Join us to bird one of the most important sites for biodiversity in Illinois, named for the waterway known as the Middle Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River that transects the property. Featuring a rare tallgrass savanna ecosystem as well as wetland, woodlands, prairies and open fields, this preserve is a prime spot for viewing fall migrants like Fox, White-crowned and Lincoln’s Sparrows as well as Sandhill Cranes, Wilson’s Snipe, Northern Harrier and a variety of migrating waterfowl. Special mid-October sightings in recent years have included Harris’ Sparrow, Purple Finch and the spectacle of hundreds of undulating Pine Siskins swooping over the fields. European Goldfinch are also becoming increasingly common sightings here.

Directions: The preserve is located at 1401 Middlefork Dr in Lake Forest. From Route 60, take Route 43 north to Westmoreland Dr./Middlefork Dr. Turn left to the parking lot.

Leaders: Charlotte Pavelka and Doug Reitz (847) 347-8416

Please register for the MIddlefork Savanna walk here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.

Never birded before? We’ll loan you a pair of binoculars. Not up for a 3-mile bird walk? Grab a chair and see what you can see while hanging around a small pond at Lake Forest Open Lands’ Middlefork Farm, accessed through the Middlefork Savanna parking lot. Come any time from 10 am-4 pm, and stay as long as you like – no registration required.

Sponsored by Lake Forest Open Lands Association and designed for novice and experienced birders alike, this activity is an opportunity to share the camaraderie of birding, begin or advance your birding knowledge, and help the group find as many species as possible while staying in one place. Last year we spotted 44 species from warblers and finches to hawks to herons.  There will be binoculars, scopes, and a few chairs, but you may want to bring your own.  Families are welcome.

Dress in layers appropriate for the weather, keeping in mind that you won’t be moving around very much. Consider sunscreen and insect repellent.  Make sure to apply any repellents while in the parking lot to minimize impact on wildlife.

Leaders:  Charlotte Pavelka (847) 347-8416 and Doug Reitz (847) 549-8814

Note:  The Big Sit will follow Lake/Cook’s Middlefork Savanna field trip, which starts at 7:30 am.  Come to one or both!

Directions: Drive to Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve at 1401 Middlefork Dr in Lake Forest (enter from Waukegan Rd north of Deerpath Road). Park at Elawa Farms/Middlefork Savanna paved or gravel lot.  Make sure to cross the field/playground space to the north and look for the LFOLA green sign to Middlefork Farm on the edge of the woods.

NEW! The 61-acre Jean and John Greene Ravine is a Lake Forest Open Lands property that contains rare ravine, bluff and lakeshore natural communities. It is home to seven state endangered and threatened native plant species and provides important resting habitat for migratory birds along the Lake Michigan flyway, including resident Red-headed Woodpeckers.

NOTE: In addition to land birding, we will be taking the stairs to the beach to check for waterfowl. Those with mobility issues can continue to bird along 1.7-acre trail.

Registration is required and limited to 15 cars due to limited parking. Please register here to confirm your spot.

Directions: The Greene Nature Preserve is located at 797 Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, directly north of the Fort Sheridan Preserve cemetery entrance and US Army Reserve base. Look for the stone pillars. NOTE: the entrance is gated but the leaders will meet to let you in.

Leaders: Maureen Marsh (352) 317-5130 and Wanda Supanich (224) 433-1675

Any time is a good time to bird this jewel of a preserve, but fall birding here provides the bonus of an organized hawk watch that has been in operation since 2013 to monitor the migration of raptors along the western shore of Lake Michigan. From the savanna in the center to the bluff and lakefront on the east, historic parade ground on the south and military cemetery on the north, early October can be filled with birdlife. Be prepared to walk the preserve as well as hang out at the hawk watch to look for raptors with birders who can identify approaching buteos and accipiters when they’re just specks in the sky.

Directions: Access the Preserve from Sheridan Road at the stoplight at Old Elm. Follow the access road to the stop sign and turn left (east). Continue east to Gilgare Lane. Turn left and continue to the parking lot. Meet at the Hawk Watch picnic tables at the west end of the parking lot.  (Map)

Leaders: Pieter Bonin (540) 454-9394 and Rena Cohen (847) 971-1107

Please register for the Fort Sheridan trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.

Glacial Park is one of the jewels of the McHenry County Conservation District, featuring woodland, prairie and wetland habitats that can yield more than 130 species at this time of year. It’s one of the top five areas in the region to view migratory wetland birds thanks to the presence of Nippersink Creek, and special landbird sightings in mid-October in recent years have included Purple Finch, American Pipit, Tufted Titmouse and Horned Lark as well as multiple migrating sparrow species, an occasional lingering Bobolink and much more. Another bonus: the view overlooking the Nippersink Creek valley from the Lost Valley Visitor Center, where it’s possible to see birds flitting in the tree canopy below.

 Directions: From IL 137 (Buckley Rd.), turn slight right onto W. Peterson Rd., right onto IL 60, left onto IL 120/Belvidere Rd., right onto N. Richmond Rd./IL 31, and left onto Harts Rd. into preserve. Turn into first parking lot on your right. Restrooms are available there.

Leader: Mark Fritzmann (815) 382-0055

Please register for the Glacial Park trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.

In this companion program to our November 18 Zoom presentation, Beyond Monty and Rose: The Rise of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Population, we will explore two aspects of the endangered Piping Plovers that have returned to their historical nesting grounds in Waukegan over the past few years – courtesy of the Sharing Our Shore – Waukegan team.

