Spring Warblers in Chicago

The Great Lakes region is rightly famous for its spring warbler migration. And warblers, especially when in their spring finery, really bring out the birders! While hordes of birders head for Magee Marsh and Point Pelee for their spring warbler fix, the western Great Lakes also hosts tremendous spring migration in mid-May. Chicago is an excellent place to be based to witness this migration, where as many as 30 species of warblers pass through each spring and urban migrant traps concentrate them and allow for great viewing opportunities. 

The Spring Warblers tour in Chicago is part of the ABA’s Institute for Field Ornithology (IFO) program, which endeavors to:

• hold workshops and courses for improving field skills and ornithological knowledge;
• make known ways in which birders might contribute to the scientific or aesthetic appreciation of birds in their natural habitats;
• encourage cooperation between amateur and professional ornithologists;
• contribute to the conservation of wild birds;
• provide a convenient location for all to work, to study, and to discuss birds.

During IFO tours, there is always an emphasis on helping attendees improve their field skills and increase their ornithological knowledge—goals ultimately intended to enable you to more effectively engage in activities that will benefit future bird conservation efforts. It has never been a goal of IFO events to merely identify and record as many bird species as possible within the time allotted for the courses. IFO instructors try to remain focused on their workshop topics, while the day-to-day organization of most IFO workshops strives to provide a healthy blend of indoor learning activities, along with extensive time spent in the field reinforcing information presented in the classroom. (from The ABA’s Institute for Field Ornithology: A Brief History)

On this Spring Warblers IFO tour, we will visit some of the Chicago area’s best warbler migration hotspots, places like Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary and Jarvis Bird Sanctuary on the city’s northside lakefront, Jackson Park on the southside, and Ryerson Woods and Daniel Wright Woods along the Des Plaines River. We will also spend classroom time learning about warblers, their habits, conservation, behavior, and more. For one afternoon, we will move the classroom sessions to the Field Museum, where we can interact with Museum scientists and learn about their work. The field trips and workshops are designed to be complementary, with the lessons learned in the classroom applicable in the field, and vice versa. 

This Spring Warblers IFO tour is based out of the Hilton Orrington Hotel in Evanston. This hotel is located in downtown Evanston and is walking distance to the Clark Street Beach Bird Sanctuary and the Northwestern University campus, both excellent spring migration birding hotspots. A pair of Peregrine Falcons traditionally nests on a building across the street from the hotel.