- Unless otherwise noted, there is no charge for participation. Some trips have participation limits with prior registration required and are identified as such. At times, members may receive priority due to participation limitations. But you do not have to be a member of Illinois Audubon Society or the Lake Cook Chapter to participate in most of our events. Good deal, huh? If you like our field trip programming, here are ways to support our organization.
- Young people who can participate without supervision are welcome. For field trips and programs geared for budding young birders and naturalists we recommend investigating the Illinois Young Birders
- Learn about membership in the Lake Cook Chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society here.
- If you wish to be notified about upcoming field trips and programs please register to receive email updates. Field trip details listed on this website are subject to change.
- Please! Leave your pets at home.
In the calendar below, please click the “+” to expand the view. Once expanded, click “Read More” for more event detail and map.
Southern California: Sea, Mountains & Desert
Led by Red Hill Birding’s Steve Huggins, this trip will begin in Los Angeles, end in San Diego and take us out of the cold Chicago winter to varied (and much warmer!) habitats including the Pacific Ocean Coast, high mountains, vast deserts and bird-rich wetlands. We’ll see many of the common and widespread specialties of California like California Scrub-Jay, California Condor, LeConte’s Thrasher and Mountain Quail; endangered species like California Gnatcatcher; endemic species like Yellow-billed Magpie and Island Scrub-Jay; uncommon species like Lawrence’s Goldfinch; coastal Pacific specialties like Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Bran’s and Pelagic Cormorants, and Pacific Loon; and much more. We’ll also look for pelagic species on our boat ride to Santa Cruz Island. Maximum 7 participants.
Priority to Lake/Cook Chapter members.
Email renabird3@gmail.com if you are interested in a complete itinerary and cost.
The arrival of spring waterfowl is the first sign of spring for local birders as loons, pelicans and multiple duck species drop into Lake County lakes on the way north to their breeding grounds. Lake/Cook’s annual multi-stop spring waterfowl trip begins at Diamond Lake in Mundelein, with additional stops and directions that will be provided at Diamond Lake based on our scouting to find the most productive sites. You can leave at any time but try to stay until mid-morning because one of the highlights is a stop at the north end of our route that is usually filled with dozens of Common Loons and American White Pelicans.
Dress warm and bring scopes if you have them. Carpooling is optional when we meet at Diamond Lake.
Directions: Meet at Gale Street Inn parking lot, 935 N. Diamond Lake Rd., Mundelein.
Leader: Beau Schaefer 847-337-3602
Please register for the Loons of Lake County trip HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Our closest state park is a migrant trap that has recorded nearly 250 species, thanks to a rich habitat mix of riparian edges, oak woodlands, conifer stands, open lakes and mudflats. Early migrants that typically show up in mid-April range from assorted waterfowl, shorebirds and sparrows to Brown Thrasher, Brown Creeper, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Rusty Blackbirds and Yellow-rumped Warblers
Directions: From I-94 tollway, exit IL-173/Rosecrans Rd, turn left on Rosecrans, drive 13 mi, turn left on Wilmot Rd.. then left into park. Meet at the pull-out/overlook on the right side of the entrance road.
Leader: Beau Schaefer 847-337-3602
Please register for the Chain o’ Lakes bird walk HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
This hotspot along the Des Plaines River corridor is a great migrant trap that can attract the first wave of spring warblers, vireos and sparrows. Resident Pileated and Red-headed Woodpeckers and Barred and Great-horned Owls are other possible highlights at this site, which is both an Illinois Nature Preserve indicating its ecologically high-quality land and a Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Directions: From Deerfield Rd., turn north on Riverwoods Rd., drive to Ryerson entrance. Enter preserve and follow the signs to Brushwood Visitors Center. Meet in the Brushwood parking lot. NOTE: The gates open at 6:30 am.
Leaders: Charlotte Pavelka and Doug Reitz 847-347-8416
Please register for the Ryerson trip HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
An hour from the north suburbs, Muirhead Springs Forest Preserve is 757 acres of newly restored prairie and wetlands in Kane County and one of the newest birding hotspots in Chicagoland. In the spring the ponds boast a variety of waterfowl as well as shorebirds such as Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, various sandpipers, and others as they stop on their way to breeding grounds up north. Grassland possibilities include species like Vesper Sparrow, Lapland and Smith’s Longspurs, American Pipit, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Eastern and occasional Western Meadowlarks, early Bobolinks and more.
NOTE: The paths are a mixture of crushed limestone and cut grass that can be wet and muddy, weather depending. Please dress appropriately. Bring scopes if you have them.
Directions: The parking lot entrance is at 42W855 Bahr Road. (Do NOT go to the Rohrsen Road address.) From the north suburbs, take I-294 south, drive 12 miles to exit 40B to take I-90 west to Rockford. Drive 30 miles to exit 47 for IL-47 south. Continue for 6.8 miles, turn left onto Bahr Road, and turn right into the parking lot.
