Hundreds of state-endangered Black-crowned Night Herons nest in the Lincoln Park Zoo, creating what is believed to be the largest remaining single-species BCNH breeding colony in Illinois. The number of nests, the squawk of the birds and their newly hatched chicks, and the fact that they are breeding in the middle of a busy urban neighborhood create a magical viewing experience as well as a wonderful conservation learning opportunity. Amy Lardner, founder of the Chicago Black-crowned Night Heron Project, will show us the rookery, explain its significance as well as the project’s conservation efforts, and then accompany us to the zoo’s Nature Boardwalk to discuss the zoo’s broader urban conservation involvement. Optional brunch at Café Brauer on the Nature Boardwalk overlooking South Pond to follow.
Meet outside the zoo’s West Gate entrance on N. Stockton Drive. ARRIVE EARLY TO FIND STREET PARKING. (The zoo parking lot costs $35 or more unless you are a member.) Carpool if possible to make parking easier.
Please register for the tour and the optional brunch here – we need a headcount for both.
The Newberry Library has just opened a temporary exhibit called Winging It: A Brief History of Humanity’s Relationship with Birds that collates illustrations, woodblock prints and other media from the Newberry’s collection to demonstrate how birds in Europe and the Americas have persisted through the centuries – often despite human interference. This private tour by local birder, filmmaker and library communications director Bob Dolgan, who curated the exhibit, is open exclusively to Lake/Cook members with a maximum attendance of 15. Email renabird3@gmail.com to register for a digital lottery that will be held in early July to select attendees. Winners will be selected at random through a digital app. Lake/Cook membership is required to participate in the lottery. Please attend ONLY if you receive an email confirmation.
Catch the last wave of lingering migrants along with nesting birds like Prothonotary Warbler at one of the top birding hotspots in the north suburbs.
Waterproof shoes are advisable in case the woods along the lagoon shoreline are wet.
Directions: Meet at the Willow Rd. entrance just east of the Edens Expressway (the sign says Erickson Woods). From the north, take the Edens southbound and exit at Tower Road. Turn left (south) on the Frontage road to Willow Road. Turn left (east) on Willow and cross over the Edens to the Erickson Woods entrance. Park at the north end of the parking lot.
Leader: Pieter Bonin 540-454-9394
Please register for the Skokie Lagoons field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
North Carolina: Six Days from Raleigh to the Outer Banks
Led by Ron Martin, the leader on our 2023 North Dakota trip who has since relocated to North Carolina, this trip will take us from Raleigh to Hatteras for a pelagic trip to the Outer Banks. Target species range from landbirds like Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Swainson’s Warbler, Brown-headed Nuthatch and Bachman’s Sparrow to coastal specialties such as Sandwich and Gull-billed Terns as well as multiple pelagic shearwater and storm-petrel species. We will also include stops of historic significance at The Wright Brothers Memorial and the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Maximum 14 participants.
Priority to Lake/Cook Chapter members.
Email renabird3@gmail.com if you are interested in a complete itinerary and cost.
Southern California: Sea, Mountains & Desert
Led by Red Hill Birding’s Steve Huggins, this trip will begin in Los Angeles, end in San Diego and take us out of the cold Chicago winter to varied (and much warmer!) habitats including the Pacific Ocean Coast, high mountains, vast deserts and bird-rich wetlands. We’ll see many of the common and widespread specialties of California like California Scrub-Jay, California Condor, LeConte’s Thrasher and Mountain Quail; endangered species like California Gnatcatcher; endemic species like Yellow-billed Magpie and Island Scrub-Jay; uncommon species like Lawrence’s Goldfinch; coastal Pacific specialties like Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Bran’s and Pelagic Cormorants, and Pacific Loon; and much more. We’ll also look for pelagic species on our boat ride to Santa Cruz Island. Maximum 7 participants.
Priority to Lake/Cook Chapter members.
Email renabird3@gmail.com if you are interested in a complete itinerary and cost.
European Goldfinches are stunning birds that are obviously native to Europe, but they began showing up in Lake County as early as 2001, presumably because they were released cage birds. By 2024, they were so common in pockets around the U.S. including Illinois and Wisconsin that they were added to the countable Illinois and American Birding Association checklists. Louise Bodt, a PhD candidate in the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago and a scientific affiliate at the Field Museum, will explain how this happened and its relation to her research into how introduced species can serve as a model for understanding how species change in new environments.
Please register here if you are participating in the potluck dinner so that we can get a headcount for table setup.
This underbirded location is a beautiful seminary campus featuring a hard surface road that loops 3.2 miles around a large lake, plus woods surrounding the lake with excellent habitat for migrants.
Directions: The seminary property is located on Route 45 between Route 176 and Winchester Rd. Enter at the stoplight on Route 45. Park in the Purple Lot.
See pin – USML Purple Parking Lot and Package Delivery
Leaders: Rena Cohen 847-971-1107 and Susan Lamberts
Please register for the University of Saint Mary of the Lake field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions
Located on the Fox River, the McHenry Dam area adjacent to Moraine Hills State Park is one of McHenry County’s top birding hotspots and usually a reliable place to find special birds like nesting Prothonotary, Pine and Yellow-throated Warblers as well as other uncommon local nesters like Yellow-throated Vireo. We should also see resident Bald Eagles and much more with trails that wind through wetlands, easy walking trails, and scenic views all the way.
