Upcoming Field Trips

The Illinois Young Birders take field trips throughout the year to birding hotspots around the state. All young birders are welcome to attend but please note the following information. All young birders must fill out a
Field Trip Permission Form at the beginning of each year before they can participate on trips. Please download, fill out, and save the .pdf form, then e-mail it back to , the ILYB Field Trips Coordinator. Please contact Josh to RSVP for trips or if you have any questions or difficulties filling out the form.

 

Josh Engel and Matthew Cvetas are your Illinois Young Birders (ILYB) Field Trip Coordinators and are excited about the opportunities of birding with you in 2012. So far, we have some great trips planned with several more in the works. Highlights include trips to Hennepin and Hopper Lakes, June night birding at Iroquois County Conservation Area, and field trips led by our own talented Illinois Young Birders to their favorite local patches. The format of these events will be similar to what you’ve experienced in the past with most events beginning in the morning and going until lunch time or even beyond. We suggest you bring food (including lunch) and water, dress for the weather, and wear appropriate footwear for hiking through snow, mud, or tall grass. In warmer months, we will try to picnic together on location; in these colder months, be prepared to snack in the car, as there might not always be an opportunity to dine together at a restaurant. We will have extra binoculars for ILYB members to use should they need them.

Starved Rock Area - Winter Birds & Eagles

Sunday, January 22nd - 7:30 A.M.

THIS TRIP HAS BEEN MOVED TO SUNDAY DUE TO THE SNOW STORM ON FRIDAY

Leader: Bob Carper. We’ll tour Starved Rock and the surrounding area with local birder, Bob Carper. For those of you who missed last year’s trip, the Illinois Waterways Visitor Center in Utica, IL across the river from Starved Rock State Park provides outstanding opportunities to see Bald Eagles and gulls in winter. (Keep your fingers crossed for some cold weather between now and then, so the river ices over and eagles concentrate near open water by the lock and dam.) We’ll also bird Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks and perhaps get a glimpse of Pileated Woodpecker, Wild Turkey, Ring-necked Pheasant, owls, and more. We’ll meet at McDonalds in Ottawa (127 E. Norris Dr., Ottawa, IL) at 7:30am and caravan from there to our first location.
Google Map of McDonalds location.

Dress for cold weather and potentially muddy conditions in some areas.

IOS 11th Annual Gull Frolic - North Point Marina

Saturday, February 18th - 9:00 A.M.

Leaders: Josh Engel & Matthew Cvetas. The Gull Frolic is a great, once a year, opportunity to mingle with other birders of all ages at North Point Marina, in Winthrop Harbor, IL, to watch and learn about gulls, and retreat inside the yacht club for warmth, food, and socializing. Bring your binoculars, scope and cold weather gear. Experts will be available to help ID gulls and answer your questions. We’ll meet just in front of the Winthrop Harbor Yacht Club at 9am. Hopefully, many of you were able to register for this event before registration closed. For those that did, you will have access to restrooms, and food and warm beverages inside the yacht club. There will also be presentations on gull identification in the conference room. For those that still want to come but were unable to register in time, please contact Josh or Matthew.

 

Directions: See the IOS Website for directions.

Fox River Area - Waterfowl & Winter Birds

Saturday, March 17th - 8:00 A.M.

Leader: Eric Secker. We’ll meet Eric at Pratt's Wayne Woods Forest Preserve in Wayne, IL and spend the day birding near the Fox River checking a few spots for species like Sandhill Cranes and Rusty Blackbirds. We’ll continue to other nearby spots in Kane or DuPage County to look for Common Loons, Horned Grebes, and other waterfowl.  Plan to meet at 8am at the main parking lot of Pratt’s Wayne Woods on the west side of Powis Road. Park in the first large lot on the left. Google Map of Meeting Location

 

 

 

If you are an adult who is interested in volunteering as a chaperone or field trip leader, please contact Josh Engel (see e-mail above) for information on the process for obtaining an Illinois State fingerprint background check and where to send your results. ALL ADULT VOLUNTEERS ON ILYB FIELD TRIPS MUST HAVE STATE FINGERPRINT BACKGROUND CHECKS. The background checks take about 2-3 weeks to get processed, and must be received by IOS prior to date of field trip. All volunteer background checks will be kept in a locked file and will never be shared with anyone. This check only needs to be done once, but it is necessary to ensure the protection of our young birders. Space is limited to 3 Adult Volunteers per trip. Parents of young birders don’t need to do the fingerprint check.