LISLE ARBORETUM CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
Countdown Dinner

WHAT:

At the end of our count day, many of us gather together for drinks, dinner, camaraderie, and to swap tales of the day's birding. After dinner we have "the countdown": we total up the bird counts by species to see how we did. Those special code 4 birds are saved for last, with the day's best finds revealed one by one.

WHERE:

This year the countdown dinner will again be held at:

Pompei Pizza
17 W. 744 22nd Street,
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Tel: 630/620-0600

(click here for a map of the location from Mapquest)

WHEN:

5:00pm to 8:00pm on count day.

RSVPs:

You must RSVP and pay for your attendance at the Christmas Count dinner IN ADVANCE by December 11. Remember that holiday mail is slow. Call or email first to reserve your place and mail your check as soon as possible.

Please RSVP by December 11 to Christine Williamson at 773/935-8439 or birdchris@aol.com. Please state the number of people you are RSVPing for and include their names. The cost per person is $15 (COS is subsidizing the banquet to keep the per participant cost low).

Checks should be made payable to Chicago Ornithological Society and mailed to:

Christine Williamson
4046 N. Clark Street
Unit K
Chicago, IL 60613-1986
Please mark the outside of the envelope: Lisle Christmas Count Dinner.


COST:

$15 per person.

DETAILS

Happy Hour: 5:00 - 5:45 p.m. Appetizers will be on offer. Cash Bar will be open in our private room for soft drinks, coffee and alcoholic beverages.

Get-acquainted and Bird Identification Quizzes: Compete for birdy prizes in a quiz that tests more about your knowledge of local birders than bird species! You are ENCOURAGED to talk to other count participants to find the answers to these people questions and you’ll learn a lot you didn’t know about the habits, habitats and hobbies of Chicago area birders! Name tags will help you find the people with the answers. A second quiz focusing on birding IDs will test your knowledge of species seen frequently AND rarely on the Lisle Arboretum Christmas Count.

Dinner: 5:45 - 6:30 p.m. Pizza banquet, including unlimited pizza, salad and dessert. Cost per person is $15.00. Drinks are not included because everyone wants something different! A cash bar will be open in our private room for soft drinks, coffee and alcoholic beverages. You must RSVP and pre-pay as noted above.

Count Down - Time to Get Serious! 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. After dinner, count compiler, Geoff Williamson, will start asking each area group to offer up their counts first of common birds, gradually winnowing down to less common, rare and extraordinarily spectacularly rare species. COS's unique electronic count-down process means you'll see projected the numbers being added up real-time - it doesn't get any more exciting than this among local Christmas Bird Counts!

Location:
Pompei Pizza is located just west of Midwest Road (northern extension of Cass Avenue) at 17 W. 744 22nd Street, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181. Tel: 630/620-0600. Parking is free and plentiful. The closest well-known landmark is Oak Brook Mall at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street, east of Pompei restaurant. A map is available at mapquest.com.

Directions:
From the west, take Butterfield Road/22nd Street east from Highland Avenue (northern extension of Lemont Road) or Route 53. Stay on 22nd when Butterfield Road veers off to the northeast after you pass Meyers Road. The restaurant is located in a strip mall on the north/left side of the road and is visible from 22nd Street

From the east, take Route 83 (northern extension of Kingery Boulevard) to 22nd Street and head west. Pompei is just past the intersection of Midwest Road, located in a strip mall on the north/right side of the road and is visible from 22nd Street

Last modified on 28 November 2007
by Geoffrey A. Williamson