COS Centenary Dinner and Lisle Arboretum Christmas Bird Count on December 14

On Sunday, December 16, 2012 join one of the Chicagoland area’s most active Christmas Bird Counts. More than 75 people volunteer their time on a wintery Sunday to count birds from before dawn until dusk.

Pre-registration by e-mail is required to participate in the Lisle Christmas Bird Count by 8:00 p.m. on Dec. 12 to Geoffrey Williamson. at geoffrey.williamson@comcast.net.

More information is available at the Lisle Arboretum Count web site at http://home.comcast.net/~geoffrey.williamson/lislecbc/

The long day of counting birds is followed by a great Count Dinner that is free to all count participants as the culmination of the Chicago Ornithological Society’s centennial celebration. See details below about the location of Pompeii Pizza in Oakbrook Terrace.

Pre-registration by e-mail is required for the Count Dinner by 8:00 p.m. on Dec. 12 to Christine Williamson at birdchris@aol.com.

In addition to the appetizer, pizza, salad and dessert buffet, soft drinks and coffee, there will be raffle prizes, a bird identification quiz and a trivia quiz focusing on the people and milestone events during COS’s first 100 years of serving birders and protecting birds in the Chicago area.

A cash bar will be open during the Count Dinner.

Happy Hour: 5:00 – 5:45 p.m. Appetizers, soft drinks and coffee will be on offer. Cash Bar will be open in our private room for alcoholic beverages.

Get-acquainted and Bird Identification quizzes - Compete for birdy prizes in a quiz that tests more about your knowledge of local birder sand COS history than bird species! You are ENCOURAGED to talk to other count participants to find the answers to these people questions and you’ll learn a lot you didn’t know about the habits, habitats and hobbies of Chicago area birders. Name tags will help you find the people with the answers.

A second quiz focusing on birding IDs will test your knowledge of species seen frequently AND rarely on the Lisle Arboretum Christmas Count.

Dinner: 5:45 – 6:30 p.m. Banquet, including unlimited pizza, salad and dessert.

Count Down – Time to Get Serious! 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.   After dinner, count compiler,  Geoff Williamson, will start asking each area group to offer up their counts first of common birds, gradually winnowing down to less common, rare and extraordinarily rare species. COS’s electronic count-down process means you’ll see projected the numbers being added up real-time – it doesn’t get any more exciting than this!

Count Dinner location:

Pompeii Pizza is located just west of Midwest Road(northern extension of Cass Avenue) at 17 W. 744 22nd Street, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181. Tel: 630/620-0600. Parking is free and plentiful. The closest well-known landmark is Oak Brook Mall at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street,  east of Pompeii restaurant. 

Directions:

From the west, take Butterfield Road/22nd Street east from Highland Avenue (northern extension of LemontRoad) or Route 53. Stay on 22nd when Butterfield Road veers off to the northeast after you pass Meyers Road. The restaurant is located in a strip mall onthe north/left side of the road and is visible from 22ndStreet

From the east, take Route 83 (northern extension of Kingery Boulevard) to 22nd Street and head west.  Pompeii is before the intersection of Meyers Road, located in a strip mall on the north/right side of the road and is visible from 22nd Street.