Overview

I stay still as I watch the female ruby-throated humming birds (Archilocus colubris) sparring with each other over flowers and feeders. They perch on the branches and leaves of prairie dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum) and eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), barely weighing down the structures. The American goldfinches (Spinus tristis) peep and chatter as they pick the cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) clean of its new seeds. As I walk through the grass, a plethora of grasshoppers emerge. Multiple species of dragonflies swoop and soar through the air, catching winged-insects; the dragonflies take their rest in the tall prairie grasses. The honey bees, bumble bees, and related hymenoptera are so plentiful that the asters on which they feed vibrate with their activity. I eat a few tomatoes or bits of basil and cilantro as I sit down with my dog, who has been rolling in the grass and sunning his belly. All of this takes place in my backyard, a piece of land less than one fourth of an acre in a residential neighborhood in northeastern Illinois.

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