Next Field Trips
Join us on our next bird watching field trip. Unless otherwise noted, there is no charge for participation. Some trips may require prior registration or are prioritized for Lake Cook Audubon members. This will be noted in the field trip description.
The rolling topography of this preserve is filled with multiple wetlands, making it a magnet for migrating waterfowl and reclusive marsh residents like Wilson’s Snipe. The large open space can also offer great views of migrating raptors, and special late October sightings over the last few years have included Purple Finch, American Pipit, Snow Bunting and Northern Saw-whet Owl.
Directions: From US-41 N, exit west on IL-173, drive 1.5 miles to Hunt Club Rd., turn north. Preserve is on the east side. We will meet in the main lot.
Leader: Nancy Tikalsky (773) 655-0269
Please register for the Pine Dunes trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
With 1,216 uninterrupted acres, Rollins Savanna is one of Lake County’s largest forest preserves. The habitat ranges from prairie and wetland to an oak grove that plays host to migrating passerines. Fall birding here can include Trumpeter Swans, migrating waterfowl and occasional shorebirds in the largest wetland as well as nearly every fall sparrow that passes through the Chicago area, along with raptors and the occasional Rusty Blackbird or Short-eared Owl.
Bring a spotting scope to scan the large wetland if you have one.
Directions: Meet at the Drury Lane parking lot on the north side of the preserve. From I-94, exit Grand Ave. west to Rollins Rd., then turn left (west) on Rollins and south on Drury Lane Drive .3 mile to the parking lot on left.
Leader: Beau Schaefer 847-337-3602
Please register for the Rollins Savanna trip here so that we can get a head count and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Next Programs
Our programs are open to the public and free. Most are offered at Heller Nature Center in Highland Park. Some may be presented on Zoom. This will be noted in the program description. Many past-programs can now be viewed on YouTube here.
Peregrine Falcons were added to both the federal and state endangered species lists in the 1970s because of eggshell thinning caused by DDT exposure, but the bird has made a remarkable comeback since DDT was banned in 1972. In Illinois, where not a single peregrine chick was born from 1951 to 1998, there are now more than 20 breeding pairs including many in the Chicago metropolitan area – thanks in large part to reintroduction and monitoring efforts led by the Chicago Peregrine Program. The Field Museum’s Mary Hennen, who has headed the program since 1990, will join us to discuss the decline of the species, the museum’s role in identifying the cause, how the population has been restored, and how the birds are now banded, monitored and studied to help ensure their ongoing survival.
The shores of the Great Lakes were once home to nearly 800 pairs of Piping Plovers. By 1990 that number had dropped to 13, all in Northern Michigan. As of this summer, the Great Lakes population of this tiny shorebird had rebounded to a record 85 nesting pairs, with 124 chicks fledged in the wild in four states and Canada. But despite those numbers and the star power of Monty and Rose, the first of their species to nest in Cook County in 71 years when they bred on Montrose Beach in 2019 in a lineage that has continued every summer since, Piping Plovers remain on the federal endangered species list because 150 breeding pairs are necessary to have a solid population. Dr. Sarah Saunders, a quantitative ecologist with Audubon Great Lakes, will join us via Zoom to discuss the recovery effort and research that is helping protect the species.
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Who We Are
We are a gathering of people who enjoy bird watching and studying birds and wildlife. We welcome people of all ages and skills to join us on our field trips, programs and other events. Most of our monthly programs are bird-oriented, but we also address environmental and natural history topics.
The Illinois Audubon Society is the state’s oldest conservation organization that functions as a land trust to protect and enhance Illinois’ unique habitats and to educate the public about them. Organized in 1897, Illinois Audubon is not affiliated with the National Audubon Society.