The buzz

The old saying "busy as a beaver" is no joke. Beavers are among the most industrious animals on Earth, and they put their skills to good use.

Of the 40 wildcat species in the world, just the bobcat lives in Illinois, and even its existence here is a surprise to many people.

The trees may still be dormant at this time of year, but they could still be full of life. If you're planning to trim or prune your trees, make sure to give them a good once-over to check for active squirrel and bird nests. 

Water isn't an unlimited resource. As water scarcity increasingly becomes a problem across the globe, efforts to conserve it become more crucial.

Birds stand on one leg for one simple reason: to help them stay warm.

If you think about large, imposing birds that we see soaring above or perched on high while scanning for a meal, raptors like hawks and eagles probably come to mind. Maybe even owls. But there's another kind of raptor we see that can be just as imposing — falcons, three species of which can be seen in Illinois.

We usually only have one vulture species in town, but in places where their ranges overlap, turkey vultures and black vultures can be difficult to distinguish from one another.

Robins are among our most common and familiar birds, known to almost all even at a young age. But there's more to them than meets the eye.

Not all the plants and animals that grow and thrive in their ecosystems belong there. Some are non-native, and among those are some that are considered invasive.

Why do some animals prowl around under the cover of darkness? Because it helps them survive and thrive.