Barb Dougan

The annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for the Fermilab Circle is December 20 this year, and the always-fun Countdown Dinner is a go! This is your chance to join the world’s longest running community science program! Now in its 125th year, the CBC brings together bird lovers across the continent to contribute research that helps ornithologists understand bird population abundance and trends. Here in DuPage County, the DBC sponsors the Fermilab Circle, a 15-mile circle. Prior participants will be contacted in early December. If it’s been awhile since you participated or you’d like to join a team, notify compiler Jeff […]

It’s time to renew your dues for next year! Your annual membership dues for 2026 are due by December 31, 2025. Dues remain $20 for individuals, $30 for families and $10 for students. Please note that any new member joining on or after September 1 is automatically registered for the following year. Your dues fund our annual operations and support a broad range of activities, including field trips, interesting speakers, research grants, and proactive community outreach. Help us stay strong! Your 2026 dues may now be paid in any of the following ways: 1. On-line through our website using PayPal

If you’re looking for a great way to spend a lovely fall weekend, head to Baraboo, Wisconsin, and the fourth annual Great Midwest Crane Fest to be held November 15-16. Here’s your chance to witness the largest fall crane congregation and participate in guided crane-viewing tours, presentations, workshops, and more! You can also explore the beautiful landscapes and rich histories connecting the festival hosts, the International Crane Foundation and the Aldo Leopold Foundation. To register: https://greatmidwestcranefest.org/registration/

The public is invited to join members of the DuPage Birding Club on October 9 for an auction and fundraiser at the DuPage County Historical Museum, 102 E. Wesley, Wheaton, IL. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with a cash bar and time to browse the live auction and the museum. The live auction begins at 7:15 p.m. To attend the event, register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/d/il–barrington/dupage-birding-club/. Parking is available on the street and at a nearby parking garage 1 ½ blocks west of the museum. The club will auction more than 60 bird- and nature-related items donated by members, local merchants, and

The August 13, 2025, edition of The Daily Herald featured a story on DBC member Denis Kania and his quest to see as many of the world’s hummingbirds as possible. The feature was authored by DBC member Jeff Reiter in his monthly Words on Birds column. Photo by Diann Bilderback Coppery-headed Emerald. Photo by Mike Warner Hummingbirds exist only in the Western hemisphere so you won’t find them in Africa, Europe, Australia, or Asia. Denis has traveled extensively within the region including destinations like Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, and recently Cuba to see 237 species of the 367 that

Do you have a few hours a month to devote to DBC’s governance? The Nominating Committee is actively looking for new volunteers to fill important roles on the leadership team. This is a great opportunity to join a collegial group who makes it happen at the DuPage Birding Club. Contact Thelma Hulka at scubabird@gmail.com if any of the open roles interest you: Vice President—serve as #2 on the Executive Committee, with primary duty to arrange speakers for member meetings and coordinate with COD for our meeting space. The VP will step in to lead if the President is unavailable and

  Photo by Glenn Koupert DBC member Jeff Reiter has just released The Best of Words on Birds, a selection of his favorite columns from 30 years of publishing Words on Birds monthly in The Daily Herald. Columns focus on individual species, birding tips and know-how for beginners, interesting people or books in the field, and Jeff’s own personal experiences as a birder. Few people have done more to evangelize the pleasure of engaging with birds than Jeff. If birding is “having a moment,” Jeff is one of the people who importantly nurtured the interest of new birders and bird

A reminder from the Bird Conservation Network (DBC is a member of this regional coalition): if you want to stay abreast of what is happening in the birding community within the Chicago region, the Birding Illinois Discord app is the place for conservation updates, news, and events. This online community, currently with 1,800 members, has about 30 channels with topics that vary from Rare Bird Alerts and bird sightings in various counties to ID questions and general discussion of birding. You’ll find BCN updates on the conservation community and events channels. You can sign up for Discord on a mobile

DBC members can help support the restoration and management of habitat for birds in our DuPage County Forest Preserves while having fun at the same time. The Friends of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, the 501 (C) (3) charitable organization that raises private donations to support District programs, is holding two fundraising and fun events in August and September. All monies raised will be used to restore and manage wildlife habitat in the County. The first event is a Duck Race at the Fullersberg Woods Forest Preserve Preserve, which will be held on August 9th at 3:00 pm.

The DBC Education Channel on YouTube just added its 1000th subscriber, a significant milestone. This popular resource is a bonanza for birders who want to bone up on birding basics, improve their birding-by-ear skills, and explore the finer points of bird identification-and a lot of people have discovered just how helpful it is. Some of the more popular videos include the following: • Basic Bird Identification -1,200 views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTn6n372iXY) • Bird Topography -2,500 views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ9oUSNVjzA) • Birding by Ear: Empidonax Flycatchers – 1,800 views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErTc_WH45CU) • Birding by Ear: Vireos—1,400 views (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoznOErXUCU) With more than 100 videos, most created by