Quietly, and with little fanfare, before the Ivory Gull was even a thought forbirders in the Chicago area, a very special year-long event kicked off at LaBagh Woods. Chicago Ornithological Society (COS), in conjunction with a number of other conservation-minded partners, launched a fundraiser for the restoration of the understory at LaBagh in 2015 and beyond.
Read MoreSixteen birders showed up on a cool but sunny fall day. It was a great to be out birding. Unfortunately birds have wings and all of the swans seen yesterday were gone. We did have some quality birds. An American Pelican swam around and was very visible. An adult Bald Eagle flew around but quickly disappeared in on of the corners. The waterfowl seen unfortunately were hugging the west side and difficult to ID.
Read MoreA joint Chicago Ornithological Society-Illinois Young Birders field trip led by Eric and Aaron Gyllenhall attracted 40 birders to Douglas Park on Chicago's Westside. Combining eBird lists of four different birders, the group list for the trip stands at 62 species!
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On July 6, 2014, a beautiful Sunday morning, Dick Riner escorted our group of about 20 birders around Bartel Grasslands. After dousing ourselves with insect repellant and some folks donning rubber boots we were ready for the birds and mosquitoes.
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Christine and Geoffrey Williamson led a group of about 20 individuals around Montrose Point in Chicago's Lincoln Park this morning (Saturday, 26 July 2014), and we located 38 species of birds. We spent some time looking at the 64 shorebirds (of six species) at the beach, which included the following.
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It was another memorable Memorial Day trip. In less than three days, we saw and heard 147 different species.
Read MoreA group of over 60 students from Mark Sheridan Academy went on a field trip to Palmisano Park on the near South Side of Chicago. The weather on this sunny June 5 was perfect for exploring the grasslands and the old stone quarry of the park. We split into two groups and were able to show the students many of the birds in their Openlands field guide.
Read MoreOur COS group had two wonderful days of birding in the Emiquon/Chautauqua area. On Saturday, we concentrated on waterfowl of all kinds and we were certainly not disappointed. Highlights at the South Globe Unit of Emiquon included great views of 5 Dunlin, 25 Black-necked Stilts, 4 Hudsonian Godwits, 51 Long-billed Dowitchers, 16 American Golden Plovers, 2 Wilson’s Phalarope, and 20 Bonaparte’s Gulls.
Read MoreGeoffrey Williamson led the Chicago Ornithological Society field trip along the Chicago lakefront on Sunday, 16 Feb 2014. Our group of 13 birders visited Montrose Point, Belmont Harbor mouth, Diversey Harbor mouth, and then hoofed it to the Whiting Refinery Beach in Whiting, Indiana. Our targets were ducks and gulls, and we did pretty well on both scores.
Read MoreThis COS field trip had 12 participants, including some new birders and visitors from Germany and Sweden. Special thanks to Sam Burckhardt for always teaching us a few things we didn't know about birds.
Read MoreChristine and I led a COS/Sierra Club group in Chicago's Burnham Park yesterday (Saturday, 12 Oct 2013). We started at 39th Street and made our way up to about 31st Street and then head back south. We had 41 species of birds, plus five butterfly species (one Black Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Clouded/Orange Sulphur, Eastern Tailed-Blue, and Common Buckeye) and one dragonfly species (Common Green Darner).
Read MoreA particularly good birding day at the North Pond on Wednesday October 3. Around the North Pond in Chicago's Lincoln Park: I forget to put Swainson's Thrush and Rusty Blackbird on the list, so the species count went up to 59 from the 57 I reported yesterday.
Read MoreThe COS North Pond Bird Walk Wednesday, 28 Aug 2013 at North Pond in Chicago's Lincoln Park recorded 30 species of birds, three species of odes, two butterfly species, and two mammal species. Highlights included four species of warblers (NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, MOURNING WARBLER, and AMERICAN REDSTART), three LEAST FLYCATCHERS, and SWAINSON'S THRUSH. The birding was really quite slow.
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Chris and Geoff Williamson led the nature walk in Chicago"s Burnham Park on 24 August 2013. When all was said an done, we had observed 33 species of birds, two species of mammals (aside from human beings and domestic dogs), 10 butterfly species, and one dragonfly species. Lists of all these creatures along with the number observed are provided at the end of this report.
Read MoreTwenty-two observers attended this joint Chicago Ornithological Society/Evanston North Shore Bird Club sponsored field trip to the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant in southeast Chicago on Sunday morning (18 August 2013). Like last year's trip, it was an absolutely gorgeous day for a field trip. We counted at least 186 individuals of ten shorebird species, compared with 318 individuals of ten shorebird species on the same trip last year. The main difference between this year's trip and last year's was the number of Least Sandpipers (135 last year, 40 this year), and Pectoral Sandpipers (80 last year, 5 this year).
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