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Birding
at North Pond
Bird Walks around North PondThe Chicago Ornithological Society (COS) holds bird walks around North Pond on most Wednesdays during the year. Starting in mid-March, walks are held weekly through mid-June. One summer walk takes place in mid-July, then in mid-August the walks again go on a weekly basis through mid-November. During the winter months of December, January and February, one walk is held in the middle of each month. Then in mid-March it starts all over again. See the COS web site for details about current walks. These walks start at 7:00am and conclude sometime between 8:30am and 9:00am. The group meets near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum at the southeast corner of North Pond. Generally, we gather on the casting pier out in the pond, just west of the museum. If you don't find us there, check the area along the west side of the museum. The group proceeds counterclockwise around the pond from there. To see all dates for the walks in 2009, click on this link to access the information in pdf-format: The Ft. Dearborn chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society also holds bird walks in the area, usually led by eith Doug Anderson or Wayne Svoboda. Doug has been leading bird walks for over 30 years and is one of the treasures of the Chicago birding community. These walks in Lincoln Park start at 8:30am on Sundays in April, May, September and October and meet at the McCormick Bird House in the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Lincoln
Park Zoo also offers birdwalks at Lincoln Park Zoo's South Pond on
Thursday mornings in April, May, September and October. The walks
start from the Lester E. Fisher Bridge at 8:00am. These
walks are geared toward beginning and intermediate birders, with an
emphasis on learning bird identification. All are welcome. Bring binoculars,
and dress for the weather. More information is available at the South
Pond Bird Walk page on the Lincoln
Park Zoo web site. Here are the tallies of birds that have been seen on the North Pond Bird Walks.
For more information on the birds you can see at North Pond, along with some photographs, visit my North Pond Birdlife page. See who has attended the North Pond Bird Walks by clicking here. The North Pond AreaNorth Pond is located in Lincoln Park, a beautiful urban park on the north side of Chicago, Illinois. The North Pond area is bounded on the north and the east by Cannon Drive, the south by Fullerton Parkway, and the west by Stockton Drive. This photo shows North Pond and the immediately surrounding area. The top of the photo is east, left is north, right is south, and bottom is west. You can see Diversey Harbor at the top, with its array of docking piers. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is the large building in the upper right of the photo at the east end of North Pond. The "X" shape in the pond next to the museum is the Casting Pier. At the north (left) end of the pond you can see North Pond restaurant
This small area has hosted 195 different species of birds. Beavers and Red Fox have visited the pond site, though Gray Squirrels are the more common mammalian residents (other than Homo sapiens and Canus domesticus). The North Pond Photo GalleryOn the 16 July 2008 walk, Ted Bretter took the following photos showing a Blue Dasher (one of the common summer dragonflies at the pond) and an American Kestrel having an aerial meal.
On the 13 June 2007, a large Red-eared Slider was seen walking in the park grass north of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. After the walk, Chris Traynor and Geoff Williamson relocated the turtle and saw that it was digging a hole in the lawn, presumably to lay eggs.
Edward Warden found a Snapping Turtle on the 6 June 2007 walk. Here it is, presumably digging (or filling in) a hole for eggs.
On the 12 July 2006 walk, we were treated to close-up views of juvenile Black-crowned Night-Herons fishing on the shore next to the casting pier.
The group spotted this Painted Turtle on our 14 June 2006 walk. We see mostly Red-eared Sliders, so a Painted Turtle was a nice find.
This Red-spotted Purple butterfly entertained the group on 7 June 2006, a day when we saw five different species of butterflies along with 39 different species of birds.
This Barred Owl, found and photographed by Veronica Cook on 9 November 2005, represented the 193rd species recorded in the vicinity of the North Pond.
Here is North Pond, looking south from the north end, in July 2003. That's the John Hancock Building (third tallest in Chicago) that you can see in the distance with the two antennae on top.
Here is a view of the North Pond Cafe at the north end of North Pond. The bronze statue you can see on the rise behind the cafe is of Richard James Oglesby (1824 - 1899). Oglesby was a Civil War soldier who later served as governor of Illinois for "three" terms (1865 - 1869; Jan. 13-23, 1873 after which he resigned to become U.S. Senator; 1885-1889) and as a U.S. senator for one term (1873-1879). This statue sits atop the highest point in Lincoln Park. The North Pond Bird Walks often climb this hill to take advantage of the elevation while checking the nearby trees for migrant birds.
Photo by Prakash Pandit, who visited Chicago from India during 2003 and enjoyed the North Pond Bird Walks during his stay. On his departure, Prakash said, "I am leaving Chicago tonight with memories of bird watching especially at North Pond every Wednesday. I had no idea while coming to Chicago that this area serves as an 'airport' for so many birds."
During the warmer months you can see Red-eared Sliders, a type of turtle, basking on the logs at North Pond. Here is one, peeking through the reeds.
One can also find dragonflies about the pond. Here is what I believe to be a freshly-emerged Blue Dasher. This photo was taken on 15 June 2005.
This
site last updated on 18 June 2009.
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