CAS representatives have been speaking up for birds- here’s a sampling. Click the titles for links to the articles.
Bird-Friendly Design Implementation Still Stalled at City Hall
Hear President Judy Pollock and Secretary Annette Prince update Sasha-Ann Simons on WBEZ’s Reset. Also Judy was VERY excited to fangirl over both of the people in this TikTok
Chicago Audubon Society decides it’s time to lose the Audubon name
This decision was covered in the news section on WBEZ as well as in the Sun-Times and WTTW.
Wonderful wrap-up of the plover story
This great piece about the conservation power of community members features board member Ann Hetzel Gunkel. “In the end, it didn’t take an ornithology degree to open her eyes. It was everyday people like Ann … and hundreds of others who discovered a soft spot for two little birds. ‘It is extraordinary how much little actions actually matter.’”
Some good news about Chicago area birds
In her role as Bird Conservation Network representative, Judy talks to BirdNote about some of our region’s great news for birds. Excerpt - “Sometimes you tend to think that people are the problem, but in our area, they're an asset.” You can explore the findings from the group’s latest trends analysis here
Orland Grassland is one of those good news sites
A great article by Patti Wetli about the site’s successes and challenges. excerpts - “Digging into data on the community science platform eBird, Herkert pulled all records for the Henslow’s sparrow, one of the rarer grassland species, with an estimated global breeding population of 410,000. Cook County had the highest number of recorded sightings in the U.S., and looking at data from scores of protected sites in the broader Chicago Wilderness region, Herkert found they accounted for 20% of all Henslow’s sparrow records globally.” …“‘These spaces really need advocates, and a lot of times the advocates will be birders,’ Pollock said.”
Long-tailed Duck photo by Andrew Mine, taken at Montrose in February 2023 and posted in CAS Facebook group