Went for a long walk at Ravinia yesterday. I ruined some bow hunter's day I think by being the one other person in the whole forest at the same time. Hope they got something tho.
I've been there twice now and it's a cool beech / oak / hickory forest. There's a high spot way up in the center of the forest with a stand of pines that's really pretty. You can tell you're getting close when you hear the corvids, cause that's where they chill.
Saw some woodpeckers and some grey squirrels. Think I saw a blue jay but not sure. And then tons of little brown birds.
There's a nice spot near the north end of path 1 that leads down this gravel'ed hill and the thing is lined with red oaks and this year was not mast year but last year when I went the acorns were an inch deep.
I managed to gather some black walnut in the parking lot and several honey locust pods that still tasted pretty sweet and had large and/or fat pods.