Backpacks for Conservation: an update on Chicago's Black-crowned Night-herons

Given how common they are in Chicago, it’s can be hard to remember sometimes that Black-crowned Night-Herons have been a state endangered bird since 1977. We are lucky in that the largest remaining breeding colony in Illinois nests right in the middle of Chicago, in Lincoln Park Zoo. But their situation is still precarious and having such a large proportion of the state population in a single breeding colony could predispose the birds to further threats (e.g., an avian influenza outbreak or impacts of a storm event). As a result, earlier this year, a team of researchers and volunteers came together to identify and develop techniques to encourage some birds explore additional rookery locations. You can learn more about their efforts in the announcement that went up earlier this year on our blog.

Today, we’re excited to share an update on this project and some of the results of those efforts! Read on for an announcement from the research team.

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Over the past several weeks, four adult Black-crowned Night-herons (BCNH) nesting at the Lincoln Park Zoo and three fully flighted juveniles that had hatched in the colony, were successfully captured and fitted with special satellite transmitter “backpacks” that will start revealing information about BCNH movements. Researchers from Dr. Michael Ward’s lab at the University of Illinois, the zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have started receiving data uploads from the birds’ transmitters that will provide information about their daily movements across the Chicagoland area and later this year will allow us to follow them on migration to their wintering grounds. This information will help guide conservation efforts for this state-endangered species within Illinois, and beyond. This work would not be possible without the support of the Chicago Black-crowned Night-Heron Project and the Bird Conservation Network who have helped us gather critical intel about this population’s behavior over the past few months.

You can help!

Including the birds with transmitters, a total of 16 BCNH were banded this season. In addition to the standard federal silver band, each bird’s leg is fitted with a white alphanumeric tag that can be used to visually identify it from a distance (e.g. A23). The hope is to band as many birds as possible and work with the amazing Chicago birding community to help track this endangered species throughout the city on a broader scale. Please keep an eye out for BCNH throughout the Chicago area, and follow this link to report any heron sightings: https://arcg.is/0vKHPW0. If you think you spot a banded bird, please look closely at its left leg for that alphanumeric tag and include it in your report!

We look forward to sharing more information about this species, as well as how members of the public can log on to follow these birds’ movements and migration routes in the upcoming months. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Slayton at slayton4@illinois.edu.