Bob Dolgan will screen the documentary he directed on the nesting Piping Plovers at Montrose Beach in the summer of 2019, including the successful fledging of two offspring.

Member Mark Luscombe will do a presentation on recent major studies documenting significant and widespread declines in the number of birds in North America and a widespread reduction in the size f birds. There will also be a mini-presentation of bird songs and calls.

Doug Taron, Chief Curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, will give a presentation on the status of our native butterflies. There will also be a mini-program on bird songs and calls.

Josh Engel, Founder of Red Hill Birding, will give a presentation on the birds of Texas based on his experiences from his many birding trips. Cancelled due to museum closure.

Julia Luscombe, a graduate of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Training and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in 2019, will give us an update on the current status of climate change and what is being done and can be done to address it. There will also be a mini-program on bird songs and calls. Cancelled due to museum closure.

Doug Widener, Executive Director, and Aaron Hammond, Assistant Director of Park Management and Sustainability, at the Lincoln Park Conservancy, will give us an update on progress on the North Pond Recovery Project to date and continuing work on the North Pond Master Plan. Weather permitting, they will also lead a walk around the pond to help us visualize the projects to be undertaken.

Following the summer break, we will pick up again on September 14, 2020

Summer Break

Josh Engel, founder of Red Hill Birding, will speak on Birding in Texas. Josh has led birding trips all over the world and has regularly led trips to Texas. This is the same presentation originally scheduled for April, 2020, which had to be cancelled due to COVID.

Bring a dish to share and be ready to discuss your 2021 birding season. We will also show a DVD from The World of Birds.

Due to museum COVID restrictions

Meeting cancelled due to museum COVID restrictions.

Includes the 2021 nesting season. Check back to confirm if the museum COVID restrictions have been removed in order to hold this meeting.

Doug Widener, Executive Director, at the Lincoln Park Conservancy, will give us an update on progress on the North Pond Recovery Project.

Julia and Jonathan are World Economic Forum Global Shapers and graduates of Al Gore's Climate Reality Training.

Bob Dolgan will screen his updated documentary on Monty and Rose at Montrose Beach.

Jim Rowan, nature photographer and reenactor, will do a presentation on remaining natural areas of Illinois.

Mark Luscombe will do a presentation on the recently released Birding Trends Survey documenting trends in bird populations in the Chicagoland area  based on observations over the years by Bird Conservation Network monitors.

The International Crane Foundation has prepared a program covering the history of Whopping Cranes and Sandhill Cranes, the work behind reintroducing Whopping Cranes to the Midwest, tips on identification, and ways you can aid in protecting cranes.

Bring a treat to share and be prepared to discuss the highlights of your 2022 birding year.  A video from The Life of Birds will also be screened.

In November, 2022, Mark spent two weeks birding in Bhutan with Red Hill Birding. Mark will discuss the culture of Bhutan and some of the hundreds of bird species that reside or visit there.

Bob Dolgan returns with his latest birding documentary focused on a stump in an Illinois farm field and the amazing raptors it attracts. Bob previously produced the documentaries on Monty and Rose at Montrose Beach. Bob maintains the subscription website This Week in Birding at twibchicago.com. Also there will be a Fort Dearborn 50th Anniversary celebration.

Josh Engel, founder of Red Hill Birding, will discuss the habitats and birds that can be observed in Brazil. Josh led a birding trip to Brazil in 2022.

With our regular April meeting falling on Easter this year, we are cancelling our April meeting.

Birds go to extraordinary lengths to protect their eggs, to keep them warm and safe from predators.  To meet these challenges, they have developed the arts of pottery, carpentry, weaving, camouflage and deception.

Brian "Fox" Ellis will portray Robert Ridgway, who evolved from amateur bird watching to become a rigorous scientist.  Ridgway traveled across the western wilderness in 1868, when he was still a teenager.  He was a student of Spencer Baird, who traveled with John James Audubon.  His life-long work was spent at the Smithsonian Institution.  He did birding trips to Central America and explored Alaska with John Burroughs, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and John Muir just after Alaska was acquired from Russia.  Ridgway grew up in Mount Carmel, Illinois and retired to Olney, Illinois.  He also founded the American Ornithology Union and the first chapter was the Ridgway Chapter in Chicago.  He designed exhibits for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.  Ridgway helped to refine systematics and evolutionary theory, redefining the relationships between species, subspecies and geography.

Jim Rowan, nature photographer and reenactor, will share some of his favorite photographs of birds.

We will celebrate and remember what we have been doing for the last fifty years and prepare for the next fifty.

Birding the Texas Coast.  mark Luscombe will discuss a Red Hill Birding trip to the North Texas coast in April, 2023 with spring migration in progress and even a modest fallout of warblers crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

Come with your phone with the Ebird App loaded and learn how to improve your birding and contribute to citizen science.

Video will focus on spring migration across the Gulf of Mexico

The Birds of South American

Teacher Learning Center

Spring Gathering in Savannah, Illinois

Notebaert Nature Museum

Next meeting September 8, 2024

Philadelphia, PA

Jim Rowan, nature photographer and reenactor, will share some of his favorite photographs from visits to state and provincial parks

Member Amy Lardner will provide an update on the Chicago Black-crowned Night Heron Project, including monitoring of tagged birds.

Matt Hayes, Assistant Director, IAS, will discuss Sandhill Cranes.  Matt previously served as a research associate at the International Crane Foundation and authored a number of papers on Sandhill Cranes

Videos from The LIfe of Birds will also be screened