Montrose in the early fall is a riot of flowers and mature meadow plants up in the Bird Sanctuary in the upland area and the seeds and juicy caterpillars bring in lots of migrating birds.

Sierra Club is sponsoring a big beach clean-up beginning at 9:00 a.m. Trip participants can keep birding or join the beach sweep. Celebrate International Coastal Clean-up Day by giving birds a clean beach to rest on during migration!

Bird walk and nature tour — 7:00am - 9:00am
RSVP Required; limit 12 people.
Tour Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary in the autumn when migrant birds from shorebirds to sparrows, hawks, warblers and owls will be present.

The grasses in the beach dunes natural area will be high, golden and heavy with seed. Montrose Bird Sanctuary will be full of fruit, bugs and more seed for hungry southbound migrants. Monarch Butterflies also will be migrating at this time, sometimes in large numbers, along Chicago’s lakefront.

RSVP here.

Leader: Christine Williamson
For more information, please contact Christine at birdchris@aol.com. If you need help on the day of the trip, please call Christine’s cell phone 773/415-5217 (DON'T text).

Beach cleanup — 9:00am - 12:00pm
This is Chicago Group’s biggest event of the whole year. Montrose Beach, Chicago’s largest and wildest beach, will host as many as 300 people who will work to get the trash off the beach and out of the water. Sierra Chicago Group has been cleaning this beach twice a year for 22 years and this is our second year of partnering with Truman College’s amazing Environmental Club.

Equipment, snacks and water will be provided. There is no attendance limit for the beach clean up and pre-registration is not required.

Directions:

Meet on the east side of the beach house at Montrose Beach at 7:00 a.m. for the bird walk. Parking is free and bike racks are provided at the beach house. It is a 10 – 15-minute walk to Montrose Beach house from the bus stops at Montrose and Marine Drive.

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Chicago; https://goo.gl/maps/5j62ccaiS292