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YOUR GUIDE TO ARTS & LEISURE IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2020 • ShawMediaIllinois.com

CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS

Fans show up for opening of Wahlburgers in St. Charles / 3

SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Outdoor concert series returns to Hegeler Carus Mansion / 4

HITTING THE MARK

Ax-throwing venues popping up all across northern Illinois

/5

UNCORKED

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An expert taster shares favorite finds to consider adding to your own wine racks.

Shaw Media Illinois / ShawMediaIllinois.com • Saturday, August 8, 2020

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By JAMES NOKES

Photos provided

Torresella winery is located in the Veneto region in the northeastern part of Italy.

Prosecco woos fans with bubbly personality

P

rosecco has hit an international growth spurt.

During a Zoom call on July 21 to celebrate the third annual National Prosecco Week, the finer points of the Italian sparkling wine were on display. The Prosecco DOC Consortium has helped raise the profile to where worldwide distribution has grown from 120,000 cases in 2009 to 486,000 cases today.

It’s an easy-drinking, fizzy wine with flavors that can include red apple, pear, ginger and candied lemon.

Made mostly from the Glera grape, the secondary fermentation takes place in a steel tank, a process known as the Charmat-Martinotti method. There’s very minimal or no contact with the grape skins, so Prosecco has more fruit flavors and almost no yeast flavors, unlike Champagne or sparkling wine where there is contact and the secondary fermentation takes place in each bottle.

“Glera is an aromatic grape,” Freixenet Mionetto USA CEO Enore Ceola said. “Some level of our primary fruit, acidity and complexity will change, but it doesn’t change as much as Champagne or sparkling wine does during fermentation.”

Whether it’s best paired with brunch, salads, spicy foods or sea food, for Brooke Sabel there’s never a bad time to enjoy Prosecco.

“These days the Enore Ceola fact you woke up is reason enough to celebrate,” said Sabel who hosted the panel discussion and is the wine director for Gary’s Wine and Marketplace.

“My grandma would always say if you woke up with a roof over your head and food in the fridge, that’s reason enough to celebrate.”

Subtle differences exist between the three classifications of brut, dry and extra dry, and the flavors gradually get sweeter or riper as it slides down the scale and residual sugar increases.

“Extra dry was the most wellknown Prosecco,” Ceola said. “But extra dry has become a divisive phrase.

With Prosecco, brut is very close to extra dry.”

That was evident during the tasting. The driest of the eight was Biancavigna Prosecco DOC Brut ($16.99), with fuzzy peach flavors that Prosecco DOC

Consortium spokesperson Arianna Pizzolato said called for oysters.

Mionetto has been produced by the same family for 130 years, and its

Mionetto Prestige Prosecco DOC Brut ($12.99) with 12 grams per liter of sug-

ar led to flavors of apricot and hints of yeast.

“This is important for us,” Ceola said. “This is our heritage where the original Glera vines were planted years ago. Because we balanced the fruit and sugar well, the yeast flavors are just there as a hint.”

Valdo Marca Oro Prosecco DOC Brut ($13.99) had a sweet, honeysuckle fla-

vor with red apple and honey. Pizzolato suggested it needed spicy “food with a kick,” because its “weight and fruit would match up well.”

More syrupy in texture was

Zardetto Prosecco DOC Brut ($16.99)

with its candied Meyer lemon flavors, which kicked it up a notch on the sweetness meter. A floral nose with rose water was Torresella Prosecco DOC Extra Dry ($14), as it had a weightier palate feel. It’s earthy, fruity profile would make it an interesting foil for baklava.

Grown in clay-like soils, Genagrico-

la Tenuta Sant’Anna Prosecco DOC Extra

Dry ($14.99) had white flower on the

nose and flavors of honeysuckle, green apple and ground ginger. Also grown in clay-like soils and with 15 grams per liter of residual sugar, Genagricola

Borgo Magredo Prosecco DOC Extra Dry ($14.99) had red apple and candied lemon rind flavors.

The sweetest according to grams of sugar per liter at 18 was Mionetto

Organic Prosecco DOC Extra Dry ($14.99).

Its lovely nose of apple cider was a prelude to a bigger, more mouth-coating wine. Grown at a higher altitude than its counterpart, there were flavors of mashed up, warmed red apple and pear preserves. It was the star of the lineup for its robust flavors, mouthfeel and snappy fruit flavors.

