The Champaign County Audubon Board meets at 7:00 PM on the third Monday of each month January – May and August – November (no meetings in June, July, and December) to discuss CCAS business and planning.

All CCAS members are welcome to attend board meetings; if you are interested in how to join, please email mail@champaigncountyaudubon.org.

Board meetings were historically held at the Champaign Public Library’s Friends Conference Room and are currently held online via Zoom.

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

Join CCAS at one of the best parks for birding in Urbana!  We will get a chance to see some early migratory birds and some local favorites, too. 

You must RSVP in advance! Limit: 10 people. Use this link to sign up:
https://forms.gle/9z88fCX5V27Y3LD66

Leader: Kyleigh Godsey. Please email Kyleigh at ktgodsey@illinois.edu if you have questions. Please email CCAS Field Trip Chair aerin tedesco at aerintedesco@gmail.com if you cannot make it after signing up.

The meeting spot will be emailed to participants.  

Paths may be wet and/or muddy so please wear boots or footwear that can get wet/dirty. 

Please bring binoculars if you have them.  We will have some pairs to loan.

Join CCFPD on Saturday, April 26, at Middle Fork River Forest Preserve for a special event celebrating International Dark Sky Week!

Enjoy a public observing session in collaboration with the Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society, where members will share their telescopes with the public after discussing the importance of dark skies and minimizing light pollution.

Arrive at 7:30 PM if you want to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony unveiling CCFPD’s new Dark Sky Trails, featuring an observatory, hammock stands, and concrete spaces for telescopes.

If you have any questions, feel free to email Chelsea at cprahl@ccfpd.org.

Details, including about parking: https://www.champaignforests.org/events/details/international-dark-sky-celebration-2025

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

Saturday, April 12 is the Annual Midwest Crane Count, and Stephenson County has over 12 sites that are monitored each year as part of the Crane Count.

Participants are on site from 5:30 to 7:30 AM to listen and watch for cranes. It is a great way to participate in a citizen science project and enjoy the early morning sights and sounds. Experienced and blossoming birders are encouraged to participate. No experience with crane counting is necessary! If you are new to the Crane Count, you will be partnered with an experienced counter who can help you to learn more about cranes.

Notify Teresa Smith at 815-238-3963 by April 3 if you are interested in participating in this event.

Details: https://nwilbirdnaturealliance.org/events/annual-midwest-crane-count-784/

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

2024 Kendeigh Research Grant recipient Dave Edlund

Overview

The Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), like other species of aerial insectivores, has experienced drastic population declines. Many studies focus on the species’ breeding season, but few investigate overwintering, likely due to the difficulty of conducting research in Central America. Whip-poor-wills also overwinter in Florida; however, no research has been done in the state. To bridge this knowledge gap, I am conducting point-counts, fecal collection, habitat surveys, and insect monitoring to better understand the Whip-poor-will’s overwintering ecology in Florida. Furthermore, these birds will be tagged with archival GPS tags, allowing us to track their migration and breeding locations.

About Our Speaker

Dave Edlund is an MS student advised by Dr. Michael Ward at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He received a BS in natural resources and environmental science at UIUC in 2022. For his master’s research, he is investigating the wintering ecology and migration of Eastern Whip-poor-wills in Florida. Dave is broadly interested in wildlife conservation and management. In his spare time, Dave likes to photograph wildlife (mostly birds) and spend time with his cat Jasmine.

About Our Monthly Programs

Guest speakers present on a variety of topics throughout the year. Programs are typically held in the Urbana Free Library auditorium on the first Thursday of the month (no programs in January, June, July, or August).

Admire one of the prairie’s harbingers of spring, the pasque flower. Unlike the crocus it resembles, a pasque flower, Anemone patens, is a member of the buttercup family. In early spring the plant sends up a flower stalk in advance of leaves so what you see are delicate pale violet blooms nestled in the muted tan tangle of last year’s prairie grasses.

Come and see how Pasque Flower blooms actually move to track the sun. The Freeport Prairie is an Illinois Nature Preserve located on Freeport’s south side.

