IOS is excited to announce that our organization will be merging with Illinois’ other statewide birding organization, the Illinois Audubon Society.
Members of IOS can expect to receive an announcement letter, along with a facts and questions document to learn more. If you have any questions, please contact andrea@illinoisbirds.org.
The Gull Frolic is a unique winter event at Illinois’ premier gull-watching hotspot, North Point Marina. Bring your binoculars, scope and cold weather gear, and join birders outside of the yacht club to enjoy a close study of some of our harder-to-find winter species, including Iceland (Thayer’s and Kumlien’s), Glaucous, Great Black-backed, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls! A variety of waterfowl typically make an appearance too (scoters and other diving ducks), along with the occasional raptor, owl, or winter finch. Birders wearing bright orange hats will be available to help answer questions along the “boardwalk”.
To learn more, click here.
Back in April, I was working as a nanny to my two beautiful nieces and wondering what my next step was going to be. I had graduated from the University of Michigan in 2022 and still hadn’t explored many opportunities in my field. One day while I was giving my nieces breakfast, my mother frantically ran upstairs to tell me that my father had just heard of a summer position on the beach involving birds in some way or another, and that I should apply. If there are a few things that everyone knows about me, it’s that I love birds, I love the beach, and I love to talk! This sounded almost too good to be true, until I did some further research and found the position my father had described.
Piping Plover and Shorebird Outreach Intern. I didn’t exactly know what this position entailed, but spending time on the beach and talking to people about endangered birds sounded like a regular summer day to me, and obviously the job of my dreams. Despite my nerves almost getting the best of me, I applied to what appeared to be the position of my fantasies, and to my absolute delight, I got accepted! Although I initially thought this position was the job of my dreams, my dreams hadn’t even come close to just how fun and fulfilling this position actually ended up being.
From my first week on the beach, I was already getting a ton of engagement from people who wanted to hear all about the Piping Plovers. I couldn’t believe I was actually being paid to yap about birds- something I already frequently do. On top of that, people were actually interested in hearing about them! Before I knew it, people were visiting me at the beach and recognizing me from the various social media posts that mentioned my addition to the team. Some people even asked to take pictures with me, and to my amusement, many beach patrons told me that they endearingly referred to me as ‘beach girl’ or ‘bird girl’. On top of that, I was being supported by a team of great bosses who were giving me the liberty to decide exactly how I wanted to engage the public, and were open to listening to all of my crazy ideas.
Through my time at the beach, I talked to so many more people than I ever would have imagined could ever be interested in hearing about endangered birds on the beach. Every day, I was surprised that I was leaving feeling more fulfilled than the last. I wasn’t only engaging with people who already knew all about Monty and Rose and their history on Montrose like I’d initially assumed I would be, but I was talking to people from Central America and coastal Mexican cities who told me they’d seen plovers in their home countries. I was talking to food vendors on the beach who wanted to know why the beach was closed off in certain sections and subsequently what they could do to help protect the birds. I was talking to kids who didn’t even speak English but were nonetheless drawn in by the pictures of cute birdies that I had on my table.
Not only was I talking to such a vast and diverse amount of people, but I was also finally in a position where I could help reach my own community of Latinos in the city, a group that is so often overlooked in science circles. I was able to speak in my native tongue and it was actually considered to be an advantage versus just a characteristic that I had.
Sure, there were some instances of interacting with creepy men or rude people, but these very seldom occurrences of discomfort on the beach were so far outweighed by the immense love I felt from the Montrose community. From the lifeguards and paleteros working on the beach, to the frequent patrons that were always sure to stop by my table and ask about updates on Imani and crew, who all quickly became my friends, I felt so overwhelmingly accepted and supported on Montrose Beach. Which, admittedly, was something I was nervous about before starting my position. Plus, what other job position would allow me to take a quick dip in the lake on a hot summer day, or spend time birding when the day is slow?