“Acidity can balance sweetness,” Ceola said. “Many people have traveled to Italy and had a glass. We’ve found it’s easy to pair with food, and our consumers promote it more. People that like Prosecco end up sharing it with friends because it is an easy wine to drink.”

• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.

Far-flung fans show up for opening of Wahlburgers

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

eschelkopf@shawmedia.com

D

ecked out in a New Kids on the Block shirt, Megan Zilinger of Joliet was ready to meet New Kids on the Block member and Illinois resident Donnie Wahlberg as she patiently waited in line July 28 outside the newly opened Wahlburgers restaurant in St. Charles.

“I’ve been a fan at least 30 years,” Zilinger said. “I grew up on their music. It was just danceable music and it was relatable.”

Wahlberg and his wife, actress and television/radio host Jenny McCarthy, live in St. Charles. They greeted fans as the restaurant opened for business that Tuesday morning.

McCarthy grew up on Chicago’s South Side. Zilinger attended the same high school as McCarthy – Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School in Chicago.

“She had graduated by the time I got there,” Zilinger said.

Accompanying Zilinger was her friend and neighbor, Shannon Godar of Joliet.

“We’re excited to try the food and hopefully meet Donnie,” Godar said.

“It’s exciting. We’re all New Kids fans from way back when. It would be exciting to actually meet him.”

Kristi Williams, of North Aurora, was proudly wearing a hat autographed by Donnie Wahlberg and his brother, Wahlburgers Executive Chef Paul Wahlberg.

“They said thank you for coming,” Williams said.

Her friend, Sarah Henneke, of Ottawa, was wearing a Wahlburgers shirt signed by Donnie Wahlberg.

“I’ve actually been to four different locations,” she said. “This is from the Fenway location in Boston.”

For Henneke, meeting both Donnie and Paul Wahlberg was an “awesome” experience.

“I was a fan of New Kids on the Block when I was a kid and never dreamed that this would even be possible some day,” she said.

She also is a fan of the food at Wahlburgers.

“Paul has a secret sauce that’s a really good sauce,” Henneke said. “It’s so delicious.”

The Wahlburgers chain was founded by Chef Paul Wahlberg in partnership with his brothers, actors Mark

Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com

Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy greet guests at the opening of Wahlburgers in St. Charles on July 28.

IF YOU GO ■■ WHAT: Wahlburgers ■■ WHERE: 825 S. Randall Road, St.

Charles ■■ HOURS: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily ■■ INFO: wahlburgers.com/stcharles Wahlberg and Donnie Wahlberg.

Wahlburgers is located at the southwest corner of Route 38 and Randall Road near the Meijer store. The restaurant had been set to launch in April.

Paul Wahlberg joked about opening the restaurant during a pandemic.

“I had it written down, ‘Be careful of pandemic,’ but I forgot that I wrote that down,” he said during a Zoom interview.

The chef said it feels good to finally be able to open the restaurant.

“We’ve been chomping at the bit trying to get the place open,” he said.

“We want people to come in and experience it. We want to give people an outlet, a place where they can go and feel some normalcy in their lives. So it’s hugely important for us.”

Paul Wahlberg took note of the number of people who showed up for

the restaurant’s opening.

“It’s no surprise, especially when Donnie’s involved,” Paul Wahlberg said. “He has such a loyal following.

And it’s amazing.”

He is thankful to the people who came to visit the restaurant on its opening day.

“We’re blessed by anyone who walks through the door,” he said. “We truly feel that way because there’s a lot of choices. There’s a lot of choices in this area. There’s a lot of choices everywhere.”

Paul Wahlberg said the restaurant is doing everything it can to keep its customers and employees safe during the pandemic.

“All of our employees are wearing masks, sanitizing every surface, social distancing, everything that the CDC requires, we’re following. And we go above and beyond. We’re in the restaurant business. So our job is to be clean. … We want people to come here to feel safe and enjoy themselves and know that they’re going to be well taken care of.”

Paul Wahlberg stressed the restaurant wants to be part of the fabric of the community.

“Wherever we go, we want to be

part of the community because it’s important for us to know that this is a place that you can go and feel like it’s part of a neighborhood and part of a community.”