Details: https://nwilbirdnaturealliance.org/events/field-trip-blooming-pasque-flowers-at-the-freeport-prairie-669

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

Our friends at the Urbana Park District are also hosting a free Woodcock Walk at Meadowbrook Park!

Click this link to learn more.

The Champaign County Audubon Board meets at 7:00 PM on the third Monday of each month January – May and August – November (no meetings in June, July, and December) to discuss CCAS business and planning.

All CCAS members are welcome to attend board meetings; if you are interested in how to join, please email mail@champaigncountyaudubon.org.

Board meetings were historically held at the Champaign Public Library’s Friends Conference Room and are currently held online via Zoom.

Join CCAS on an evening hike to observe the spectacular mating dance of the elusive American Woodcock. All experience levels are welcome on this twilight adventure.

You must RSVP in advance! Limit: 8 people. Use this link to sign up:
https://forms.gle/K4PNhbiakmKzTafc7

Leader: Mariska Harshbarger.  Please email Mariska at mariskaharshbarger@gmail.com if you have questions or if you cannot make it after signing up.

The meeting spot will be emailed to participants.  

Please dress appropriately for the weather with multiple layers as temperatures can drop rapidly after sunset.

Please bring binoculars if you have them. Loaner binoculars will be available.

Trails are unpaved, often muddy and wet, so sturdy, waterproof footwear is strongly recommended.

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

Join CCAS on an evening hike to observe the spectacular mating dance of the elusive American Woodcock. All experience levels are welcome on this twilight adventure.

You must RSVP in advance! Limit: 8 people. Use this link to sign up:
https://forms.gle/NAGbru1VyBhDikcK6

Leader: aerin tedesco.  Please email aerin at aerintedesco@gmail.com if you have questions or if you cannot make it after signing up.

The meeting spot will be emailed to participants.  

Please dress appropriately for the weather with multiple layers as temperatures can drop rapidly after sunset.

Please bring binoculars if you have them. Loaner binoculars will be available.

Trails are unpaved, often muddy and wet, so sturdy, waterproof footwear is strongly recommended.

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

Overview:

Starting in the second half of the 20th century, agricultural intensification increasingly involved the development and widespread use of chemicals for pest control. Unfortunately, our understanding of the potential effects of these pesticides on non-target organisms generally lags behind their widespread adoption, as does our understanding of the extent to which these chemicals travel beyond the agricultural fields in which they are applied. In 2023, we began to examine non-target herbicide exposure and concentrations of pesticides in plant tissue and soil from natural areas throughout Illinois. The long-term effects of this exposure and plant injury are not known nor are the effects on insects and insectivorous birds.

About our speaker:

Dr. Thomas Benson is a principal research scientist and research associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. Benson works primarily with birds and focuses on factors affecting habitat use and demography, direct effects of management practices and natural disturbances, and population trends over large spatial and temporal scales. His studies have included birds in grassland, wetland, shrubland, and forested habitats as well as applied and basic aspects of avian ecology.

About Our Monthly Programs:

Guest speakers present on a variety of topics throughout the year. Programs are typically held in the Urbana Free Library auditorium on the first Thursday of the month (no programs in January, June, July, or August).

Our Sunday Morning Bird Walks are our most popular events! Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 7:30 AM for a free guided bird walk through either Busey Woods or Crystal Lake Park (decided on the day). All skill levels and ages are welcome (under 15 with adult).

Learn more about our Sunday Morning Bird Walks.

CCAS and the Champaign County Forest Preserves are excited to host Mark H.X. Glenshaw, an award-winning naturalist renowned for his extensive observations and documentation of Great Horned Owls in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri since December 2005.

This engaging presentation will dive into how he discovered these owls, share fascinating facts about the species, and showcase their incredible behaviors through his stunning photos and videos.

Join us for this captivating event. No registration required; walk-ins welcome.

Calling all citizen-scientists! Let's count birds! Join the Champaign County Audubon Society for a 1-hour guided hike at 10:30 AM to count as many birds as we can! Meet outside the Homer Lake Interpretive Center.

Kid and adult binoculars available to borrow (limited amount) or bring your own!

