Gull Frolic 2010 - Saturday, February 20

Join IOS and COS at the 9th annual Gull Frolic at the Winthrop Harbor Yacht Clubhouse for a wintery day of gulls, ducks and lots of socializing.

It’s definitely not insane to stand at the lake front just south of Wisconsin in the teeth of a howling nor’easter when you’ve got a raft of experts to walk you through gull identification outside and a warm yacht club with hot drinks and lots of food to retreat to.

This year, COS is flying in featured speaker Alvaro Jaramillo from his home in Half Moon Bay, Calif. to give a workshop on the identification of Slaty-backed Gulls. Slaty-backed Gulls, which breed in Asia, have been turning up in small, but increasing numbers in the Midwest. Illinois has hosted this beautiful, dark-backed gull only a few times and sightings in the northern part of the state are long overdue.

Al's pre-lunch program will focus on plumage and other identifiable features of Slaty-backed Gulls and will help prepare you to find Illinois’ first in one of our typical lake front flocks of Herring, Ring-billed and Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls.

Please see February 2010 Field Trips for complete details on the Gull Frolic.

Program: Michael Peters on Traveling in the Ecuadorian Amazon - January 31, 2010

Join Michael as he relates his travels in Ecuador, heading East from Quito into the Amazon River Basin. If you’ve considered visiting this part of the world, come listen and be inspired to take the leap. Slide presentation will be followed by questions and answers. After the meeting, we will have an Ecuadorian dinner at La Humita Restaurant (3466 North Pulaski. Chicago, IL 60641). Sunday night dinners at La Humita are $9.95 (see the menu at www.lahumita.com) so we are taking reservations to ensure everyone gets a seat. Let us know if you will join us for dinner by emailing cos@chicagobirder.org .