He is proud of the restaurant’s food, especially The Our Burger.

“It’s a classic burger,” he said. “It’s got lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, wahl sauce and our government cheese to remind us where we came from.”

Customers shouldn’t be surprised to see Mark Wahlberg dropping by the restaurant soon.

“He’s filming right now. His work requires a little bit more travel than mine,” Paul Wahlberg said.

The 5,000-square-foot casual restaurant and bar features an abundance of outdoor seating for al fresco dining and a one-of-a-kind immersive “Happy Place” area. The whimsical and social media-friendly corner of the restaurant will include a fun-filled and family-oriented pop-up art exhibit where guests can pose for photos.

Many are familiar with the restaurant group and its concept thanks to the A&E reality television series “Wahlburgers,” which aired from 2014 to 2019. Donnie Wahlberg appears in the CBS drama “Blue Bloods.”

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IN THE LIMELIGHT

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STARVED ROCK COUNTRY

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Shaw Media Illinois / ShawMediaIllinois.com • Saturday, August 8, 2020

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Dedicated to growing the awareness of everything the Starved Rock area has to offer

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The 2020 Summer Concerts season at the Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle has resumed with a lineup of terrific acts spanning many genres.

Concert series to grace lawn of landmark Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle

By RYAN SEARL

rsearl@shawmedia.com

E

very summer, the lawn in front of the palatial Hegeler Carus Mansion, conveniently located near I-80 and I-39 in La Salle, is transformed into a one-of-a-kind outdoor music venue. The mansion museum, which holds a slot on the National Register of Historic Places, has entertained thousands of guests with family-friendly open-air concerts over the years.

After taking a several month long sabbatical because of the pandemic, the 2020 Summer Concerts season has resumed with a lineup of terrific acts spanning many genres. This year’s installment will include new social distancing protocols designed to ensure a safe outing at the Hegeler Carus Mansion.

Guests have first-come choice of 8-foot, spray-painted circles, spread 6 feet apart from each other across the mansion’s lawn. Only small groups of

The Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. people will be permitted in each circle, with a maximum of 10 individuals allowed inside. The use of face masks will be required when outside of your circle, and all patrons will receive hand sanitizer on their way through the gate. The new measures are intended to let everyone rest easy when attending the shows.

Guests are free to bring their own

chairs and blankets, along with their own food and drinks, as they watch acts perform on the mansion’s elevated gazebo. You’ll also have the ability to purchase custom-made, wood-fired pizzas, prepared on site to your specifications. The Hegeler Carus Mansion has partnered with local favorite Passini’s Wood Fired Pizza, which will bring its mobile pizza oven to most shows this season.

Like all music events and outdoor gatherings this year, extra patience will be required. Grounds will open at 6 p.m. the evening of each concert. Bands will take the stage at about 6:30 p.m., and play a relaxed two-hour set. The cost for entry to these shows is $5 per person. There is no pre-registration, simply arrive at the Hegeler Carus grounds and pay at the gate.

Here’s the music schedule for the remainder of the 2020 season.

• Aug. 14 – Three Day Weekend • Aug. 21 – Last Warning • Aug. 28 – Crossroads • Sept. 4 – Long Ladder Home

• Sept. 11 – Steve Sharp Band • Sept. 18 – Big Uproar While you’re at the shows, be sure to don your face mask and take a walk around the beautifully designed estate.

The remarkable Second Empire home was designed by the Chicago Water Tower architect, W. W. Boyington., The gorgeous mansion has remained virtually unaltered since its completion in 1876, making it a standing time capsule unlike any other in Illinois. Boasting over 56 rooms spread across seven levels, the 16,000-squarefoot marvel shouldn’t be missed. The interior is just as inspiring as the outside, with its intricate parquet floors, hand-painted ceilings and rooms filled with vast collections amassed by the former globe-trotting residents. The national landmark currently is taking reservations for tours; head to its website to reserve a space.

The Hegeler Carus Mansion is at 1307 Seventh St. For more details, visit www.facebook.com/hegelercarus and hegelercarus.org.

AX-STREME

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Ax-throwing business Northern Axeposure opens in Sycamore

By KATRINA J.E. MILTON kmilton@shawmedia.com

M

ike Gleissner of Genoa had never heard of ax throwing until he visited family in St. Louis in October.