FREE. All Ages. For more info: (217) 896-2455 or cprahl@ccfpd.org or visit: https://www.facebook.com/share/9EMsa6c45EZECFYR/

What is "The Great Backyard Bird Count"?

Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time. Join forest preserve staff and volunteers to count the birds at Homer Lake and learn more about how you can become involved in this citizen science event!

Please join us for our Annual Member Meeting (which was postponed from Dec. 2024) and Monthly Program! A vote to approve our 2025 Board will happen right before the program.

Overview:

Dr. Benjamin Van Doren will discuss the latest scientific understanding of how migratory birds use urban areas, the challenges they face, and how we can help mitigate these impacts, with a focus on Illinois and Chicago.

About our speaker:

Dr. Benjamin Van Doren studies the responses of migratory birds to environmental change. His research spans spatial and population scales and unites ecology, evolution, behavior, and conservation. Dr. Van Doren earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from Oxford University, and he has received achievement awards from the American Ornithological Society, Linnean Society of London, and Zoological Society of London. Dr. Van Doren recently joined the University of Illinois as a faculty member in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, where he leads the Migration Biology Lab. His lab’s recent work focuses on how light pollution and human-dominated landscapes influence migratory birds’ ecology and behavior and how new machine learning techniques and modeling approaches are pushing ecology forward while facilitating opportunities for conservation action.

About Our Monthly Programs:

Guest speakers present on a variety of topics throughout the year. Programs are typically held in the Urbana Free Library auditorium on the first Thursday of the month (no programs in January, June, July, or August).

The Champaign County Audubon Board meets at 7:00 PM on the third Monday of each month January – May and August – November (no meetings in June, July, and December) to discuss CCAS business and planning.

All CCAS members are welcome to attend board meetings; if you are interested in how to join, please email mail@champaigncountyaudubon.org.

Board meetings were historically held at the Champaign Public Library’s Friends Conference Room and are currently held online via Zoom.

CCAS has been participating in the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) since 1941!

This year, we will be collecting data for our area on December 14th. Contact us at mail@champaigncountyaudubon.org to get involved! CCAS’s immediate past president, Colin Dobson, is our compiler again this year.

Learn more about the Christmas Bird Count.

The Champaign County Audubon Board meets monthly to discuss CCAS business and planning. All CCAS members are welcome to attend board meetings; if you are interested in how to join, please email mail@champaigncountyaudubon.org. Board meetings were historically held at the Champaign Public Library’s Friends Conference Room and are currently held online via Zoom (no meetings in June, July, or December).

Join us for our annual trip to Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area to witness one of nature’s greatest spectacles: the Sandhill Crane Migration! Every fall, tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes descend on the fields of Jasper-Pulaski for their evening roost.

Check out this video for a glimpse of what to expect!

You must RSVP in advance. Submit this form to sign up: https://forms.gle/Qw2xsZQJjkVJiz3k9

Field trip leader: CCAS President Mariska Harshbarger; Please email Field Trip Chair aerin tedesco if you have questions. (aerintedesco@gmail.com)

Meet at the Anita Purves Nature Center parking lot at 1:30 PM to carpool/caravan to the preserve to watch the Sandhill Cranes fly in. It is about a 2.5-hour drive from the Nature Center to Jasper-Pulaski.

Please dress for the weather. Wear layers, as it can get very cold standing still on a November day in Indiana!

Join Illinois’ most pre-eminent bird man as he recalls the history of the Illinois Audubon Society. Hear stories that illuminate how bird watching grew from a hobby to a scientific discipline, creating a cadre of citizen scientists, encouraging the next generation of conservationists, and protecting habitat for future generations.

Storyteller and Author Brian “Fox” Ellis portrays Robert Ridgway, telling the story of his journey across the western wilderness in 1868, when he was still a teenager, his life-long work at the Smithsonian Institution, and his friends who founded the Chicago Academy of Science. Ridgway was a student of Spencer Baird, who travelled with John James Audubon, who knew Charles Darwin. Ridgway’s research transformed ornithology, evolution and systematics. 

No registration required.

For more info: https://www.allertonpubliclibrary.org/2024-11-12-robert-ridgway-when-amateur-bird-watching-became-a-rigorous-science-2