Leaders: John Sprovieri and Regina McNulty 630-347-5991
Please register for the Muirhead Springs bird walk HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
One of the top migrant hotspots in the northern suburbs, this Cook County forest preserve boasts extensive woodland trails and a shoreline by the restored lagoons that attract virtually every species of warbler seen in the Chicago region as well as migrating thrushes, flycatchers, vireos and more. Ospreys nesting on the west side of the preserve should also be present, along with multiple waterbird species and flyover raptors.
Waterproof shoes are advisable in case the woods along the lagoons shoreline are wet.
Directions: Meet at the Willow Rd. entrance just east of the Edens Expressway (the sign says Erickson Woods). From the north, take the Edens southbound and exit at Tower Road. Turn left (south) on the frontage road to Willow Road. Turn left (east) on Willow and cross over the Edens to the Erickson Woods entrance. Park at the north end of the parking lot.
Leaders: Ed and Rebecca Rice 847-420-0734
Please register for the Skokie Lagoons/Erickson Woods bird walk HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
North Carolina: Six Days from Raleigh to the Outer Banks
Led by Ron Martin, the leader on our 2023 North Dakota trip who has since relocated to North Carolina, this trip will take us from Raleigh to Hatteras for a pelagic trip to the Outer Banks. Target species range from landbirds like Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Swainson’s Warbler, Brown-headed Nuthatch and Bachman’s Sparrow to coastal specialties such as Sandwich and Gull-billed Terns as well as multiple pelagic shearwater and storm-petrel species. We will also include stops of historic significance at The Wright Brothers Memorial and the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Maximum 14 participants.
Priority to Lake/Cook Chapter members.
Email bonnieduman@gmail.com if you are interested in a complete itinerary and cost.
Birding at IBSP South Unit takes you through marsh, dune, swale, oak woods and Lake Michigan beach habitats, providing a rich mix of passerines, waterfowl and raptors. The park should be hopping with a rich variety of warblers and other migrating songbirds, along with a handful of shorebirds and harder-to-find species like Sedge Wren and European Goldfinch. This is also the only reliable spot in Lake County for Brewer’s Blackbirds, which are rare summer residents in Illinois.
Directions: IBSP South is located between Bowen Park in Waukegan and North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor. From Sheridan Road (IL 137), turn east on Wadsworth Rd. a few blocks north of Emily’s Pancake House and drive 2 miles into the park. Park in the Nature Center parking lot. (Be sure you go to the South Unit – also called Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park – and not the North Unit at 7th Street.)
Leader: Donna Kenski 847-347-3474
Please register for the IBSP South Unit bird walk HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Pack a picnic dinner and join us for a 5 pm bird walk at the height of spring migration in one of the birdiest forest preserves in Lake County. Daniel Wright Woods and Half Day Forest Preserve are linked by a footbridge over the Des Plaines River, providing crucial habitat for songbirds that utilize the river as a rest stop on their migratory journeys and often yielding over 20 species of warblers on a good day. We’ll bird first, then gather at the picnic tables near the Wright Woods parking lot to eat and socialize.
Directions: From Waukegan Rd., turn west on Everett Rd. in Lake Forest, drive to the end (St. Mary’s Rd), and turn left (south) into the parking lot. Meet in the parking lot at Everett and St. Mary’s Roads.
Leader: Todd Katz 847-409-7355
Please register for the Daniel Wright Woods bird walk and picnic HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Every year since 1972, volunteers have participated in this one-day count across the entire state of Illinois to help measure bird populations. If you’re interested, contact Adam Sell (adamwardsell@gmail.com) for Lake County assignments or Alan Anderson (casresearch@comcast.net) for Cook County assignments, or to join an existing group
In addition to being one of Lake County’s birdiest forest preserves during migration, Daniel Wright has become a reliable spot for Pileated Woodpecker – a species that was largely absent from the county just a decade ago. Daniel Wright Woods and Half Day Forest Preserve are linked by a footbridge over the Des Plaines River, providing crucial habitat for songbirds that utilize the river as a rest stop on their migratory journeys and often yielding over 20 species of warblers on a good day.
Directions: From Waukegan Rd., turn west on Everett Rd. in Lake Forest, drive to the end (St. Mary’s Rd), and turn left (south) into the parking lot. Meet in the parking lot at Everett and St. Mary’s Roads.
Leaders: Charlotte Pavelka and Doug Reitz 847-347-8416
Please register for the Daniel Wright Woods bird walk HERE so that we can get a headcount and contact you in the event of a date change due to weather conditions.
Keep checking back for updates to our field trip schedule.