Look for warblers and other migrants (and a great display of spring wildflowers). Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the corner of Ewing Avenue and Grant Street.  Park along Ewing Avenue.  

Leader: John Bates

Ryerson has long been a favorite place to find migrating and resident birds. Look for warblers and other spring migrants, plus Pileated Woodpeckers.

Meet at 7:30 a.m at the Brushwood Center parking lot. 

Leader: John. Leonard.  Register with Libby Hill, libbyhill@comcast.net.

Emily Oaks has wonderful established trails and a pond. We will be looking for warblers and other late spring migrants.

Meet at 7:30 a.m. in the Emily Oaks Nature Center parking lot, 4650 Brummel Street, Skokie. We will bird outside the Nature Center until it opens at 8:00 a.m.

Leader: John Bates

In cooperation with the Ecology Center. 

Details TBA.

We will look for spring warblers and other migrants, local raptors, etc.. along the trails of this nearly 22-acre restored woodlands, wetlands and pond.

Meet at 7:30 A.M. at the park entrance at 5801 N. Western Ave, just across from where Ardmore dead-ends into Western Ave. from the west. Free street parking on both sides of Western Avenue.

Leader: Scott Judd

Join David Johnson for another of his special trips around the Lake County lakes looking for loons, pelicans, ducks, and anything else we can find. 

Meeting at 8:30 a.m., Gale Street Inn, parking lot, Mundelein.

Register with David Johnson, djohnsoda@comcast.net and Libby Hill libbyhill@comcast.net

Leader: David Johnson

Once a common sight devouring insects at every night game, the increasingly un-common nighthawk is now in steep decline. Despite being one of the fastest disappearing birds in North America, very little data exists on why and how to stop it. In 2021, Chicago Ornithological Society launched a volunteer monitoring program to fill the gap, one of the only such efforts in the country. This presentation will highlight what the deal is on these birds, what’s been learned so far, and how to ensure Chicago remains a haven for these mysterious creatures.

Edward Warden is a lifelong Chicago resident, birder, and urban naturalist.  Over the last 20 years he has worked with organizations across the Chicago region to foster community and appreciation for the urban environment through stewardship, conservation action, social media, and interpretive programs. He currently serves as President of the Chicago Ornithological Society and works as the Stewardship Program Manager at the Chicago Park District.  Nightjars are a particular passion of his and he is the founder of the Chicago Nighthawk Project, a community science project launched in 2022 to help track and observe them.

Location: This program is in person at the Ecology Center, 7:30pm.

January 29-February 5, 2026 

Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean and one of the most endemic-rich. With 28 endemic species and many more endemic subspecies, Jamaica is a great destination for birders to experience the unique ecology of island birds in comfortable settings and at a relaxed pace. We will visit the Blue and John Crow Mountains and unique habitats like coastal scrub, lowland forest, and epiphyte-laden cloud forest. We have a great chance of seeing all of the island’s endemic birds, including difficult ones like Crested Quail-Dove and Jamaican Blackbird and the two iconic species of streamertail hummingbirds. The pace will be relaxed, the Blue Mountain coffee will flow, and the excellent Jamaican food will be a perfect complement to our week of island birding.  

Three spaces open.

For more information, contact info@redhillbirding.com

Presenter: Debra Hamilton, Monteverde Institute Costa Rica

With the great loss of tropical forests in the past 50 years, the question of what happens to migratory birds on their overwintering grounds is urgent. Are restored forests providing the habitat they need? What do migrants encounter when they return each year to Costa Rica, a country long recognized for its leadership in environmental stewardship? Debra Hamilton, research affiliate with the Monteverde Institute and president of the Costa Rican Conservation Foundation, will share insights from her and collaborator Luisa Moreno's work tracking these birds at banding stations and studying how reforested landscapes and native tree plantings on agricultural land are shaping their survival. Debra has studied the use of agricultural windbreaks as micro-corridors for forest dwelling birds, avian community changes in relation to climate change, and started the MoSI (overwintering survival of neotropical migratory birds) station in Monteverde. She was a founding member of the Costa Rican Conservation Foundation, an organization with the mission to protect and restore forest habitat on Costa Rica’s Pacific slope to aid the recovery of the Three-wattled Bellbird (Procnias tricarunculatus).  Her publications include articles on vocalizations, habitat use, and frugivory patterns of bellbirds, as well as tropical forest restoration topics. Working alongside a dedicated team of naturalists, she explores how restoration, conservation, and human pressures are reshaping the future for migratory birds in the tropics.

This program is at 7:30 on zoom and will be recorded.  The zoom “doors” will open at 7 pm.