“We had a blast, our whole family loved it,” he said.

“I woke up the next morning, turned to my wife and said, ‘We can do this.’

So we decided to start an ax-throwing business.”

Mike and Stephanie Gleissner own Northern Axeposure, 1170 DeKalb Ave., Suite 108, in Sycamore, which opened on July 23.

The family built and created everything inside the business themselves, including the lanes and targets.

Patrons can book sessions for 60, 90 or 120 minutes online at www. northernaxes.com. Walk-in sessions are available if lanes are not fully booked. Northern Axeposure plans on offering Tuesday leagues in the future when health and safety concerns from COVID-19 are eased.

Each session reserves the selected amount of time for a lane with two targets. Northern Axeposure has seven lanes with 14 targets total.

People ages 10 and older can participate, and wearing closed-toe shoes is required. Snacks and soft drinks are available for purchase, but not alcohol.

Each session begins with 5 to 10 minutes of instruction for new players, including how to hold, release and step while throwing an ax. Coaches walk around to answer players’ questions or to give advice.

Owner Stephanie Gleissner said ax throwing is similar to darts or skee-ball, with a target and rings with different point values. There are two small blue circles, or kill shots, on each target worth 10 points each. Northern Axeposure abides by the World Axe Throwing League’s

rules and uses its standard axes.

Lighter axes are available upon request. Players stand 12 feet from the target, and a line on the ground marks the distance. Axes can be thrown with either one hand or both.

“It’s something fun, unique and out of the ordinary that anybody can do,” she said. “You just have to be patient in the beginning. Just like in bowling, you can’t expect to throw a ball for the first time and get a strike.

But it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it, only a quick warm-up. It becomes an opportunity for people to let go of their fears. It’s exhilarating.”

Rob Wise of Genoa and his family, wife Kristi and daughters Aubrey, 11, Mia, 13, and Olivia, 15, hurled axes for the first time on Northern Axeposure’s opening day.

“I feel like an outdoorsman, even though my daughters are throwing better than me,” Rob Wise said.

“My 11-year-old daughter can hit the bulls-eye. I think it’s a lot of fun.

I’d tell everyone to just give it a try, because it’s a great experience. It’s like darts on steroids.”

Holly Lippold of Genoa stopped in with her friends and neighbors, Justine Pease and Jean Reiss.

“I’ve never thrown an ax before and it’s a little bit more difficult than I expected,” she said. “But it’s easy to get the hang of it. We’ll absolutely be back, maybe with our Girl Scout troop.”

Chris Barber of Steward and his girlfriend, Catherine Rozycki of Hampshire, turned their ax throwing into a competition.

“It takes your mind off of things and your arm starts to hurt after a while,” Barber said. “We’ll absolutely be back. I’m thinking about joining a league. It’s a lot of fun to chuck an ax at a wall.”

For more information about Northern Axeposure, visit www. northernaxes.com or call 815-9919181.

Chris Barber of Steward tries his hand at ax throwing at Northern Axeposure in Sycamore.

Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.com

Target a venue close to home Here’s a roundup of some of the additional ax-throwing businesses aimed at fun across northern Illinois, each with its own personality and amenities.

■■ Axe Factor Throwing in Plainfield; axefactorthrowing.com ■■ Spartan Axe Throwing in Crystal Lake; www.spartanaxethrowing.

com ■■ Bad Axe Throwing in Aurora, calling itself the world’s biggest urban

axe throwing club; badaxethrowing.com/locations/axe-throwing-aurora ■■ BullsEye Axe Lounge in South Barrington and Schaumburg; www.

bullseyeaxelounge.com ■■ The Chill’Axe Throwing in Aurora; thechillaxe.com ■■ Axeplosion in Lombard, Aurora and Buffalo Grove; www.axeplosion.

com ■■ Master Axe in Downers Grove; www.masteraxethrowing.com ■■ Splinters Axe Throwing in St. Charles; www.splintershangout.com ■■ Bull and Bear Axe Throwing in Montgomery and Bloomingdale;

bullandbearaxe.com In addition to businesses dedicated to the sport, Rocket Axe Throwing brings the competition to different venues on various dates, including Jamie’s OutPost Parlor/Mix’s Trading Post in Utica and Psycho Silo Saloon in Langley. Visit www. facebook.com/rocketaxe for details.

