[CountryLisa-IL]

Welcome to the Illinois Birders Group.
My name is Lisa and I live in the Northern part of Illinois.
I have birded the Illinois Beach State park for 2 yrs..
Hope to hear from others in Our area.

[scampo]

Well, I'm several thousand miles from your area but, welcome to this quite amazing birding forum - you'll find it lively and friendly.

[diane]

Hey CountryLisa, I am down here in central illinois. Just joined forum a few days ago. just learning my way around it. Neighbors just had first blue bunting of the season. I was not lucky enough to see it. It seems a little early this year. later di

[johnnyb39]

hello,i was in chicago a week ago 2007 and it was beatiful i was dazzled by the big dragonflies and butterflies right on the streets in chicago i have never seen so big before maybe it was hummingbirds or insects ,could anyone tell me , anyway lincoln park is good the peggu notebaert naturemuseum and lincoln zoo are beatiful in the park there were lots of rabbits and grey squirrels admiral viceroys butterflies redwingeblackbirds rosy finches .heard about the monkparakeets in some parks how can they survive in chicago in the wintertime, in the streets were european english sparrows lots of starlings also but i i really liked to watch the the dragonflies and butterflies beautiful hi from johnnyb39 sweden stockholm

[k-wren]

Hello all from Illinois and those that choose to visit. I'm new to the forum too. Happy to be here. I decided to join when I had a brighly colored yellow parakeet visit my outdoor feeder. Quite shocking actually! Must be an escapee.

As far as the butterflies go (to our friend from Sweden) ...my neighbor and I have been growing milkweed in our back yards to attract the butterflies and boy oh boy does it work! I've seen the monarchs, yellow swallowtails, black swallowtails, and was lucky enough to attract a new variety to the yard this summer ... the dark green fratillary. Very cool.

We've also put up many, many feeders. Here's a sampling of what we attracted this summer/fall: sparrows, warblers, wrens, finches (american, house, purple), cardinals, blue jays, wood peckers (hairy, downey and red bellied), white breasted nuthatch, red breasted nuthatch, european starlings, gackles, cowbirds, robins, eurasian collared doves, black capped chickedees, hummingbirds and ... hawks:( ... they're not too friendly to the rest of the crew ... oh, yeah, when I had a sick skunk in my back yard, we seemed to attract a few turkey vultures too...luckily, they decided to leave the skunk alone.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few of my feathered friends, but you get the gist... if there is food they will come...

[gillian]

Welcome to BF it is a brilliant site. I have a son who lives outside of Chicago so when we visit him we make the most of the birds. It is a great area and I can't wait to get out there again; soon (I hope).

[ayasuda]

Howdy from northern california countrylisa. There was a thread discussing states that are not well advertised for birding opportunities. Perhaps you could convince the forum that birding in Illinois is the ultimate adventure in the making.

[Blaumeise]

Originally Posted by ayasuda

Howdy from northern california countrylisa. There was a thread discussing states that are not well advertised for birding opportunities. Perhaps you could convince the forum that birding in Illinois is the ultimate adventure in the making.

The Chicago area has many great sites for birding. I am only beginning to discover them myself, having moved here little over a year and a half ago. This is a good place to start: http://www.bcnbirds.org/birdtrail/index.html

The Chicago Ornithological Society organizes regular group outings: http://www.chicagobirder.org/cosindex.php

I went last weekend to the Hawkwatch at Illinois Beach State Park north of Chicago, which was great. I put a few pictures up on my site: http://tonicblotter.blogspot.com/200...red-tails.html