Field Notes: Our long wait for many feathered friends is finally over!

Bird walk on April 19. Photo by Kyleigh Godsey.

By aerin tedesco, CCAS Field Trip Chair

Migration is picking up and will soon be in full swing. Our long wait for thrushes, wrens, sparrows, vireos, warblers, and many more feathered friends is finally over!

We’re kicking it all off with 2 bird walks at the end of April at Meadowbrook Park and Middle Fork River Forest Preserve.

Then comes the BIG event: the CCAS Spring Bird-a-thon! From Sunday, May 11 through Sunday, May 18, three entities—Champaign Parks, Urbana Parks and the Forest Preserve District—will team up for a healthy competition to see how many birds they can count on their respective properties!

Want to participate? Pick a team and start counting birds at any of your team’s parks or properties. If you don’t want to pick a team, you can just bird at any Champaign or Urbana parks or Champaign county forest preserves, and your list will count toward their team totals. (Just make sure you put Bird-a-thon in the notes on your eBird lists) All donations go to CCAS, so it’s a super fun way to raise money for a great cause! For more info visit https://www.champaigncountyaudubon.org/allevents/2025-spring-bird-a-thon or email aerintedesco@gmail.com with any questions.

We will offer guided walks at Heritage Park/Kaufman Lake and Homer Lake as part of the Bird-a-thon, as well as our regular weekly Sunday walks at Crystal Lake/Busey Woods.

May 17 sign up form: https://forms.gle/8NZpg9dWENLsJVyi9

May 18 sign up form: https://forms.gle/rW6182jaBhXAL6iQ6

Stay tuned for even more fun events in late May and early June! Spring migration is the absolute best time to bird in the Midwest and we will take full advantage of that!