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. 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.
The Bird Conservation Network, of which COS is a member, is excited to announce a new enterprise. We have established the Redstart Connection Campaign to raise funds to help birds here in the Midwest and on their wintering grounds.
Under the guidance of Walter Marcisz, nine dedicated folks gathered at the Bridgeport branch of the Chicago Public Library on September 8 and started entering into eBird historical records of bird observations we received from Doug Anderson. We had a follow-up gathering at the library on October 13th.
At the Cache River Nature Fest Birding Blitz teams compete to see and hear the most species of birds in a 24-hour period, while raising money for conservation in southernmost Illinois. Teams can search for birds throughout the area of southernmost Illinois, from Jackson, Williamson, Saline, and Gallatin counties south through Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander, Pulaski, and Massac counties.
To help celebrate COS's 100 years as a Chicago area birding club, Lucas Haberkorn, age 11 years, and Nandu Dubey, age 14 years, members of the Illinois Young Birders club (IYB), created artwork for COS to use to promote its celebration.
We had 82 species of birds on the count this year, the 63rd time the count"s been held. This is the third best species total for the Lisle-Arb count, trailing only the counts from Dec 2009 (89 species) and Dec 2006 (86 species).