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SPORT

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6 STREAMING THIS WEEKEND

Luke Bryan, Jeff Foxworthy, 2 Seth Rogens on tap

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

Movies

“American Pickle”: Seth Rogen plays dual roles in this film about a man from the 1920s who falls into a vat of pickle juice, wakes up fully preserved 100 years later and gets a chance to know his great-grandson – a Brooklyn-based app developer. Part “Being There” meets “Kate & Leopold,” part Rogen-joint, “American Pickle” has a sweet heart and a few fun gags that make this a pleasant watch on HBO Max. If you want to keep the warm feelings going, the good-natured “Peanut Butter Falcon” hit Amazon Video. This lovely 2019 indie (and sleeper box office hit) features Shia LaBeouf and newcomer Zack Gottsagen on a Huck Finn-type journey across North Carolina. It’s a soulful performance from LaBeouf, but it’s Gottsagen, who has Down syndrome, who wins over your

heart as a young wrestling-obsessed man who is determined to be free.

“Howard”: Lyricist Howard Ashman has been gone for almost 30 years, but his witty and nimble work lives on in the songs of “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.” In this documentary streaming on Disney Plus, director Don Hahn tells Ashman’s story with the help of family, friends and collaborators, and how he created some of his most iconic works while secretly battling AIDS. – Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

Music

Country superstar Luke Bryan is looking to his roots on his seventh album. The Georgia native’s small-town values helped shape “Born Here Live Here Die Here,” his new album released Friday. The album features the hits “Knockin’ Boots,” “What She Wants Tonight” and “One Margarita.” The 10-song set is Bryan’s first album since 2017’s “What Makes You Country,” and its release was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Multi-platinum rapper Aminé just released his sophomore album,

“Limbo.” The album features the

singles “Riri,” “Shimmy” and the Young Thug-assisted “Compensating.”

Aminé also turned heads this year, appearing on the fourth season of the hit HBO series “Insecure,” which recently earned eight Emmy nominations.

– Music Editor Mesfin Fekadu

Television

Jeff Foxworthy, comedian and self-declared “avid collector of a lot of different stuff,” is on a virtual treasure hunt in the new A&E series “What’s It Worth?” airing Tuesdays.

From the safety of his Georgia home’s man cave, Foxworthy visits “everyday people” to check out their potentially valuable heirlooms, pop-culture keepsakes and such. Experts help determine whether the items have more than sentimental worth, while Foxworthy uncovers personal stories that A&E says can be “as impressive as the dollar value itself.”

Of all the shows in all the world suitable for a pandemic, would tooclose-for-comfort “Big Brother” be anywhere on the list? Nah. But that didn’t keep the series from debuting this week on CBS with an “all-star”

cast including past winners, finalists and, ahem, “legends.” Contestants are being quarantined and tested for the coronavirus before entering their shared digs, face weekly tests and will avoid all contact with the crew, the network said. The game remains the same, with the housemates living together under the eye of cameras as they vie for a $500,000 prize. “Big Brother” airs at 7 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

PBS’ “Masterpiece” delivers comfort food with the return of “Endeavour,” starring Shaun Evans as the Oxford-based British police detective.

The three-episode run begins Sunday with Endeavour Morse marking the new year in Venice with a lovely companion while murder is afoot back home. Familiar characters this season include Dorothea Frazil, the newspaper editor played by Abigail Thaw – daughter of the late John Thaw, star of the original “Morse” series. More family connections: Molly-Mae Whitmey, Abigail Thaw’s daughter, plays a character based on her grandmother.

– Television Writer Lynn Elber

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By PAM OTTO

Taking interesting dives into the natural world around us, Pam Otto opens new avenues of exploration.

Hungry wasp cuckoo for fresh minty flavor

B

ack in the day of Saturday morning cartoons, one of the more memorable commercials (and one of the more annoying, if you ask my mom) hyped the virtues of a certain chocolatey cereal.

Sonny the cuckoo bird (who actually looked more like a roadrunner in a striped sweater but, hey, whatever sells, right?) would try to find various means to keep himself away from the cereal. Inevitably though, before the 30-second ad was over, Sonny would yield to temptation, shouting, “I’m cuckoo for Coco Puffs! Cuckoo for Coco Puffs! Cuckoo for Coco Puffs!” as he bounced around and waved his wings in anticipation of the munchy, crunchy, chocolatey goodness.

