Old Oaks, Tall Chimneys and the Blue Island Ridge: Wildlife and Pest Control in Beverly

A glacial shoreline that became a commuter enclave

The ridge running through Beverly is a remnant shoreline of glacial Lake Chicago, a band of high ground that rises nearly 100 feet above today's lake and carries on south toward the suburb of Blue Island. Potawatomi people lived here until the land cessions of 1833, settlers arrived from 1839, and growth picked up after the Great Fire, when the Rock Island railroad made it practical to commute downtown. The area joined the Village of Washington Heights in 1874, and the portion north of 95th Street was annexed to Chicago in 1890. Five Metra Rock Island stations still serve the community.

Since 1976 the National Register's Ridge Historic District has followed the high ground through Beverly and Morgan Park. Inside it, the Longwood Drive District is a Chicago Landmark district covering the 9800 to 11100 blocks of Longwood Drive and part of Seeley Avenue, and the Walter Burley Griffin Place District preserves a group of Prairie School houses. The limestone Givins Beverly Castle, built in 1886 and 1887, stands on Longwood Drive near 103rd Street. Around these landmarks are big houses on deep, heavily wooded lots, and away from the slope the blocks fill in with bungalows, Georgians and postwar homes. About 79 percent of the housing is single-family, and most of it predates 1969.

For pests, the important point is that most of this housing is old, large and set among trees. Big attics, multiple chimneys, decorative wood trim and deep lots with stumps and fallen limbs all add habitat. The flatter blocks have simpler houses but share the same canopy, so squirrels and raccoons are not confined to the ridge. Pest pressure here is less about alleys and garbage than about roofs, trees and the edge of the woods.

Raccoons in tall chimneys and many-gabled roofs

Raccoons are the leading wildlife call. Dan Ryan Woods, the wooded Longwood slope and the oaks and maples on large yards give them food and cover, and the houses give them choices. A Queen Anne or Tudor roof has valleys, dormers, turrets and gables where flashing lifts and wood trim softens, and many of the big homes have more than one chimney, some no longer used and left uncapped. A female raccoon looking for a nursery in March can find a dry flue or a gap at a roof valley within a block.

Inside an attic, raccoons tear insulation, crush ductwork and set up a latrine in one corner. Their droppings can carry raccoon roundworm eggs, which are hazardous to people, so contaminated insulation should be removed by professionals with protective gear. Thumping and chattering at night, especially between March and June, usually means a mother with young. Kits stay in the den for roughly two months, and a mother separated from them will tear through almost anything to get back, which is why blocking the hole without removing the family causes far more damage than it prevents.

Removal is about timing and access. Specialists confirm whether young are present, then use one-way doors, chimney-top exclusion devices or permitted trapping under Illinois rules. Once the animals are out, the entry is closed with heavy-gauge mesh, flashing or matching wood, and chimneys get sturdy stainless caps. On a tall Victorian, that may mean coordinating with a roofer for ladder or lift access.

Squirrels under the oak canopy

Beverly's mature trees are part of what people love about it, and they are also a squirrel highway. Gray and fox squirrels run limbs onto roofs and chew through soffits, fascia boards, cedar shingles and the joint where a gutter meets the roof edge. Prairie School houses, with their broad overhanging eaves and long soffits, offer especially generous gaps. Once inside, squirrels nest in insulation and sometimes gnaw on electrical wiring, which is a fire risk.

They are active in daylight, with peaks in late winter, when females build nests and give birth, and again from August through October, when the year's young look for homes and acorns are falling. Trimming branches to end well short of the roofline, repairing soft trim and screening vents with stiff galvanized mesh stop most entries. Exclusion with a one-way funnel, followed by a full roof inspection for secondary holes, is the standard professional approach.

Flying squirrels deserve a mention too. Southern flying squirrels live in mature Chicago-area woodlands and can turn up in attics near Dan Ryan Woods and the wooded slope. They are nocturnal, so homeowners often mistake their night-time scurrying for mice. Their droppings pile up in latrines, and they can enter through gaps as small as a quarter. Exclusion works the same way as with gray squirrels but requires sealing smaller openings.

Bats in large, warm attics

Big brown bats and little brown bats are the two species most often found in Chicago-area homes, and the roomy, complex attics of Beverly's older houses suit them. Bats slip through slots no wider than a fingertip, often at the edge of roof flashing, around a chimney chase, behind loose trim or where a dormer wall meets the roof. In summer, females gather in warm attics in maternity colonies to raise their pups, and big brown bats may spend the winter inside walls or attics.

