Gov. J.B, Pritzker officially designates November 18 as Piping Plover Day

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has declared Monday, November 18, Piping Plover Day in honor of Monty and Rose! Read more about the activities planned and how you can join in the celebration - and take more action to protect birds at Montrose.

Community, ConservationLindsay WilkesNovember 17, 2019Montrose Beach

Let's Go Birding Together - Pride Month Walk at Humboldt Park

Let’s Go Birding Together is Audubon Society’s LGBTQ inclusive bird walk series. COS participated in the Chicago-area walk, hosted at Humboldt Park and co-sponsored by Feminist Bird Club and Audubon Great Lakes on June 22, 2019. Almost 40 people attended on a warm, sunny June morning.

COS Blog

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has declared Monday, November 18, Piping Plover Day in honor of Monty and Rose! Read more about the activities planned and how you can join in the celebration - and take more action to protect birds at Montrose.

Paul Douglas Preserve was created by combining a mixture of farmland and wooded private land which mostly is on higher glacial ridges featuring very mature oak woodlands. This birder group compiled a list of 40 bird species, all summer residents of this beautiful preserve.

The Plum Creek Forest Preserve walk started in the meadow and got great looks through the scope at Henlow's and Grasshopper Sparrows, as well as Dickcissel, Eastern Meadowlark and Bobolink.

With a count of 48 species, we had a nice walk introducing some folks to a pretty sweet urban birding spot!

Spring birding is in full swing, as seen at this COS bird walk at Skokie Lagoons. Led by Aerin Tedesco, the group checked off 54 species.

A great showing for a New Years Day walk! COS kicked off 2019 on a cold, gray day but with a lot fun birding.

Check out COS board member, Stephanie Beilke’s recommended reading! Stephanie is a Conservation Science Associate with Audubon Great Lakes. She leads marsh bird monitoring to inform conservation in the Chicago area and Indiana. She also volunteers with the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

A dozen birders explored prime sparrow habitat finding singing Henslow's and Grasshopper Sparrows, as well as a number of more common species, like Field, Song, Savanna and Lincoln's Sparrow.

This Earth Day Bird Walk was not too springy but very birdy! We spotted 53 species, including a Merlin, Eastern Meadowlarks, a Virginia Rail, Rusty Blackbirds and a leucistic Winter Wren.

In December COS celebrated its Conservation Awards, given to volunteers who have given freely of their time and energy to do the avian-based restoration work at LaBagh Woods.

This year’s Southern Illinois Field Trip was a huge success thanks to the cooperative weather and expertise of our leader, Keith McMullen.

Eleven birders explored parts of Orland Grasslands on Saturday, April 29, a cloudy, chilly day. Led by Pat Hayes, a volunteer steward at the site, we followed trails through prairie areas...

What a great spring birding day! We spotted over 30 Wilson's Snipe, a Short-eared Owl in flight, an early Marsh Wren, Eastern Meadowlarks and some Rusty blackbirds.

Save the date! April 22 at 6:30pm at Galway Arms in Lincoln Park, COS will be hosting a fundraiser for LaBagh Woods. We're honored to have live music by Congress of Starlings!

COS president Carl Giometti attended a February 20 presentation of the Industrial Corridor Modernization: North Branch framework plan, prepared by the Chicago Department of Planning

Just what is your COS Board doing on this unseasonable warm February Monday evening, besides eating lasagna?

Your COS (Chicago Ornithological Society) Board is comprised of 10 volunteers lead by Carl Giometti, our COS President for 2017. The board meets a minimum of once per quarter and deliberates on a number of initiatives COS is involved with for Chicago area birders.

The native shrub plantings are finished for 2016, and now we begin to prepare other parts of LaBagh for native shrub plantings and native herbaceous plant seeding in 2017. This is important work, but more than anything else, IT'S FUN!