Chicago outdoors: A praying mantis riding the Brown Line & monarch notes

Notes come from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

DALE’S MAILBAG

“[On Tuesday] I spotted a praying mantis on the northwest bound Brown Line train. It honestly seemed like it was escaping the 98°F heat, as it was hanging out over the AC vents. My other theory is that somebody caught the bug and thought it would be a funny prank to release it on the train. I let the gentleman sitting right by the mantis know the bug was there right over his shoulder before snapping a picture. He was unfazed and smiled, noting the unusual train passenger, before showing me the selfies he already took with the bug before I got on the train. The species appears to be a Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis). Not native, but naturalized in the United States. I figured somebody would squash him if he was left on the train, so I captured the insect in my empty lunch tub of spaghetti and released it in a shade-covered flower garden at Lawrence and Kimball in Albany Park. Hopefully that mantis will cut down on those cicada mites that are getting under everyone’s skin!” Geoff Marshall

A: I love stories like, especially the interaction with the fellow passenger. And I’m with him on the cicada mites, those things are nasty.

Geoff Marshall posing with the praying mantis riding the Brown Line.

WILD OF THE WEEK

Tony Davies also noticed “a big drop off in monarch butterfly sightings” in Villa Park. But he photographed a monarch “sipping the sweet nectar on my backyard butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)” in mid-August. . . . I do have milkweed growing in my backyard, but I have had better luck photographing butterflies on the butterfly bushes — they are butterfly magnets.

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 Sunday. To make submissions, email BowmanOutside@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside), Instagram (@BowmanOutside). or Bluesky (@Bowmanoutside).

WILD TIMES

MUSHROOM SHOW

Sunday, Sept. 1: Illinois Mycological Association’s annual show, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, 10 a.m.-4:30, illinoismyco.org/about-us/annual-show/

FISH GATHERING

Thursday, Sept. 5: Dale Bowman and Jeff Nolan, “Fishing the Chicago River: History, perspective, spots, techniques,” Wild Mile workshop for Urban Rivers, Wild Mile (near 905 W. Eastman and the North Branch), 6-7:30 p.m., urbanriv.org

JOBS FAIR

Friday, Sept. 6: Trees and Tacos Arboricultural Career Fair, Thatcher Woods, River Forest, 2-5 p.m., free tacos to first 100 participants, mortonarb.org/explore/activities/adult-programs/trees-and-tacos-arboricultural-career-fair/

CAST & COMPARE

Next Saturday, Sept. 7: Illinois Smallmouth Alliance’s Cast & Compare, try and compare fly rods with Doug Taylor, Sage elite pro staff, Jeremy Spaccapaniccia of DuPage Fly Fishing and ISA’s John Loebach, 8 a.m.-noon, Glenwood Forest Preserve, 1644 S. River St., Batavia, IL. 60510.

ILLINOIS SEASONS

Next Saturday, Sept. 7: Teal season opens . . . Rail (Sora or Virginia) season opens . . . Snipe season opens.

KIDS DERBY

Saturday, Sept. 7: Salmon Unlimited Kids Derby, Waukegan Harbor, 18 and younger, free, lunch, prizes, 7 a.m.-noon, salmonunlimitedinc.com/kids

MAZONIA SOUTH CLOSURE

Sept. 9: First day area around Eagle and Ponderosa lakes will be closed (probably into winter) for construction work.

U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY

Next Sunday, Sept. 8: Boat America, Bolingbrook, Darry Haefner, jlyrrad@comcast.net

BIRDING FESTIVAL

Sept. 13-15: First citywide festival, guided trips, registration opened Saturday, https://www.theurbanbirdingfestival.org/

BEER IN THE WOODS

Sept. 21: LaBagh Woods, 1-5 p.m., fotfp.org/event-item/8th-annual-beer-in-the-woods/