Next Field Trips
Join us on our next bird watching field trip. Unless otherwise noted, there is no charge for participation. Some trips may require prior registration or are prioritized for Lake Cook Audubon members. This will be noted in the field trip description.
Wetland, grassland and oak grove habitats provide ample opportunity to see a wide variety of migrating landbirds, shorebirds & waterfowl. Meet at Drury Lane parking lot.
Directions: From I-94, exit Grand Ave. west to Rollins Road, turn left (west) on Rollins and south on Drury Lane – drive .3 mile to parking lot.
Leader: Beau Schaefer 847-337-3602
Join Lake/Cook and Red Hill Birding’s Adam Sell for a spring jaunt to southern Illinois. Migrants are at their peak in this area in late April, and most of the southern breeding specialties are already actively setting up territories. We’ll search for migrants that haven’t yet reached our area plus specialties like Chuck-wills-Widow, Prairie, Worm-eating, and Kentucky Warblers, Bell’s Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Fish Crow, and Loggerhead Shrike. Bonus: we will be staying at the Giant City State Park Lodge, where species like White-eyed Vireo, Worm-eating Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, and Red-shouldered Hawk can be right outside our door.
We’ll be traveling by one or two vans from the Chicago area, depending on participant numbers. Email renabird3@gmail.com for itinerary and cost. Maximum 15 participants. Member priority
Next Programs
Our programs are open to the public and free. Most are offered at Heller Nature Center in Highland Park. Some may be presented on Zoom. This will be noted in the program description. Many past-programs can now be viewed on YouTube here.
Eastern Whip-poor-wills are declining, and one reason may be a simultaneous decline in the nocturnal insects on which they feed. University of Illinois PhD student Grant Witynski and other members of the Ward Lab of Ornithology have conducted hundreds of hours of insect trapping using ultraviolet-light traps on Whip-poor-will breeding grounds. By using fecal DNA metabarcoding to detect prey species consumed by Whip-poor-wills, Witynski is seeking insights into their foraging ecology that provide clues to their falling populations and suggest future directions for conservation efforts. This program will be followed by a weekend field trip to Illinois Beach State Park to hear the bird call its name and hopefully catch a glimpse at nightfall.
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Who We Are
We are a gathering of people who enjoy bird watching and studying birds and wildlife. We welcome people of all ages and skills to join us on our field trips, programs and other events. Most of our monthly programs are bird-oriented, but we also address environmental and natural history topics.
The Illinois Audubon Society is the state’s oldest conservation organization that functions as a land trust to protect and enhance Illinois’ unique habitats and to educate the public about them. Organized in 1897, Illinois Audubon is not affiliated with the National Audubon Society.