March 23 Trip Report by Peter Tolzmann Jackson Park, on the south side of Chicago, is one of the best places for birding in the Chicago area, with over 300 species reported there. We met up at Wooded Island, to start the morning. We quickly noticed some early spring migrants starting to move in, including…
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By Maxima Gomez-Palmer McCown’s longspur, Audubon’s warbler, Bachman’s sparrow… what do these birds have in common? They are all named after people, specifically white men. There are over 130 different bird species worldwide whose common names are eponyms, a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named. Not only are these eponyms unnecessarily…
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Hi, my name is Peter Tolzmann and I’m a young Birder. Even though this year’s IOS Symposium was held online it was a good one! Four different young birders shared their presentations with the group. There was also an art gallery where young birders showed their own illustrations and photographs! Then, the keynote speaker, Kenn…
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I’m Simon Tolzmann, and I’m a part of the Illinois Young Birders club. I’ve been in the ILYB for just over 2 years now, and I’ve made truly amazing friends. On Saturday, November 24, 2018, My dad, brother and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and made the hour drive to Beverly Hills near Michigan…
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On Saturday, Oct 6th, nearly fifty people attended the third annual Illinois Young Birders Symposium to enjoy a day of birding, presentations by young birders and professionals, and art at the Edward L. Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods, Illinois. The day began with a field trip on the grounds of Ryerson Conservation Area where more…
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Seventeen young birders and families joined forces with Christine Williamson and the Chicago Ornithological Society to bird the south shore of Lake Michigan on September 16th. We met at Chicago’s Rainbow Beach on a beautiful sunny and warm morning. We walked the dunes to the water and began scanning the far breakwall behind the water…
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Eight young birders and their parents joined me, Steve Bayer, and guest leader Tim Balassie for some shorebirding in Kane and Dupage Counties on August 19th. We started at Dunteman Turf Farms in Kaneville, where we found plenty of Killdeer but no other shorebirds. We moved on to Nelson Lake, which fortunately held a much…
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Hi fellow birders! I’m Simon Tolzmann, a young birder from Chicago, IL. Today was my third experience with bird banding. Today gave me a new perspective on banding, as I hope it did to all the other young birders! We started the day at around 9:15 in the morning with nine young birders at Camp…
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Sixteen young birders and their families rose well before sunrise to meet our guest field trip leader, Beau Schaefer, at Illinois Beach State Park (IBSP) – South Unit for our first ever Big Day. Beau is a veteran of Lake County Big Days and we would take advantage of his expertise throughout the day. We…
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Eleven Illinois Young Birders and their parents dodged the rain drops Sunday morning, May 20th, at Montrose in Chicago. Even with a strong northeast winds, migrants were not to be denied. Overnight, they seemed to push on through and were well represented. And despite the gloomy and cold weather, the rain held off just enough…
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