The planting of a non-native milkweed and the practice of captive-rearing monarch caterpillars have been identified as two possible sources of monarchs failure to survive their fall migration.  

Dragonflies are on the move, turning up in swarms during feeding frenzies as they begin migrating south for the winter. “It’s the most exciting time of the year if you love dragonflies,” said Cindy Crosby, a dragonfly monitor.

Prepare to get all nostalgic for the extremely recent past.

After analyzing data from a community science project on urban milkweed patches, Field Museum researchers have identified common milkweed as the species most attractive to monarch butterflies. 

From emergence holes in the parkway to molted shells on trees to ear-splitting mating calls, cicadas have very much arrived in Chicago. Just not the ones everybody was obsessing over a month ago.

All signs point to a cicada-induced vitamin deficiency as the cause of a mystery disease that affected some birds during a 2021 emergence and now again in 2024.

Members of the first wave of cicadas have done their thing: They came, they molted, they screamed, they bred, and now they’re dying.

The Field Museum has more than 10 million specimens in its insect collection and — believe it or not — not a single 13-year periodical cicada among them. So what better time than now to fill that gap?

If you wouldn’t eat a vegetable grown in that soil, don’t eat a cicada.

Some of the early “They’re here!” excitement has definitely given way to “Wait, they’re staying for how long?” At the opposite end of the spectrum, Chicagoans are wondering why they got left out of the great 2024 emergence.

The tiny critters are almost impossible to spot, but you can’t miss their bubbles.

In case you haven’t heard, the cicadas are coming, and things are about to get loud. WTTW News explains.

Periodical cicadas use trees’ lifecycles to “count” years. But when trees get duped by climate change, so do the insects. Could it lead to new broods?

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has announced its plan to host a cicada-themed art show during the Illinois State Fair and is seeking entries from the public, looking for interpretations of cicadas or broods.

In 2024, Illinois can’t be beat for periodical cicadas. Here’s everything you need to know about these fascinating creatures, and what to expect between now and July.

“Nature education is a big part of what we do here, but you gotta find a way to make it interesting so that people actually watch it,” said Jonathan Mullen, part of the team behind the viral video.