Midway through the summer, essentially all of my close friends and family were asking for updates on the chicks and wanted to be the first to hear of any news with the plovers. These are mostly people who can’t tell a gull from a pigeon and couldn’t care less about birds in general, by the way. I felt so fulfilled to know that I was making a difference, not only at Montrose beach but even in my own circle. I know I had an impact on the plovers, just as much as they had an impact on me. Overall, I couldn’t have dreamed of a position more suited to exactly my interests and passions, and I don’t think there’s any other position where I could have had as much fun as I did.
Forever a plover lover,
Jessica Cortez
About the PresentationSandhill Cranes are highly visible and charismatic megafauna. But how well do we understand their lives on a daily and annual basis? This program will describe nearly 20 years of observing color-banded Sandhill Cranes in Wisconsin as part of a scientific research study. We will explore demographic characteristics, behavior, and conservation of Sandhill Cranes while conducting this research.
About Matt Hayes
Matt is currently the Assistant Director for the Illinois Audubon Society. He is a trained field ornithologist and geneticist who has conducted research on sandhill cranes, piping plovers, and variety of songbirds. He enjoys birding, outdoor activities, and spending time with family.
Register in advance for this meeting by clicking the button below.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtc-6urDsoHtB-OFafy1cR7F7d6ZDN4EGu
Artwork by Evan Smith
Plan now for your team or your individual Big Sit. Learn more about how to participate as a team or an individual, how to register a fundraising page, how to donate, and how to join in the fun!
Wednesday, January 24th at 7:00pm
Hawaiian Honeycreepers and the Conservation Crisis – Past, Present and Future
A group of rose finches from central Asia migrated over the Pacific Ocean, thus irrupting, as finches tend to do, 6,000 miles, landing on Hawaii more than 5 million years ago. This may have happened a few times. These finches found unique foods and habitats, and they adaptively radiated to dozens of species. This is similar to the story of Darwin’s finches, and these rose finches adaptively radiated into more 50 new species that exploited these food resources.
After settlers arrived, rats, cats, pigs, mongooses, invasive plants, diseases, and the most current threat, mosquitos carrying avian malaria, were introduced. From a high of 53-56 species, now only 16 remain. New efforts are being done to help the last remaining species.
Matt Young, FiRN Founder and Executive Director
Matt has been observing and enjoying nature since a very young age. He’s lived in Central New York for 26+ years and it was during this time when he really started studying everything from birds to orchids, and bogs and fens. Matt received his B.S. in Water Resources with a minor in Meteorology from SUNY-Oneonta and his M.S. in Ornithology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry/Syracuse University in 2003. Matt did his masters research on avian diversity in restored wetlands of central New York at the Great Swamp Conservancy. He was a Regional Editor of the Kingbird for 10 years, the state ornithological journal in New York, was an Adjunct Professor in Environmental Studies at SUNY-Cortland, and currently teaches an Intro to Birding class for Cornell University and was the Board Chair at The Wetland Trust.
Over the last 26 years he’s worked as a social worker (and is currently) with special needs young adults and adolescents for close to 12 years, and worked at the Cornell Lab across 15+ years where he did extensive field work for the Lab’s Cerulean and Golden-winged Warblers atlas projects, and was project lead on the Lab’s first Finch Irruptive Bird Survey for Bird Source in 1999. He was the Collections Management Leader/Audio Engineer at the Macaulay Library ~12 years where he edited sounds for several Merlin packs around the world in addition to being the lead audio engineer on guides, the Songs of the Warblers of North America, Audubon Society Voices of Hawaii’s Birds, and the Cornell Lab’s Guides to Bird Sounds, the North America Master and Essential Sets. He’s been a tour guide leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, written finch species accounts for breeding bird atlases and Birds of the World, and has published several papers about the Red Crossbill vocal complex including describing a new call type Type 12. He’s currently working on Finches of United States and Canada with Lillian Stokes and is also the President and Founder of the Finch Research Network (FiRN).
