The Illinois
Ornithological Society

Field Trip Schedule

2011 Field Trips

For more information, look for announcements in Wings Over the Prairie and e-mail flashes to the IOS membership. The current IOS Field Trip Chairman is Michael Retter.

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Saturday, February 19

Tenth Annual Gull Frolic

Please see the 2011 Gull Frolic page on this Web site. Note that the Gull Frolic is sold out and that a waiting list has been set up.

Friday, May 13 to Sunday, May 15

Annual IOS Spring Birding Weekend in Bloomington

Details will be posted as they become available.

June

Lowden-Miller State Park

Details will be posted as they become available.

Monday, July 25 to Tuesday, August 9

Fundraising trip to Ecuador

IOS had such a great response to last year's trip to Mexico that we've decided to run another international trip. This one visits the awesome Andes and mythical Amazon rainforests of Ecuador. Participants can expect to see toucans, cocks-of-the rock, barbets, tanagers, antpittas, and up to 60 species of hummingbird! The camaraderie of fellow Illinois birders is sure to make it especially memorable. We've made it a two-parted trip for those who can only get away from home for a week. See the Tropical Birding Web site or contact Tropical Birding by e-mail for further details. Operated at cost by Tropical Birding, the proceeds go to IOS.

2011 IOS Ecuador Field Trip (PDF)

Mid-late Sep

Carlyle Lake "Pelagic"

Expertly led by Keith McMullen, this two-day trip is IOS's most popular! It iincludes woodland birding for migrant passerines, shorebirding, and a boat trip on Lake Carlyle to look for Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, jaegers, and Sabine's Gulls.

Details on the date and time will be posted as they become available.

Sunday, October 30

Clinton Lake

Matt Fraker and Matthew Winks will be dressing up as Birding Tour Leaders for Halloween and leading a field trip around the environs of Clinton Lake. An outing this time last year managed over 70 species. The bird diversity is great this time of year, with loons, grebes, waterfowl, raptors, gulls, and landbirds (such as sparrows) all making a presence. Clinton Lake may always harbor something more unusual, too!

Our first stop will be the Salt Creek Wetland Project. Here we will focus on sparrows and waterfowl; shorebirds, including woodcock, are a remote possibility. We will then head over to the Parnell Access to look for siskins, frugivores, and pine-lovers. Next will be the Weldon Access. We should have good numbers of waterfowl here. We also hope to find the resident Barred Owls. Red-shouldered Hawk is possible anywhere. The Mascoutin Rec. Area will be next. The beach is a known gull roost, and its parking area can be good for landbirds.

After lunch, we will explore the roads south of the power plant before heading over to the west side of the lake, which is good for waterbird-scoping. Unless we have reason to trek in, we will probably skip the spillway and move on to the Peninsula Day Use Area and the Overlook. Our final stop will be the Marina to scope the gull roosts and the water around this area.

As you can see, this is a big day of birding: we could probably go until 4 or 5 p.m. Because of all the driving, we will try to car pool as much as we can. If you have target birds, please email Matt Fraker to let him know ahead of time.

We will meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Huck's convenience store off I-74 in Farmer City; the address is 925 East Clinton Ave. It's a good place to acquire any last-minute supplies.

Contact Matt Fraker at frakerpovc@aol.com to sign up.