Volunteered to collect seeds at a natural area and it was the most peaceful afternoon I've had in so long. Just strolling through the prairie grasses with professional and amateur nature nerds, learning about native plants, collecting seed pods, looking at cool bugs. The wild bergamot was still in bloom and the air smelled amazing. Just slightly minty, citrusy and fresh.
The seeds will be used to help restore other natural areas that may be lacking in biodiversity right now. Chicago has around 150 natural areas and some are doing better than others, so this is a way to share the love.
Also at some point one of the volunteers was like "hey I know this is about seeds but there's a bird over there, behind that bush? I don't know what kind"
And hilariously, "there might be a bird of some kind" was enough to stop the entire group for like 15 minutes while we waited to see if the bird popped up.
It did, it was a yellow crowned night heron, which is super rare this far north, and it feels like we were rewarded for our patience.
No pictures of the heron because it was far away and we were too busy looking at it with the single pair of binoculars we had.