News

On December 14, 2024, 85 birders and 2 feeder watchers counted every bird they could see and hear within the 15-mile circle during the 49th Fermi-Batavia CBC. Seventy-nine species were observed in the count, below our 10-year average. We had high counts for Ring-necked Duck (50) and Lesser Scaup (7). Everyone gathered for dinner and cheered the exciting countdown “reveal” of the results led by compiler Jeff Chapman. Thank you to all the area captains and counters in making this year another successful count! View full list of bird count.

Closed since the pandemic began in 2020, Fermilab Natural Areas are now reopened for birding. This includes the trails and lakes around the Red Barn, the Prairie near Wilson Hall, and the Bison herd along the main road into Fermilab. Admittance requires a Real ID or passport. Here’s a link to access guidelines and available birding locations: https://fermilabbirds.com/wildlife/access.shtml For the inside scoop on birding Fermilab, check out the DuPage Hotspot page: https://dupagebirding.org/dupage-hotspots/ In addition, the Fermilab Natural Areas team has launched a Facebook page. Follow them for up-to-date information on sightings: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568595275271

Every late summer to fall, major ornithological entities publish their taxonomic updates. Updates include newly added bird species, which may be newly discovered species, or more commonly the elevation of subspecies or subspecies groups to species ranks. The latter is referred to as a “split.” The updates also include a number of “lumps,” where it is decided that two or more species are not sufficiently different from each other, and therefore better treated as subspecies or other forms of a single species. If listing is your game, splits have the potential to increase your list total, while lumps can decrease it. […]