The Waukegan Christmas Count will be held, as usual, on January 1, 2021. Adam Sell is the organizer. adamwardsell@gmail.com

The Chicago Lakefront Count will be held on Friday, December 25.  Joel Greenberg is the organizer. joelgreenberg@gmail.com

Gustavo Ustariz has a BBA and an MBA in Tourism Management and has worked in tourism development for over 15 years, mainly with communities and local governments in Honduras, where he is from. His work includes promoting community-based tourism with a local NGO on the north coast of Honduras and developing tourism and guide-training projects there, including birding tourism.  He will discuss the importance of Honduras to the extraordinary diversity of birds there, including many migrants familiar to bird club members. In recognition of the important contribution of tourism to Honduras, ENSBC and Josh Engel of Red Hill Birding will be offering a birding trip to Honduras, March 11-20, 2021.  Circumstances permitting.

North Shore lakefront. 50th Annual Jeff Sanders’ Fall Specialty Trip.  Gillson Park, Maple Park, Tower Road Park, Park Ave., Rose Beach in Highland Park, and other areas as time permits. Meet at 8:00 a.m. at Gillson Park Beach.  Masks and social distancing required.  If you want to see way out onto the lake, bring your own scope. 

Preregister with Leader Jeff Sanders, yellowstart5@yahoo.com., 847-675-7172.

Carpool only with other members of the same household. (Watch for possible rule changes for Covid-19 prevention)

Co-sponsored with Lake-Cook Audubon

When Ian Fleming was looking for a name for his fictional British secret agent, he looked at the cover of his birding bible, Birds of the West Indies, saw the author's name, and simply stole it. The real-life James Bond was an ornithologist and noted naturalist/adventurer from Philadelphia who was an expert on the birds of the Caribbean. Jim Wright, the New Jersey-based author of the just-published The Real James Bond, will discuss Bond’s iconic field guide, his identity theft by Ian Fleming, and Bond’s solo expeditions to the Caribbean. Wright will also discuss the birds that Bond discovered or helped popularize, and the connection between Bond and ornithologists who became spies during World War II -- including two from the Field Museum. Wright's other books include The Nature of the Meadowlands, Jungle of the Maya, and Hawk Mountain. He is the birding columnist for The (Bergen) Record and a marsh warden at a nature preserve in northern New Jersey.  The Real James Bond is available at https://www.realjamesbond.net/2020/06/how-to-get-a-copy-.html  

Brazil’s Pantanal is home to both an enormous diversity of birds and one of the densest concentrations of large mammals anywhere in the Americas. Although it is often considered to be the world’s largest wetland, it is in reality a vast mosaic of wetlands, grassland, and lush forest. On his 2019 tour of the Pantanal and Iguaçu Falls with members of the Bird Club, Red Hill Birding’s Josh Engel and trip participants tallied 340 bird species (including top five favorites Hyacinth Macaw, Pale-crested Woodpecker, Agami Heron, Helmeted Manakin, and a tie between Sunbittern and Guira Cuckoo) and 22 mammals (including multiple views of Jaguar). Josh will share highlights of that magical experience and talk about the birds and wildlife of the Pantanal and surrounding areas.

Zoom instructions and an invitation will be sent out to members of ENSBC.

Look for fall warblers, thrushes and other migrants.  Meet at 7:30 a.m. corner of Ewing Ave. and Grant St.  Leaders: Josh Engel and John Bates.  Limit: 12 participants. Masks and social distancing required. Preregistration required.  Register with

              info@ensbc.org

Look for fall warblers, thrushes and other migrants.  Meet at 7:30 a.m. corner of Ewing Ave. and Grant St.  Leader: John Bates.  Limit: 6 participants. Masks and social distancing required. FULL

Thursday mornings at Perkins Woods. Look for warblers and other migrants (and also a great display of spring wildflowers. Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the corner of Ewing Ave. and Grant St. Park along Ewing Ave.  Leader: John Bates and/or Josh Engel.