Nathan Goldberg, FiRN Hawaiian Honeycreeper Project Lead
Nathan Goldberg is a graduate of Cornell University, and a tour leader and guide for the Red Hill Birding team. He is an avid birder for over a decade and from the Chicagoland region. In 2020, he set the Illinois Big Year record, seeing 341 species over the course of the year. After leading a trip in Hawaii in 2021 he reached out to Matt to get involved in helping raise awareness around the conservation crisis in Hawaii.
To learn more about the Honeycreepers Project, click here.
Funds raised go directly towards supporting IOS initiatives including the Illinois Young Birders program, supporting bird research and conservation in Illinois through the IOS Grant Program. Thank you to all our teams for your fundraising efforts! Many teams raised hundreds of dollars and we had a lot of different people supporting the event. Kudos to you all!
Across the state, big sitters saw a combined 163 species of birds!
Art by Laurie Kaufmann
Stay put. Count birds. Raise money! IOS invites you to join other birders throughout Illinois on the weekend of September 22-24 for the annual IOS 2023 Big Sit Competition and Fundraiser. Sign up below and pick a day on the weekend to sit in one spot and count as many species of birds as possible, whether in your yard or your favorite park or preserve. You can count as an individual or family or teams of up to five (additional participants can come and go from your count circle as long as no more than five people are in the circle at one time and social distancing and state guidelines are followed). Teams are also invited to help solicit donations for their team and use the event as a fun way to help us raise funds for IOS. The 2023 IOS Big Sit funds will go towards supporting IOS and IOS initiatives like the Illinois Young Birders and the IOS Grants program.
A Big Sit, similar to a Big Day, is a competition where a team of birders counts as many species as possible within a 24 hour period. While the Big Day involves moving around from spot to spot to maximize species sightings, a Big Sit is precisely as it sounds. You stay in one location, a 20ft diameter circle called a “count circle”, and only species seen or heard from that circle count for the final tally. Count wherever you want and as long as you want during your chosen count day. The Big Sit is all about slowing down and enjoying good company, great birds, and, in this case, supporting a good cause! Full rules can be read here.
To start a fundraiser, you will need to create a Donately account if you do not already have one. It is very straightforward. Don’t forget a creative name! Don’t forget to set a fundraising goal for yourself!
Donors can do a 1-time donation, or they can pledge to donate an amount “per species” and complete their donation after you announce your final species total to them. NOTE: Your team is responsible for keeping track of “per species” donors and reminding them to donate afterwards! Encourage donors that they can donate both ways!
On your competition day, sit back, relax, and have fun counting birds. Share your highlights as the day progresses in the new IOS Facebook Group. (A submission form will be posted closer to the event date to submit your final species total and any highlights you want to share from your day).
Anyone interested is invited to join us for a virtual after party online as we share highlights with one another and announce winners. Prizes will be awarded for the team that counts the most birds and for the team that raises the most in donations (details to be announced).
If you are not supporting a specific team, feel free to pick one to support or you can submit a general donation to IOS.
Aerin Tedesco
IOS Big Sit Event Coordinator
IOS is excited to partner with field trip leaders all around Illinois to offer field trips at birding hotspots during the peak of spring migration. Most are day trips in locations with great birding opportunities for everyone from those who know the area well to those hoping to explore a new place. One field trip is an overnight experience in the southernmost part of Illinois!
These trips are a chance to meet new birding friends, plan an adventure somewhere in Illinois that’s new to you, or re-visit a favorite place for birding.
Registration is limited for each event, so register early to reserve your spot!
Leaders Ronda Rothrock and Vicki Lang will guide participants around many prime birding hotspots of Southern Illinois in search of neotropical migrants and specialties of the far southern counties of the state. Don’t miss this unique birding experience!
Register for the Southern IL Birding Weekend here.
