Several dozen people with chairs and blankets on a grassy lawn, many waving at camera

Words by Nora Haskell

The evening of Sunday, September 15, was the last hurrah of a raucous weekend in the city for birders and non-birders alike. A group of the former gathered on an empty stretch of lawn in Northerly Park, setting up chairs, tripods, and blankets in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the famed Common Nighthawks as they migrate south along the lake’s edge.

Our trip leader and COS President, Edward Warden, is uniquely equipped for this occasion. As the head of COS’s Chicago Nighthawk Project, Edward has been hosting Common Nighthawk watches for several years now. He works with a group of volunteers in the summer to track the numbers and movements of these fascinating but vulnerable birds. It is that expertise that allowed him, at a glance, to deduce that our chances of seeing any migrating Common Nighthawks that evening were slim. Looking toward the northern sky, he explained that both the lateness of the season and the eastern wind sweeping across the lake were working against us. This prediction ultimately proved to be correct, but despite the absence of our target birds, a pleasant evening of birding was still ahead.

Small bird of prey with a hooked beak, black cap, reddish face and chest with dark spots, and white sideburns below its dark eye. — American Kestrel. *Photo by Steve Pearson, Jackson Park, Nov. 28, 2022.*

As the sun set behind Chicago’s perpetually photogenic skyline, we endured the relentless beating of helicopter blades overhead as police scanned the lakefront. Remarkably, a pair of American Kestrels—the smallest falcon species of North America—remained close by. One even hauled a sizeable chunk of unlucky quarry up to a nearby metal frame to enjoy, much to our delight. We had an excellent view of the little hunter as they used their curved beak, perfectly adapted for tearing flesh, to break down their meal into more manageable strips. In between noisy helicopter passes overhead, we also spotted the odd Double-crested Cormorant making their way toward the water and, of course, the ever-present flocks of drifting Herring Gulls.

Sightings wound down with the rising of a hazy waxing gibbous moon over the lake, and before long dusk was upon us. A small group of balloons released by nearby celebrants caused us some misplaced excitement, but we had a good laugh over it. Such is the nature of birding in the city—sometimes you get a Common Nighthawk, and sometimes you get a balloon. While packing our belongings and preparing to brave traffic, we were given a parting song by a handful of Killdeer, now invisible as their chattering streaked through the air all around us. A fitting birding farewell. All together we saw 14 species.

Chicago skyline with a little gold left from the sundown. In front are barely seen people in chairs and on blankets. — Northerly Island after sundown. *Photo by Edward Warden.*

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this event and others as part of COS’s Urban Birding Festival. If you’re interested in helping out with the Chicago Nighthawk Project, make sure to check out our page to learn more about what can be done to preserve these summer birding staples.

Field Trip: Nighthawk Watch at Northerly Island