Chicago Birding Places - Other Web Sites
The Birds
of Fermilab
Fermilab is one of the most popular places to bird in the Chicago area.
It is a national accelerator laboratory built on 6,800 acres of mixed habitat.
Only a fraction of the facility is used for the accelerator and labs...the
rest is left to nature. There are woods, wetlands, scrub, lakes,
and grassland (some restored prairie). The author, Peter Kasper,
is a physicist at the lab and has been keeping careful track of his sightings
for many years, resulting in a terrific checklist.
The list is useful not only for the lab, but for the surrounding area as
well. A map
of the facility and site
guide narrative are also included along with a reporting function to
generate custom reports from the sightings database. A daily
journal of recent sightings and Christmas count data are also included.
Willowbrook
Wildlife Haven
If you find an injured critter, this rehabilitation facility is the
place to call.
The Birds of McDowell Grove
Robert Rowland is developing a Fermi-like site for McDowell Grove.
There is a journal, map, and checklist.
Morton Arboretum
The Arb is a popular place for birding, however their site provides
virtually no information on birding; it's very plant oriented. There
are no checklists, bird reports, or birding recommendations. One
other obvious missing feature (as of this writing) is a map of the place.
Chicago Botanic Garden
A great place for birding, but their page loads terribly slowly.
One of the worst I've seen. If you're online via a modem, visiting
this page will be a chore. No specific information on birding.
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
Provides information about various activities that are going on, plus
they provide a very interactive bird checklist, with links to songs, calls
and photographs. Warning...the checklist is one file and it's over
100KB in size.
Hyde
Park Birding
Speaking of the Hyde Park Parakeets, here's a short guide to birding
in Hyde Park. It's mostly maps and information on organized bird
walks at Jackson Park, aka the "Wooded Isle". It also includes links
to some descriptions of the surrounding neighborhoods. Jackson Park
is one of the best areas to bird in Chicago.
Forest Preserve District of
Dupage County
A nice web site that provides a clickable map of all of the preserves
in the county. Also included are pages on events, conservation, and
other links. They do have maps and some
trail maps, but for whatever reason, they don't have detailed maps
for all of the preserves. Duh?
Lake County Forest
Preserves
A text listing of a few of their preserves. They give you
an address to write for detailed maps of the preserves. I've seen
these maps...they're not bad. No specific information on birding.
Will County Forest Preserve District
Kane County Forest
Preserve
Provides basic information about the preserves.
Northeast
Region State Parks and Natural Areas
(Illinois DNR) This site provides text information on all of
the state parks in the Chicago area. No specific birding information,
such as checklists, is included and there are no trail maps online.
Illinois
Preserve Profiles - The Nature Conservancy
This site describes some of The Nature Conservancy's Illinois preserves.
Each description provides an overview of the location, access information,
some of the natural history, the natural value of the facility and occasional
travel information.
[Ed. note - this page is exploded out of TNC's
frames site. If you visit their main Web page, you should be
able to work your way down to this page. Another option is to try
their Illinois
site.]
12 Natural Wonders
of the Chicago Wilderness
Provided by Chicago Wilderness, this is a short recap of 12 high quality
natural areas in the Chicago area. Descriptions and some contact
information is provided for each area. Not very birding oriented,
but if your desire is to visit natural places, this might be a good starting
list.
McLean County Bird
Page
Includes a checklist and site guide for the Bloomington/Normal area
of Illinois. Nice design and loads fairly fast.
Illinois
Hotspots
This is a very comprehensive effort which covers the US and elsewhere.
Mostly links to other pages that provide site information.
| 
