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Lake Cook Chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society
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Best Bird Watching Locations
in Lake County and Northeastern Illinois
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Here is a partial list of some of the best birding locations in northeastern Illinois with a focus on Lake County. We will continue to add to this list and welcome your suggestions of locations to add. Send your ideas by email to wingtips@lakecookaudubon.org.
Almond Marsh
Endangered Great Blue Heron Rookery and more in Lake County, Illinois
Bowen Park - Municipal park on prime deep ravine property with street-level woodland habitat. Easy walking in park; ravine walk optional.
Chicago Botanic Garden – Inland birding/gardener’s delight with 20+ gardens, ponds, conifers, hardwood forest, grassland and prairie habitats. Flat trails with some hills.
Illinois Beach State Park / North Unit - Passerines, lakefront birds, possible sparrow migration and Hawk Watch. Land and beach birding. Easy to moderate hiking, stationary birding at Hawk Watch.
Illinois Beach State Park / South Unit - Land and beach birding with migrating raptors, sparrows, gulls, terns and shorebirds possible. Open flat hiking thru oak woodlands, Dead River Trail, and grassy and wooded sand dunes, plus long sand beach.
 Middlefork Savanna - 600 precious acres of tallgrass savanna, wetlands, woodlands prairie and open field ecosystems offer a variety of habitat which attract a diverse breeding bird population as well as providing a restful stopover for migrating birds.
Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary
Chicago's lakefront for passerines, shorebirds, terns and gulls. Including the famous, Magic Hedge, Montrose Point is a 15-acre bird sanctuary that attracts thousands of migratory birds of more than 300 different species.
Rollins Savanna – Inland prairie, grassland, savanna, marsh and pond habitats with some open woods; recently restored from farmland. Level walking on gravel trails, with more challenging hiking possible to get to ponds and marshes for waterfowl.
 Ryerson Conservation Area - Inland birding with woods, river, meadow and grassland habitats, good for migrants. Easy trail/grass hiking.
Waukegan Beach/Harbor/Pines– Beach, dune and harbor habitat on Lake Michigan for shorebirds, gulls, terns and waterfowl plus a nearby passerine migrant trap.
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, picnic grove and pond habitats, popular migrant stop. Easy trail/grass hiking.