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North Pond Bird Walks

Saturday, February 20, 2010 - 08:00 AM

Illinois Ornithological Society 2010 Gull Frolic

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.

Find more details about Al, below.*

Lunch will follow Al’s talk and more gull watching will await your next foray into the frozen waterscape of extreme northeastern Illinois.

Al will co-lead a field trip the next day with Geoff Williamson along the more southerly shores of Lake Michigan from Montrose to Hammond, Indiana, beginning at 8:00 a.m. at Montrose Harbor. The pressure is on to find a Slaty-backed Gull!

Registration fee of $10 includes continental breakfast, lunch and hot drinks. The fee will help defray facility expenses. Any surplus will go to the IOS Grant Program to benefit Illinois birds and birding.

Dress for the weather and bring a scope and binoculars.

More info will be posted at http://www.illinoisbirds.org as we get closer to the date. Sponsored by many local bird clubs, organizations and individuals. Hosted by the Illinois Ornithological Society.

*More about Alvaro Jaramillo

Alvaro (Al) Jaramillo was born in Chile, but began birding in Toronto, where he lived in his teens. He studied ecology and evolution in Canada, earning a master’s degree studying co-evolution in Argentine cowbirds. Research forays and backpacking trips introduced Alvaro to the riches of the Neotropics, where he has traveled extensively.

A popular Field Guides guide, especially for Chilean trips, Al is in demand because of his friendly personality, keen sense of fun, encyclopedic bird knowledge and natural teaching style.

Al’s recent publication, Birds of Chile is now the standard field guide for Chile. His other book, New World Blackbirds: The Icterids, deals with the biology and identification of this fascinating group of birds. He has also contributed both popular and scientific articles in various publications and wrote the icterid chapter to The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Most recently Al finished co-editing a Spanish translation of A Neotropical Companion for Birder’s Exchange.

Al is a frequent contributor to ID Frontiers and is a self-confessed gullaholic. Before coming to Chicago, Al will be a featured speaker at the North American Gull Conference in January n Titusville, Fla., a much warmer experience than he will be enjoying in February south of the Wisconsin border.

With no book projects on tap, he has more time to spend with his wife Katja and his son Pablo and daughter Bianca, in the cozy coastal town of Half Moon Bay, California. Ecologically, it’s very much like Chile, but the people speak English!

Directions: To reach the Winthrop Harbor Yacht Club take the I-94 toll road north toward Milwaukee. Exit at Route 173. Turn right (east) and go to Sheridan Road (Rt. 137). Turn left and proceed to 7th Street. Turn right on 7th Street and follow the North Point Marina signs to the yacht club. DO NOT SPEED on 7th Street! It is actively patrolled by the Winthrop Harbor police.

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Sunday, February 21, 2010 - 08:00 AM

Chicago & Indiana Lakefront Gulls n' Ducks Field Trip (Montrose Harbor to Hammond Marina)

Leader: Geoff Williamson & Alvaro Jaramillo

Dress for the weather and bring a scope and binoculars. We’ll eat lunch in Indiana, but it’s best to bring snacks, water and a Thermos of a hot drink to keep your body temperature up (think lots of calories!).

Directions: Meet at Montrose Harbor near the Magic Hedge

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