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Jackson Park's Wild Side Captured in Calendar [PHOTOS]

By Sam Cholke | December 15, 2015 5:34am | Updated on December 15, 2015 11:04am


A black-crowned night heron is the cover photo this year. [Courtesy of Jane Masterson]

HYDE PARK — Jackson Park is far wilder than many may think, and a Hyde Park photographer has compiled its many flora and fauna into an urban nature calendar.

Jane Masterson, an avid bird watcher and photographer in Hyde Park, has created a calendar of her best wildlife photos from the last year of shooting in Jackson Park, and it makes the South Side look lush and a little wild.

Masterson has captured beavers building dams, diving ducks swimming in bright turquoise water and a deer after it had given birth on Wooded Island.

“You can tell she’s still nursing, she moved in there and had two fawns,” Masterson said.

Now in her fourth year creating the calendar, Masterson said she was lucky to spot one of the park’s two beavers and said she was very proud of the cover picture of black-crowned night heron perched in a flowering box elder tree.

“My sister used to call me a yellow-bellied sapsucker as a child, so I like that one,” Masterson said.

She said the she will use the money raised from the calendar to promote nature walks in the park and fund binoculars to lend out to those who can’t afford them yet.

“I really believe nature makes you feel better,” Masterson said. “I’m trying to just promote people getting out there.”

The calendars are available for $15 at Open Produce, 1635 E. 55th St., or online at Natural History Chicago.


One of Jackson Park's beavers makes an appearance in Masterson's calendar.


A white-winged scoter duck swims on the turquoise water of Jackson Park's outer harbor in March.


Masterson captured a deer after it had given birth to two fawns on Wooded Island.

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