Birdwatching, or birding, became a common hobby for nature-inclined Americans in the 20th century due to the widespread availability of field guides. However, birding has undergone a renaissance in recent years. The pandemic lockdown led to many new hobby seekers, which sparked a new interest for many. Today, new birders can quickly learn species identification using popular free birding apps such as Merlin. It’s like a Shazam for bird songs combined with a real-life Pokédex!
Another reason for the rise in popularity of birding is the increase in inclusive birding and nature groups. In the Chicago area, there’s Black People Outside, Latino Outdoors, Out in Nature, Feminist Bird Club, and more. These groups aim to make the outdoors accessible and welcoming to people of historically marginalized identities.
Chicago BIPOC Birders is one of those groups! It’s a grassroots effort to build community across Chicago between Black, Indigenous, and birders of color. Birding in groups is another way to build up your bird identification skills while creating a wholesome community with other bird and nature lovers.
Now that you’ve got your birding buddies, apps, and binoculars, all that’s left is finding your birding spot! The birders at Chicago BIPOC Birders have many favorite birding hotspots around the city that we’d love to share with you.
Washington Park
BIPOC Birder: Zelle
A part of the original Olmsted-designed park system, Washington Park and its lagoons host a wide variety of bird species found in every season. Take a short walk from the Garfield Green Line station to the Washington Park casting pier to see a variety of resident waterfowl including the state endangered Black-crowned Night Heron, who forage here during the warmer months.
From there, turn to the southeast field and you may find our local Red-shouldered Hawk who successfully nested in the park this year! But keep your eyes and ears open because it’s a popular field for all kinds of raptors.
On the other side of the field, the park’s natural area is always bustling during migration. Here, if you’re lucky you can find a Sora foraging in the marsh, even a rare Prairie or Connecticut Warbler in the bushes near the lagoons or a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in the tall honey locusts; all stopping to fuel up for the rest of their journey south. During the winter, this park is the BEST place in the city to find yourself a rare Cackling Goose! It looks just like a miniature Canada Goose, but is its own species.
Birder Zelle Tenorio loves to bird their local park and has seen over 130 species of birds here during the short 2 1/2 years they have made Woodlawn their home.
Riis Park
BIPOC Birder: J’orge
Riis Park is located on the northwest side of town in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood. From east to west, it serves as a green oasis between the chain of Cook County Forest Preserves around the city and the Chicago park and boulevard system. It’s a reliable spot for wintering White-throated Sparrows. Merlins are semi-regular visitors here, and the lagoon is healthy enough to hold several Northern Waterthrushes at once.
Every few summers, a hummingbird will settle in and nest. American Kestrels, on the other hand, are rather reliable nesters here. Earlier this fall migration, nearly every visit produced an uncommon Black-throated Blue Warbler. A great spot to bird here is within the peninsula between the southern lagoon.
Birder J’orge Garcia grew up just a mile away from Riis Park but hardly ever visited it during their youth. Since birding, he realized that the best thing he can do to support his home park is to bring more attention to it by birding and getting people to the park. He works on #CityBirds project, whose goal is to raise awareness of Chicagoland’s bird population and make environmental science more accessible through project-based community learning opportunities. The project also provides technological support to local research and conservation efforts.
McKinley Park
BIPOC Birder: Em
McKinley Park on the southwest side features natural areas covered with prairie plants and other varieties of healthy ecosystems. The community members take pride in their local park, which helps ensure it remains thriving.
With that comes great birds, of course. Black-crowned Night Herons are fairly abundant during the summer season. In the spring, you can expect a good variety of warblers and sparrows. You’ll also find the year-round classics such as downy woodpeckers, northern cardinals, mourning doves, and more! And the northeast corner of the lagoon is pretty bird busy.
Birder Em De Blas works as a Bilingual Coordinator for Community Engagement at Brookfield Zoo. They recently served as an organizer for a Big Sit at McKinley Park with Chicago BIPOC Birders. The group was able to witness a rare visitor that day, a Harris’s Sparrow!
Marquette Park
BIPOC Birder: Adolfo
Marquette Park is a huge 320-acre green space in the heart of Chicago Lawn. Along the northern end of the lagoon on the east side of the park, some of the oldest trees in the park are home to many year-round resident birds.
One of the original prairie remnants in Chicago is located in the center island of the park and is a solid place to find sparrows. During the summer, plant life is booming with prairie dock, cup plant, wild bergamot, purple and yellow coneflowers, and more!
The south end of the park is reliable for bigger herons, such as the Great Blue Heron, whereas the sneakier smaller Green Herons like the east side. Ducks, geese, and the occasional Caspian Tern and Double-crested Cormorant take full advantage of the giant lagoon.
Birder Adolfo Casterjon loves Marquette Park with all his heart! He helps run the West Lawn Conservation Club when he’s not birding, and is a knowledgeable botanist and naturalist.
Northerly Island
BIPOC Birder: Erick
Previously an airport in the heart of downtown, the Northerly Island peninsula juts out into the lake making a perfect refuge for migratory birds, similar to the more popular Montrose Point. Plus, you’ll get incredible views of the skyline and lagoon from the southern hill of the peninsula. The cityscape makes for an incredible backdrop for any aspiring bird photographers looking to capture the essence of urban nature.
Bird-wise, this is a place to go year-round. In the summer, it hosts many wetland birds such as herons and nesting cliff swallows. The spring and fall bring a huge push of migrants through, but the wintertime is often overlooked in birding. At Northerly Island, the winter draws all sorts of raptors including uncommon Snowy Owls and Northern Harriers, and more common Red-Tailed Hawks.
And of course, the lagoon is the winter home to many funky ducks, including a rare hybrid Common Goldeneye x Hooded Merganser affectionately known to birders as the Merganeye!
Birder Erick Masias often bikes to Northerly Island as a way to practice Green Birding. He recently took 4th place in a Chicago-wide photography contest with a portrait of a flying Great Blue Heron at Northerly Island.
Douglass Park
BIPOC Birder: Sammy
Located on Chicago’s west side within the North Lawndale and Pilsen neighborhoods, Douglass Park is a charming green space that attracts both birds and birders as a wonderfully wild pocket of nature in the urban landscape.
The park’s 160 acres include a variety of habitats, the most notable being its lagoons. The lagoon is the epicenter of floral and faunal diversity of Douglass Park. Its willow trees provide substantial areas of refuge for many birds, including state-endangered Black-crowned Night Herons.
Tall, dead trees scattered around the lagoon’s perimeter provide shelter and food sources for insects and birds alike. Much of the time, you can find Northern Flickers atop those dead trees calling away.
Amongst the park’s lawns, a variety of sparrow species, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Palm Warblers forage about in the dozens. Numerous migratory birds use Douglass Park as a stopover site during their journeys, foraging on the park’s honey locusts. On the regular, Mallards and Wood Ducks paddle back and forth in the lagoons.
Birder Sammy Cabindol is an Ambassador Animal Specialist at Crabtree Nature Center for the Forest Preserves of Cook County and just wrapped up a season with the Urban Night Heron Project at Lincoln Park Zoo. He holds an impressive eBird daily listing streak that he’s been keeping up for over a year!
