Chicago Audubon Society Online Native Plant Sale is held every spring, offering a wide variety of perennials. Order form is posted here - order before April 26. Pick up will be at North Park Village Nature Center on the afternoon of May 26, 2024.

On Valentine’s Day, the board of the Chicago Park District voted to approve the petition submitted by Chicago Piping Plovers on behalf of our organizations, requesting that the 2021 expansion of 3.1 acres to the Montrose Dunes Natural Area be named The Monty and Rose Wildlife Habitat, honoring one of Chicago’s most famous couples, Monty and Rose, the Great Lakes Piping Plovers.  

Despite developing an ordinance and guide that two other municipalities have already implemented - despite promising that regulations would be enacted a year ago - despite the international attention that the October debacle at McCormick Place where over 1000 birds died at one Chicago building in one morning - the Chicago Department of Planning and Development is dragging its feet. Your help is needed to end unnecessary bird deaths in Chicago.

About a year and a half ago, Chicago Bird Alliance formed a committee to develop a land acknowledgment, an important part of our DEIJ plan. We didn’t want to do a performative document of words only, which meant we needed to make some relationships with local indigenous groups.

Luckily, we had a calling card. An anonymous donor gave us three painted lithographs from the book, History of the Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas Hall and James McKenney, James. Read about what we learned and join us on some interesting programs.

Fishing line is a serious problem for birds. Read about our efforts to find better solutions. Photo of entangled owl taken at Wampum Lake by Alex Haza.

Please take this survey to implement bird-friendly regulations and pass this along to those in the Chicago metro area including (especially) other Chicago residents.

Saying goodbye to the problematic legacy of John James Audubon

Bird Friendly Chicago leaders including CBA President Judy Pollock spoke at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Board on October 30, which oversees McCormick Place. Board members and CEO Larita Clark thanked us and expressed a desire to address the issue of treating the windows in some way in order to greatly reduce collisions.

On October 18, the Bird Friendly Chicago coalition met with leadership from Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) and McCormick Place. These leaders expressed a commitment to solve the problem of bird collisions at their facility and indicated that this directive is coming from the highest levels of their organization. Read more about how to get involved.

Please join us on Saturday, November 11 at 9:30 to show the birding community’s support for the demand to stop the expansion of the CDF dump into a 25-foot tower of toxins on the lakefront. The press will be invited.

And if you can, send a comment to the Illinois EPA by October 26.

Starting today, we have a new name: Chicago Bird Alliance.

We are calling for:
- participation of McCormick Place Lakeside Center and all downtown and lakefront buildings in the established and proven successful Lights Out program: light reduction from 11 pm through sunrise every night during migration seasons
- full implementation of bird-friendly building requirements for new construction before the end of 2023,
- prioritizing retrofitting of existing buildings for bird safety.

Please sign this petition and share widely! Ask McCormick Place to keep lights out during migration