This summer, I haven’t been lucky enough to have Sonny or any other cuckoo in my yard, but I do have something that’s making lots of insects go cuckoo, as in crazy with cravings: Pycnanthemum virginianum, or common mountain mint.

I know what you’re thinking … mountain mint? In Illinois? As it turns out, the name dates to 1790 or so, a time when many plants were being cataloged for the first time, and can be traced to Pennsylvania, which does indeed have mountains. But probably the more important part of the name is its genus, Pycnanthemum, which comes from the Greek pychnos, or dense, and anthemon, or flower. This densely flowered plant offers something for everyone, especially pollinators.

I tell you, I’ve had the best time this summer watching all sorts of insects go positively wild over this plant and its seemingly endless supply of nectar.

Each flowerhead consists of many – like 50 – individual flowers that bloom at different times, which means the plant is a nonstop source of food from June to September.

I’ve got common mountain mint planted in my front yard, and have lost track of the types and numbers of native bees, beetles, flies and butterflies that visit the small whitish blooms throughout the day. But the visitor that trumps them all – the one that turns my head every time – is the great black wasp, Sphex pensylvanicus.

Wasps have a mostly undeserved reputation as being aggressive and apt to sting first and ask questions later.

Sure, some of them – namely the eusocial yellowjackets, paper wasps and bald-faced hornets – do defend their nests pretty fiercely. But many other

Photo provided

A great black wasp takes a nectar break amid the plentiful blooms of common mountain mint. species are solitary. Without the drive to defend a nest of dozens or hundreds of cohorts, they go about their days in a peaceable manner, only stinging when truly threatened. (Remember the song about a baby bumblebee, wherein some young scamp brings home a young Bombus, then proceeds to squish it and get stung? That’s the level of threat needed to get a solitary wasp to sting.)

At any rate, their role in our local ecology dictates that some solitary wasps grow to a pretty large size. Maybe you’ve heard of the cicada killer wasp, Sphecius speciosus? It stings and paralyzes cicadas, which it then uses to feed its offspring.

The great black wasp does something similar, only instead of cicadas, its baby foods of choice are grasshoppers and katydids. These insects are large and meaty and, evidently, exactly what developing great black wasp larvae need. Injecting the hapless creatures with a venom that immobilizes but isn’t lethal, the female wasp then grasps her prey and totes it off to the natal burrow she’s dug in soft soil.

Ah, but here’s where things can get a bit tricky for this spunky Sphex.

Lugging home her trophy, which in some cases can be a feat equivalent to a human lugging home a piano, she becomes vulnerable to an interesting bit of behavior that scientists call kleptoparasitism – that is, other critters try to steal what she’s caught.

Catbirds have been implicated in this behavior, as have house sparrows; other species probably do too, but have yet to be caught in the act.

A hearty and nutritious grasshopper rendered helpless by the wasp’s venom is, after all, a free meal that would be hard to pass up.

The good news, for the wasp, is that she’s capable of stinging multiple prey insects multiple times, so as long as the klepto-creatures eventually leave her alone, she should be able to complete her duty of provisioning her nest, laying her eggs and perpetuating her species.

And that’s where mountain mint comes in. Its copious amounts of nectar provide the energy female great black wasps need to carry out their

tasks, and the males too, although their days are quite different from those of their mates. They can’t help with the hunting because they have no stingers, and their smaller size means they wouldn’t be of much help hauling home the pianos, I mean prey.

They do, however, do a splendid job of patrolling and protecting choice nesting areas from other male great black wasps – but, as far as I can tell, not catbirds, sparrows or other marauders.

Watching the wasps fuel up multiple times a day, gaining the energy they need to carry out their tasks, I can’t help but think of Sonny the cuckoo bird. As the insects dig into the tightly packed petals, their wings twitch and their legs quiver and then off they go, bouncing from one plant to another. Like Sonny jazzed up on sugary cereal, these wasps are cuckoo for mountain mint, cuckoo for mountain mint, cuckoo for mountain mint!

• Pam Otto is the outreach ambassador for the St. Charles Park District.

She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.

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GOOD NATURED

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8

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