Directions: From I-294, exit Rt. 176 and drive west 17 miles to River Rd. Turn north, drive 2.5 miles to the entrance. Meet at the south end of parking lot.
Leader: Mark Fritzmann 815-382-0055
Please register for the McHenry Dam field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Migration is winding down, but late May can still be hopping at this hotspot along the Des Plaines River corridor. This has been one of the few places in Lake County to find nesting Hooded Warblers for the last several years. Resident Pileated and Red-headed Woodpeckers and Barred and Great-horned Owls are other possible highlights at this site, which is both an Illinois Nature Preserve indicating its ecologically high-quality land and a Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Directions: From Deerfield Rd., turn north on Riverwoods Rd., drive to Ryerson entrance. Enter preserve and follow the signs to Brushwood Visitors Center. Meet in the Brushwood parking lot. NOTE: The gates open at 6:30 am.
Leaders: Todd Katz 847-409-7355 and Ethan Ellis 773-218-9288
Please register for the Ryerson field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
NEW! Horizon Farm, a former equestrian estate, is one of Cook County’s newest forest preserves and a welcome addition to the scarce grassland habitat in the Chicagoland area. The property covers nearly 400 acres and features meadows, wetlands and small streams as well as open habitat for grassland species including Bobolink (as many as 20 were counted here in late May last year) as well as Henslow’s Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark and more.
Google Maps directions
Directions: Horizon Farm is located at Old Sutton Rd., south of Otis Rd. From the north suburbs, take Lake Cook Road to N. Quentin Rd., Turn south (left) on Quentin, drive 1.1 mile to Dundee and turn west (right). Drive 5 miles and turn southwest (left) on IL-59 on 1.4 miles, turn west (right) on Algonquin Rd, Il-62, 1.0 miles, and then north (right) on Old Sutton Rd., 0.8 miles. Enter the forest preserve and proceed to the parking lot by the barn (see Google maps pin above).
Leader: Kerry Swift 847-323-6878
Please register for the Horizon Farm field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions
This lakefront park features an abundance of trees and shrubs where warblers and other landbird migrants can feed and rest on their way north, plus a harbor, beach and expansive views of Lake Michigan that can yield waterfowl and shorebirds.
Directions: Park on Michigan Avenue by the main (south) entrance to the park off Sheridan Road and wait for the group to gather there. (Parking inside the park is limited to Wilmette residents.)
Leader: Rena Cohen (847) 971-1107
Please register for the Gillson Park field 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 addition to being one of Lake County’s birdiest forest preserves during migration, Daniel Wright has become a reliable spot for Pileated Woodpecker – a species that was largely absent from the county just a decade ago. Daniel Wright Woods and Half Day Forest Preserve are linked by a footbridge over the Des Plaines River, providing crucial habitat for songbirds that utilize the river as a rest stop on their migratory journeys and often yielding over 20 species of warblers on a good day.
Directions: From Waukegan Rd., turn west on Everett Rd. in Lake Forest, drive to the end (St. Mary’s Rd), and turn left (south) into the parking lot. Meet in the parking lot at Everett and St. Mary’s Roads.
Leaders: Charlotte Pavelka and Doug Reitz 847-347-8416
Please register for the Daniel Wright Woods field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Mid-May at IBSP North is a great spot for migrating warblers, vireos, flycatchers and other passerines, including star skulkers like Mourning and Connecticut Warblers. We’ll be taking the North Unit South Trail beginning in Winthrop Harbor, winding through shrubland, marsh, grassland and other habitats as well as beachfront.
Directions: We will meet at the north end of IBSP in Winthrop Harbor (NOT at the 17th Street entrance in Zion). From Sheridan Road/Route 137, turn east on 7th Street. Follow 7th Street toward North Point Marina. At the stop sign, turn right and then, almost immediately, turn right into the fisherman’s parking lot.
Leader: Nancy Tikalsky 773-655-0269
Please register for the Illinois Beach State Park North Unit field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Come bird with us on Memorial Day morning! With woodland, savanna and wetland habitats, Sedge Meadow is a great place for birders to look for lingering warblers, flycatchers, vireos and other spring migrants (one previous chapter walk here yielded a Brewster’s Warbler, a hybrid Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warbler that is rarely reported in the Chicago area) as well as resident species.
Directions: The preserve is located on Wadsworth Rd., just east of US 41. Meet at the Sedge Meadow entrance, which is the first parking lot east of US 41 (NOT the canoe launch lot).
Leaders: Charlotte Pavelka and Doug Reitz 847-347-8416
Please register for the Sedge Meadow field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
This Cook County forest preserve has a rich mix of woodland, wetland and prairie habitat, offering ample opportunities to see a variety of both migrating and resident birds. Possible sightings range from warblers, vireos and other passerines to rails, waterfowl and Black-crowned Night Heron. Note that trails are unpaved and can be muddy depending on weather.
Directions: Crabtree is located at 3 Stover Road in Barrington. Take Willow Rd./Palatine Rd. west, turn north into preserve (Stover Rd.) one mile west of Barrington Rd. Meet in the main parking lot.
Leader: Dan Ellig 224-456-8011
Please register for the Crabtree Nature Center field trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
