, and I know he swam up and and met up with the rest of them. So that was really cool to see up and close.
Abigail:Well, that's so cool. Well, now I was like, I was gonna share something about plants, and now I feel like I should switch mine about birds. So I'll save my plant one for another week. So, I live in a fairly urban area. There's a lot of, like, retention ponds around me, and all of the Canada geese are just, like their babies are out and about and hanging out.
Abigail:And so it is really funny to watch them and see them, and it's, like, on the drive to daycare for my kids, so they love to see, like, the baby geese. And I'm, they're called goslings. And one time my the like, last week, my partner, like, walked the kids home from daycare, and all of the geese, like, the moms and dads, like, hissed at at my partner, and he is not a nature guy. And so I guess it's not my observation, but he was like, I do not wanna do that ever again. Like, because they're all very
Abigail:The geese are territorial. They just, like, don't like people in it. I mean, nobody likes, you know, people in their space around their babies, but it was just really funny that he was like, and he had like a little ecology lesson with my kids being like, they're saying no no, stay away from my babies, and the kids told me all about it when they came home from their little nature walk. It was really funny. So so, yes, mine's about very mundane birds, but very cool ones.
Abigail:So I do love their resiliency, and I think they're interesting products of their habitat.
Brodie:Absolutely.
Abigail:Alright. Well, this has been another episode of the Everyday Environment podcast. Check us out next week where we talk with Mark Davis about environmental DNA.
Abigail:This podcast is a University of Illinois Extension production hosted and edited by Abigail Garofalo, Erin Garrett, Amy Lefringhaus, Karla Griesbaum, and Darci Webber. Marketing and communications are by Emily Steele.