Barb Dougan

Get ready for a Big Fun Morning as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Club’s first Big Day in 2012. We will bird from 5 am (if your team wants to do some owling) and quit at noon. We will bird at ONE site. This keeps us relatively “green” by not wasting fuel and keeps us outside and avoiding carpooling, in case there’s another variant headed our way. We’ll meet for lunch afterwards at Hidden Lake – we’ve got the picnic shelter reserved all day, and plan to have food arrive by 1 pm. How can you participate?  There

The DuPage Birding Club is proud to announce the Outreach Programs for the second quarter. Topics include Beginning Birdwatching: The Great Backyard Bird Count, Bird Walk at Fountaindale Library, and Non-native Plant and Animal Presentation. For additional program information and registration details go to the Learn About Birds/Outreach.          

If you’re interested in helping our breeding birds, the Bird Conservation Network has a perfect opportunity. Each year, the BCN recruits monitors to conduct a survey of breeding birds in selected preserves within the Chicago Wilderness area, providing vital information for understanding the population trends of the key species that breed here. Data is used by forest preserve districts and other land managers to identify their property’s most critical preservation and restoration needs. To become a monitor, you don’t have to be an expert birder but should have at least three years of birding experience and be able to identify

The collection of decoys donated by the estate of DBC member Craig Holderness will be available for purchase at the North American Decoy Collectors Show April 29-30, held at The Westin Hotel in Lombard. All proceeds will fund bird conservation, research, or education.  

Craig Holderness of Willowbrook passed away last fall. Craig was a birder and nature lover who regularly participated in Club-sponsored events such as the Christmas Bird Count and the Spring Bird Count here in DuPage County. He was a long-time bird monitor at Fullersburg Woods. He also donated his time as a volunteer for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, where he worked on river ecology projects including the conservation of fresh water mussels. Craig was a long-time collector of duck decoys and bird carvings. Upon his passing, Craig’s family donated his decoy and carving collection to the DuPage

The DBC is looking for pictures of birds taken between March 1, 2022 and May 31, 2022 for the Spring 2022 Photo Contest. All photos are welcome: amateur, funny, imperfect, high-quality. The “story behind the shot” will be taken into account when judging. The judges want this to be a fun contest; no categories have already been defined for award-winners so every entry has a chance to win! The contest is open to DBC members only. Photos may be taken anywhere (not just DuPage/Illinois). If a picture includes people, the submitter must have permission from those people to publish their

Hold the date and plan to participate in the 2022 Spring Bird Count in DuPage County on Saturday, May 7. The Spring Bird Count is held annually throughout Illinois around the first weekend in May and is intended to provide information and data on early spring bird migration throughout Illinois. The DuPage Birding Club coordinates the spring count efforts in DuPage County, and last year we recorded 168 species throughout DuPage County on spring count day. If you have participated in the past, you should have received an email from Joe Suchecki with information about the count, your area captain

Join Joe for a tour around Springbrook Prairie and hear why he volunteers as a steward at the site. Spoiler alert—this short video includes stunning bird images! Just a reminder: in 2019, the DBC donated $2,500 to the Springbrook Prairie Restoration Program through the DuPage County Forest Preserve. The video includes information about how you can help support such programs through the Friends of the Forest Preserve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puX65mQIXIU