Signs include small, dark droppings that crumble to dust when pressed, often piled below an entry or scattered on the attic floor, brown staining around a gap, and bats streaming out at dusk. A bat found in a living space should not be handled bare-handed, because bats can carry rabies. Illinois protects bats, and exclusion should not be done while pups cannot fly, generally early to mid summer. Specialists install one-way exclusion devices in late summer or early fall, then seal the remaining gaps once the colony has left.

Carpenter ants, moles and fall mice on big lots

Old trees and old wood together make carpenter ants a regular springtime issue. Colonies live in hollow limbs, stumps and rotted heartwood, then send workers along branches and wires into damp areas of the house: window sills under failing paint, porch framing, the base of shingle siding and spots below roof or gutter leaks. Big black ants on the kitchen floor or window sills each spring, sometimes with wings, along with fine shavings under trim, mean a satellite nest is close by. Treatment pairs nest location with moisture repair.

Eastern moles tunnel through the larger lawns and garden beds, raising ridges and pushing up soil mounds, especially in moist spring and fall weather. They hunt earthworms and grubs and rarely come indoors, but repeated tunneling can wreck turf. Trapping in active runs is the reliable fix. House mice, meanwhile, enter historic homes and bungalows alike in fall through foundation cracks, old coal chutes and utility openings, and in big houses they often travel inside walls to upper floors.

Queen Anne, Prairie School or bungalow: where animals get in

The more elaborate the roof, the more places an animal can find. Bungalows and Georgians on the flatter blocks have simpler roofs but share the same tree cover. Additions, enclosed porches and finished third floors on older homes add seams where new framing meets old, and those joints are frequent entry points. Use this list to focus your own look from the ground with binoculars.

• Victorian or Queen Anne: turrets, dormers, roof valleys, decorative trim and tall chimneys
• Prairie School: wide open eaves and long soffits that can hide gaps and nests
• Tudor or Colonial Revival: chimney chases, gable vents and the joints where wings meet
• Bungalow or Georgian: attic vents, soffit returns, basement windows and utility entries
• Every style: limbs within reach of the roof and any uncapped flue

The wildlife year on the ridge

Wildlife timing drives everything here, because sealing an entry at the wrong moment can trap young animals inside. The months below are typical for the ridge, though a warm spring or a late frost can shift them by a few weeks. On the wooded slope, where shade keeps attics cooler, bat colonies can form a little later than on sunny blocks.

• January to February: squirrel nesting begins and raccoons start testing chimneys
• March to May: raccoon, squirrel and skunk births, so every removal needs a check for young
• April to May: carpenter ant activity indoors and mole mounds in lawns
• June to July: bat maternity colonies at their peak, exclusion postponed
• August to September: the main window for bat exclusion and sealing before cold weather
• October to November: squirrels caching acorns and looking for winter dens, mice moving indoors
• December: a good time to cap chimneys, trim trees and repair roofs while dens are mostly empty

Checklist for ridge houses under big trees

Several of these jobs involve roofers, arborists or masons, so they are worth planning together. Doing them in the right season also avoids sealing animals inside. Revisit the list in spring and late summer, after storms that bring down limbs, and whenever new roofing or trim work is finished. A spring and fall walk with binoculars around the roofline takes twenty minutes and catches most new holes before an animal moves in.

• Have an arborist cut branches so none hang within eight feet of a roof, turret or chimney
• Cap every chimney, including unused flues, with sturdy metal caps
• Repair lifted flashing, loose trim and soft soffits
• Screen attic and gable vents with heavy-gauge metal mesh
• Remove dead limbs and stumps where carpenter ants nest
• Fix gutter and roof leaks that keep trim and sills damp
• Seal foundation gaps and old coal chutes with masonry or metal
• Plan bat exclusion for late summer, after pups can fly

Landmark districts, ladders and what a wildlife visit involves

A wildlife visit usually starts with a full roofline inspection, from a ladder or with binoculars, plus the attic if it is accessible. The specialist identifies the animal, every entry point and any young before choosing a method. After the animals are out, openings are sealed with metal mesh, flashing or matching wood, and the attic may need cleanup and new insulation. Insect and rodent work, such as carpenter ant treatment and mouse control, is handled by licensed exterminators, and the two trades often coordinate on larger homes.

For houses in the Longwood Drive Chicago Landmark District, work on facades seen from the public way can require a permit review by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks staff, so ask providers to use materials that match original trim, shingles and masonry. National Register listing in the broader Ridge Historic District does not by itself restrict privately funded repairs. Urgent problems, like a bat or raccoon loose inside the living space, can often be seen the same day.