Attendees looking for birds at North Pond at the 2024 Urban Birding Festival.

words by Lauren Kostas

Hatching a festival for bird fans

The second annual Urban Birding Festival, like the first, will be “a celebration of avian wildlife within the city of Chicago and neighboring areas.” Given the quality of the trips and workshops, and the rocking vibe expected at the festival hub, it is hard to believe that the gathering was just an idea floating around the Chicago birding ecosystem a few short years ago.

I had a chat with three members of the organizing committee to understand the journey from casual musings to a vibrant annual event. COS president Edward Warden, Chicago Bird Alliance (CBA) executive director Matt Igleski, and Windy City Bird Lab director J’orge Garcia were there at the beginning, and they described how a promising idea was turned into reality.

A shared dream takes shape

“Many of us in the Chicago birding community had been dreaming about a festival for a while,” notes Warden. Igleski remembers early conversations, “we wanted to do something to build connections between people and the wild things and natural spaces that are part of our urban landscape. We imagined an experience that helps more people find a place in their hearts and minds for all the living things around our city.”

The early dreamers saw an opportunity to ride the wave of new birders born from the pandemic and the recent exponential growth in birding. Chicago’s accessible green spaces, a good public transport system, and engaged community further fueled the enthusiasm for creating something distinctive and exciting. The nearby Indiana Dunes Birding Festival and “mini-festivals” hosted by the North Park Village Nature Center gave a sense of what might be possible and what it would take to pull off a great experience. An early vision began to emerge around doing something based in Chicago, tied to fall migration and featuring field trips in an urban setting.

Representatives from many of the local birding coalitions (Chicago BIPOC Birders, Feminist Bird Club Chicago, Red Hill Birding, CBA, COS, and the Lab) came together to shape and deliver the new festival. The aim was to create something that offered a mix of experiences that gave birders of all levels a chance to build personal networks, become better birders, and explore the breadth of Chicago neighborhoods and habitats. The festival was designed to spotlight all the different ways to bird—whether that means perching atop a climbing wall, photographing or sketching, biking, hiking, canoeing, or sitting. Festival planners also sought to showcase and connect people to the variety of local birding communities and cultures, all working to grow access and belonging. Notes Garcia, “the festival is an opportunity to bring these diverse groups together and put on a show that has a little something for everyone.” Lastly, there was also a strong emotional component that ran through the initial planning and continues to manifest itself in the festival ethos. Warden describes it as a drive “to celebrate the joy of being together, being present with the birds, and relishing our community.”

Attendees at a nature sketching workshop held at Big Marsh during the 2004 Urban Birding Festival.

A distinctive focus on urban birding

From the beginning, the planning was focused on what makes urban birding distinctive and engaging. Igleski notes, “a big city may not be an obvious birding destination like a tropical rain forest or national park, but there are so many great places to see birds here in our city.” Plus, if you want to get more people participating in birding you have to show up where more of them live—that means cities. The density and diversity of cities allow urban birding to be more accessible for more people of different backgrounds, experiences, and interests. Igleski further observes that many people in cities—especially kids—don’t get the chance to regularly interact with nature. Notes Igleski, “urban birding can help address this gap and invite more people to enjoy natural spaces and wild creatures.”

Urban birding can also elevate the unique hurdles that birds face in large cities and promote solutions. Says Warden, “urban birding challenges us to explore how we share our urban spaces with other living things and asks us how we make our city suitable for humans and native wildlife. How do we find better ways to coexist and thrive?”

Striving to lead in urban birding

Garcia recalls the discussion of whether to include Chicago in the festival name. “I advocated strongly that we not do that. We want people to automatically think of Chicago when referring to urban birding. It may seem a bit counter intuitive, but by not including the city in the festival name, we are really showing our community’s confidence and our commitment to cement Chicago as the recognized center of urban birding.”

Chicago is well suited to claim leadership in urban birding primarily because of our rich set of birding locations: urban parks, marshes and lagoons, beaches, and grasslands. There is also our prime position along the Mississippi Flyway, a critical migratory highway. Every spring and fall BirdCast lights up with the tens of millions of birds and hundreds of species that come through Cook County. In addition to natural advantages, bird enthusiasts in Chicago also have great partners in the county and city organizations stewarding green spaces throughout the area. The Chicago Park District manages more than 8,000 acres, including 26 miles of lakefront property. The Cook County Forest Preserve, one of the largest preserves of its kind, has more than 70,000 acres under management.

Chicago also enjoys a vibrant ecosystem of birders who show up for each other and the birds. There are a remarkable number of groups that have formed in Chicago to help spread awareness of birding and foster access to birding.

Birding and Kayaking on the Chicago River during the 2024 Urban Birding Festival.

Catalyzing action in Chicago and beyond

Aspirations for the festival go beyond a weekend of fun and learning. One goal is to motivate ongoing action and engagement among participants. Warden hopes the festival will inspire Chicagoans to go out and enjoy our natural areas as a part of their daily life. “Don’t wait for a festival, just hop on the ‘L’ to a city park or sign up for a trip hosted by our many local birding groups. No excuses—just do it.”

Garcia speaks about the potential to spark greater community advocacy for birds. He reasons, “by getting more people learning about and engaged in the life of birds, the Urban Birding Festival can increase the number of voices speaking up for policies like bird friendly design or alternatives to rodenticide.“

The festival is not only about strengthening and serving our homegrown birding community. Festival organizers believe Chicago can be a source of inspiration for people travelling to our city for the festival. Notes Garcia, “we’re not perfect, but I hope people visiting our city are energized by their experience with our parks and preserves and take that energy home. I want people to engage with our many and varied birding organizations and become motivated to build the same for their communities.”

Looking ahead

Eyes are already on the 2026 festival. It takes a full year of planning and thousands of little details and big decisions to execute the festival: securing guides and speakers, finding a hub, setting up lodging options, securing insurance, working to keep costs down, competing for park space in a busy Chicago fall. But there is no plan to simply “wash, rinse, and repeat.” The Urban Birding Festival will continue to evolve. Organizers have a passion to find new and better ways to serve the myriad communities in our city. Of course, there will be insights from the 2025 event that need to be incorporated. There is conversation on attracting more global voices and exploring growth in the numbers or participants or days. We can also expect innovations in the kinds of trips and experiences that show up on the festival agenda. For instance, 2025 will see the introduction of events focused on botany and powered by bicycles. All agree that the Chicago birding community will continue to shape the hometown festival of birds and urban spaces toward greater access, impact, and joy.

Urbs in Horto, Aves in Urbs