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'Falconer' Filmmaker Interview with Annie Kaempfer

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'Falconer' Filmmaker Interview with Annie Kaempfer

"The Falconer" is a story of hope and second chances: for injured birds of prey, for an abandoned plot of land, for a group of teenagers who have dropped out of high school, and for Rodney Stotts, a licensed raptor specialist from Southeast Washington, D.C.

Stott says his passion for falconry stems from the fact that it helps to keep the local raptor population healthy while crossing racial, socioeconomic and ethnic barriers. He makes a powerful connection between endangered species and local youth who must navigate survival in a stressed community. His organization "Rodney's Raptors" creates interactive and educational programming, allowing adults and children of all ages to experience the excitement of holding a live bird of prey while educating them on the vital role birds play in the ecosystem. 

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Did Government Fuel the Climate Crisis?

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Did Government Fuel the Climate Crisis?

The film Youth v Gov is the story of Juliana v. United States, the legal case filed by Our Children’s Trust in 2015. In Juliana, 21 plaintiffs from 9 states sued the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, personal safety, and property. Their claim is that through its willful actions, the U.S. government has created and is continuing to create the climate crisis these young people will inherit.

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Let's Get Loud About Illinois' Cook County Forest Preserves

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Let's Get Loud About Illinois' Cook County Forest Preserves

Here’s a legislative win that folks in Illinois and beyond can learn from, get excited about, and perhaps even replicate. On Nov. 8, 2022, Cook County Illinois voters sparked a major win for their Forest Preserves, approving an additional $40 million in annual funding for these vital public lands. This money will be used to manage and restore the 70,000 acres of prairies, forests, wetlands, rivers and streams; create local jobs; and improve the environment by providing clean air, water, and habitat for people and wildlife.

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Vote YES for the Forest Preserves

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Vote YES for the Forest Preserves

In this time of global warming, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss, these lands do more than provide scenery as we drive by. They help clean our air, filter our water, prevent flooding, shelter hundreds of species of wild animals and plants (including over 100 that are threatened or endangered) and, all the while, entice us out to enjoy nature, with its known health benefits, any day we choose—no admission charged!

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Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Native Garden Tour Returns to Oak Park & River Forest

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Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Native Garden Tour Returns to Oak Park & River Forest

The annual West Cook Wild Ones garden walk “Birds, Bees & Butterflies: A Native Garden Walk” is back Saturday, July 23, from 1 to 5 p.m. The walk is designed to inspire and teach home gardeners about the beauty, ease and usefulness of the plants that have lived here for thousands of years, and the animals and insects that depend on them. Habitat loss is among the primary factors driving population declines of important local and migratory species. Each new native plant garden—no matter how small—can help support vital insects, birds and other wildlife.

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Remembering Monty and Rose + Why There is Hope

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Remembering Monty and Rose + Why There is Hope

Monty and Rose are the two beloved piping plovers that surprised the Chicago birding community by settling at busy Montrose Beach to nest and raise their young for three consecutive years. When they first arrived in 2019, the number of their endangered species had diminished to 70 nesting pairs in the Great Lakes region.

After Monty died recently after making the spring migration back to Northern Illinois, and after Rose did not return, we reached out to Bob for his thoughts and those of others in the birding community.