First, we’ll tour the special exhibit Through the Eyes of the Piping Plovers: the Flora, Fauna & People of the Waukegan Dunes, a series of works inspired by the plovers and their local habitat. Highlights include From Fluff Ball to Fledgling, a painting by Carthage College student and 2025 plover monitoring intern Oliver Slater, capturing the birds’ journey from hatching to fledging, as well as art and photos by Brushwood Botanical Artists and Audubon award–winning photographer Steve Jessmore.

Then we’ll view the 30-minute film, Sharing Our Shore and the Return of the Piping Plover to Waukegan Shores, which highlights the plovers Blaze and Pepper, their offspring, and the remarkable story of their breeding success just yards from two Superfund sites.

Please register here to attend this special program.

The Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie is located at 1 N. Sheridan Rd. in downtown Waukegan.

The rolling topography of this preserve is filled with multiple wetlands, making it a magnet for migrating waterfowl and reclusive marsh residents like Wilson’s Snipe. The large open space can also offer great views of migrating raptors, and special late October sightings over the last few years have included Purple Finch, American Pipit, Snow Bunting and Northern Saw-whet Owl.

Directions: From US-41 N, exit west on IL-173, drive 1.5 miles to Hunt Club Rd., turn north. Preserve is on the east side. We will meet in the main lot.

Leader: Nancy Tikalsky (773) 655-0269

Please register for the Pine Dunes trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.

With 1,216 uninterrupted acres, Rollins Savanna is one of Lake County’s largest forest preserves. The habitat ranges from prairie and wetland to an oak grove that plays host to migrating passerines. Fall birding here can include Trumpeter Swans, migrating waterfowl and occasional shorebirds in the largest wetland as well as nearly every fall sparrow that passes through the Chicago area, along with raptors and the occasional Rusty Blackbird or Short-eared Owl.

Bring a spotting scope to scan the large wetland if you have one.

Directions: Meet at the Drury Lane parking lot on the north side of the preserve. From I-94, exit Grand Ave. west to Rollins Rd., then turn left (west) on Rollins and south on Drury Lane Drive .3 mile to the parking lot on left.

Leader: Beau Schaefer 847-337-3602

Please register for the Rollins Savanna trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.

Peregrine Falcons were added to both the federal and state endangered species lists in the 1970s because of eggshell thinning caused by DDT exposure, but the bird has made a remarkable comeback since DDT was banned in 1972. In Illinois, where not a single peregrine chick was born from 1951 to 1998, there are now more than 20 breeding pairs including many in the Chicago metropolitan area – thanks in large part to reintroduction and monitoring efforts led by the Chicago Peregrine Program. The Field Museum’s Mary Hennen, who has headed the program since 1990, will join us to discuss the decline of the species, the museum’s role in identifying the cause, how the population has been restored, and how the birds are now banded, monitored and studied to help ensure their ongoing survival.

The shores of the Great Lakes were once home to nearly 800 pairs of Piping Plovers. By 1990 that number had dropped to 13, all in Northern Michigan. As of this summer, the Great Lakes population of this tiny shorebird had rebounded to a record 85 nesting pairs, with 124 chicks fledged in the wild in four states and Canada. But despite those numbers and the star power of Monty and Rose, the first of their species to nest in Cook County in 71 years when they bred on Montrose Beach in 2019 in a lineage that has continued every summer since, Piping Plovers remain on the federal endangered species list because 150 breeding pairs are necessary to have a solid population.  Dr. Sarah Saunders, a quantitative ecologist with Audubon Great Lakes, will join us via Zoom to discuss the recovery effort and research that is helping protect the species.

A former golf course connected to the now-shuttered Highland Park Country Club, this preserve opened to the public in June 2022 and is rapidly becoming a popular north suburban birding destination. Mature trees, pond and wetland overlooks, a trail along the North Branch Chicago River watershed, and the adjacent Skokie River Woods property with a Great Blue Heron rookery provide a variety of bird-friendly habitats with easy walking.

Directions: The preserve is accessed from the parking lot of the Park Fitness (formerly called the Recreation Center of Highland Park) at 1207 Park Avenue West, just east of Route 41. Meet in front of the Recreation Center building.

Leader: Josh Engel (224) 213-2280

Please register for The Preserve of Highland Park trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.

Two centuries ago, a handful of European-American naturalists trekked around North America, competing to find birds that were still unknown to science. What was that experience like for them? When Kenn Kaufman looked into that period in history as research for his newest book, The Birds That Audubon Missed, he found surprising connections to our own time. Despite all the changes in the world, the adventures of those pioneers have many parallels in the experience of birding today. In this program, Kenn will celebrate discovery and rediscovery, the lure of the unknown, and the endless power of birds to delight and amaze us.

Now a legend among naturalists, Kenn Kaufman burst onto the birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s, hitch-hiking all over North America in pursuit of birds—an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After several years as a leader of birding tours worldwide, he transitioned to a career as a writer, editor, and illustrator. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects and painting bird portraits. Kenn has published 14 books and is a field editor for the National Audubon Society, a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and the only person to have received the American Birding Association’s lifetime achievement award twice.

Every fall, the entire North American population of Broad-winged Hawks fill the sky in what is often called “a river of raptors” as they journey thousands of miles to their wintering grounds in South America. In 2012 and 2013, however, monitoring data suggested a population decline of 10 to 40% in some Eastern states. The next year, to better understand the threats to this forest-nesting raptor, biologists at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania began tagging adult and juvenile birds with transmitters to track them year-round. Dr. Laurie Goodrich, Director of Conservation Science at the sanctuary, will join us to discuss what’s been discovered about the bird’s migration patterns, stopover habits, nesting behavior, and other data that can help set conservation priorities for this species.