Check out our new video series created by Woody Goss identifying awesome birds you can find in the Chicago area - Chicago Bird Report.
There’s something interesting in the bird world every season - and we’ll bring it to you! We may travel to unusual under-birded areas to locate and explain hard-to-find birds.
Here’s our first episode, where we traveled to Orland Park, behind a Costco parking lot - and talked to Ian Sarmiento, who found some absolutely amazing birds in what he calls the Costco Slough .
Hosted by Susu Ott @butterfly.bug.babe
Photos of common gallinule and least bittern by Ian Sarmiento @tati_boy
Video by Woody Goss @professor_goss
This video highlights two important issues: gatekeeping in the birding community, and conservation of birds on private lands. We’ll have more to say about gatekeeping in coming weeks; in this post we focus on the land.
Finding rare nesting birds that are not on public lands is increasingly hard to do. It often takes an observant person with an adventurous spirit. Two questions raised by this video: will this site remain productive in future years? And can these rare birds’ habitat be protected?
We will do our best to raise awareness of this site in hopes that it can remain a habitat for these rare birds. Here are some comments we’ve gotten so far:
From Walter Marcisz, IL eBird Reviewer and Great Lakes Audubon Marsh Bird Monitor in the Calumet Region: This is a delightful video, and I hope as many people as possible get a chance to see it. As an eBird reviewer, I have been following the reports of marsh birds at this rather unusual site for some time now and I have been very pleased with their progress. It is important to remember that all of the marsh birds shown here have been suffering population declines for several decades now, so it is always a huge benefit to these birds when the right habitat conditions occur, even if it is behind a Costco! As mentioned in the video, marsh birds often are not particularly picky about certain things (location, or even the size of the marsh). But on the other hand, marsh birds often are VERY picky about water level, presence of invasive species, and the correct mix of water and vegetation. The Costco marsh seems to have almost magically produced the correct habitat conditions this year, and hopefully those conditions will persist for some time. Should habitat conditions degrade in the future, it is always possible to intervene with wetland management techniques. But as of summer 2021, this offbeat suburban Cook County location is providing great marsh bird habitat, along with spectacular viewing opportunities!
From Mike MacNamee, wetland bird monitor and Orland Grassland volunteer: Great work to Ian Sarmiento for finding and documenting important marsh birds at this surprising spot. Hopefully the owner of the pond can be encouraged to take steps to manage the site in a way that these birds can continue to do well there.
From Pat Hayes, Orland Grassland Steward: There are great birds here, with a whirlwind of people coming and going to the north at Costco, and a large natural wetland open space with no people and no development on its other fronts. There we have it. Urban and nature thriving together.
Orland Grassland is a 960-acre grassland and wetland complex owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve. It is situated just south of the Orland Costco Slough. The Slough would make a great addition to the County’s holdings. We have shared this information with a FPCC representative, who said, "This is a series of ponds in an agricultural matrix. I’m not surprised it has good birds - but the species they mentioned are impressive." We’ll let you know how the conversation develops!