The Evanston North Shore Bird Club

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PROGRAM: Chris Whelan: Foraging for Food - How Do Birds Do It?

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Chris Whelan, in the Biology Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is back by popular demand.  He will share his knowledge of Foraging Ecology.

How do birds, or any organisms for that matter, make their living? Every living thing need safety from enemies, and resources (food) to grow, sustain life, and reproduce. Given the extraordinary diversity of birds, how do birds exemplify an extraordinary diversity in feeding behavior -- how do they obtain food? This question is the domain of what ecologists call "Foraging Ecology". Every detective wanna-be is told to answer these questions: Who? When? Where? Why? and How? We'll look into answers to those questions with respect to bird Foraging Ecology, though not necessarily in that order. Foraging Ecology influences many aspects of bird life -- who lives where (habitat selection), with whom (community ecology), and ecological impacts (pest control). The 11,000 some species of birds exhibit fascinating examples of Foraging Ecology, so this review will have to be selective and, unfortunately (fortunately?), limited by the time available. We could go on for years....  On Zoom  7:30 pm.

PROGRAM: Jobi Cates - Adapting to Change: Bird Photography as Recovery

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Jobi Cates, a local birder, photographer and policy advocate, will share photos, stories, and lessons learned from birds as part of her journey with chronic illness.

Until March 2023, Jobi was founder and Executive Director of Restore Justice, a statewide advocacy organization focused on reducing harm caused by long-term incarceration. Her 30-year career—and her bird chasing habit—came to a halt when she was infected with COVID-19 and became what is called a “long-hauler,” suffering from debilitating cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, and nervous system dysregulation.

Jobi discovered that while going back to work was not an option, bird photography could be “paced” using methods learned in speech and physical therapy. While the effort involved in bird photography still poses many challenges, Jobi has learned habits, “hacks” and mental tricks to make bird photography an integral part of her recovery, and she is delighted to have a chance to share them with the local birding community.  On Zoom  7:30 pm.

PROGRAM: Marla Garrison: Dragonflies, a Natural History

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Dragonflies: A Natural History

Journey into the mesmerizing world of dragonflies—ancient aerial predators whose distant ancestors soared with two-and-a-half-foot wingspans over 300 million years ago! Join Marla Garrison of the Liebman Institute for Science Innovation at McHenry College for an image intensive presentation showcasing the aquatic insect order Odonata which has been studied by aeronautical engineers for decades. These masters of flight also have unique and fascinating natural and life histories that, at times, are stranger than fiction. Through macro photography we will take an up-close look at their development, life cycle, and behaviors. Don't miss this chance to uncover the beauty, diversity and ecological importance of Illinois' 100+ species of odonates.

This meeting will be in-person at 7:30 pm at Crown Community Center, 1801 Main Street, Evanston.  Plenty of free, well-lit parking.

Marla Garrison is Director of the Liebman Institute for Science Innovation at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Illinois. For 29 years she taught biology at the community college level. Over the past 20 years she has studied the aquatic insect order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). She is the author of Damselflies of Chicagoland published online by the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History. She sat on the Executive Council of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas for many years and has worked with the US Fish & Wildlife Service on the federally endangered Hine's Emerald Dragonfly project. She conducts dragonfly research and surveys throughout the state of Illinois and around the country. She co-authors Nymph Cove, a quarterly news column published in the journal Argia and is currently working on her second field guide Dragonfly Nymphs of Illinois.

 

 

PROGRAM: Cicadas, Birds and Ants: Research from the Cicada "Pulse"

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Sean Menke, Professor & Chair of Biology at Lake Forest College, along with his colleagues. took advantage of the cicada event in 2024 to learn more about ecosystems.  In nature, populations of plants and animals occasionally explode in numbers, providing a temporary surplus of nutritious food for consumers. When these nutritional ‘pulses’ occur, they can initiate chain reactions in food webs, as consumers switch from their normal diets to feast instead on the abundant new food items. Understanding the consequences of these food pulses for natural communities – which organisms are affected, for how long, and if they stop performing their normal “jobs” to take advantage of the new resource – can provide insights into how ecological systems function and respond to change. My colleagues and I studied the synchronized emergence of billions of Brood XIII periodical cicadas in Chicagoland this past summer. This was an enormous pulse of insect food for birds and ants, one of the most abundant and important group of organisms on the planet. Come find out what we learned, and still hope to find out!

In person at Robert Crown Community Center, 1801 Main Street, Evanston.  Plenty of parking in the well-lit parking area.730 pm.

 The program will be preceded by the short annual ENSBC meeting when officers will be elected to the board.  Everyone present votes!