BIRDING AMERICA XI IS SOLD OUT! The Chicago Audubon Society is thankful to all those who have registered for our biennial symposium. We have had a record number of registrations, well above any prior Birding America conference! Walk-in registration will still be available on Saturday between 8:15 and 9:00 a.m. (cost $50), but the 2:00 p.m. session is at maximum room capacity (Nicholas Lund's session). Please allow yourself enough time to arrive, find parking, sign in and pick up your conference packets. With so many attending, it's recommended that you plan to arrive early. Registration will be open starting at 8:00 am. The Keynote Address will begin promptly at 9:00 am. We encourage those who can to carpool or to take public transportation. If you do drive, we've arranged for use of three campus parking lots this year and some street parking is available, links and parking details described below.
Registration and Sign-in (and pick up of conference information packets) will take place from 8:15 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. With so many attending, it is advised to come early. There will be signs directing you to the Carlson Tower lobby, where we will have our registration tables and a selection of other display tables. A number of Chicago Audubon board members and volunteers will help direct you as well. The main entrance is at the southwest corner of Foster and Kedzie. Other doors are on the west side of the building if you are coming from the Kimball Avenue parking lot. With all this in mind, we’d like to share a number of helpful hints ahead of time, so you can be prepared.
Lunches: The deadline to sign up for lunch was last week, so if you will be registering as a walk-in, please either plan to bring a lunch, or there are many restaurants near the college. East of Kedzie are McDonald’s and Charcoal Delights, and north of the campus are Starbucks, Tre Kroner (Swedish), Subway and ‘2 Asian Brothers’ among others.
Raffle: Raffle tickets for a number of terrific items will be available from 8 am to 2 pm. Ticket price is $5 for one ticket or three tickets for $10. The drawing will be held promptly at 3 pm in the Lecture Hall Auditorium, right before the closing speaker.
Important Notice: A school fair will also be taking place at North Park University on the same day and will be held in the gymnasium and nearby Hamming Hall. We will be using the Chapel for lunch this year (maps will be handed out).
Parking is free in the University lot on the southeast corner of Foster and Kedzie. On-the-street parking is available in the immediate vicinity of the Campus. To download and print out a map of the North Park University campus and driving directions, click here. Here are links to a map of the campus and a description of additional parking lots:
North Park University Campus map: http://www.northpark.edu/Campus-Life-and-Services/Transportation/Campus-Map
North Park University, driving directions: http://www.northpark.edu/Campus-Life-and-Services/Transportation/Directions
Parking: http://www.northpark.edu/Campus-Life-and-Services/Transportation/Parking
Parking Lots:
Foster & Kedzie (5141 N Kedzie Ave.) Entance on KEDZIE (listed as Commuter Students and Visitor Parking on map)
Kedzie & Carmen (5115 N Kedzie Ave.) (ENTRANCE ON CARMEN just east of KEDZIE (listed as Commuter Student Parking on map)
Kimball Ave lot (5125 N Kimball Ave) NEW ADDITIONAL LOT ADDED THIS YEAR (Entrance in alley just south of Shell gas station at Foster and Kimball) (listed as Faculty and Staff Parking on map – west side of campus) Please do not park in the 12 spots on the west side noted with blue RESERVED PARKING signs, but all other spots in this lot are ok. Please Note: You can not park in the lot on the north side of Foster (labeled Faculty and Staff Parking on map).
Driving Directions to Birding America XI, North Park University, 3225 W Foster Ave, Chicago:
From the north: Take I-94 eastbound (Edens Expressway) to the Cicero exit (to Foster). Take Cicero south to Foster Avenue, turn east (left) on Foster and continue to Kedzie, about two miles.
From the south: Take I-94 westbound (Dan Ryan Expressway) and proceed northwest on I-90/94 (Kennedy Expressway). Exit at Kimball Avenue. Travel north (right) on Kimball about two miles to Foster Avenue and turn east (right) on Foster. Proceed two blocks, to Kedzie.
From the west: (Or from O’Hare Airport) take I-90/94 eastbound (Kennedy) to the Austin exit (to Foster). At the end of the exit ramp, turn east (left) and follow the curve to reach Foster. Turn east (left) on Foster and continue to Kedzie, about three miles.
From the east: Take Lake Shore Drive (from either direction) to the Foster Avenue exit. Travel west on Foster and continue to Kedzie, about three miles.
SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE AND ROOM NUMBERS:
8:15-9:00 a.m. Refreshments and Sign-in for Pre-registered and for Walk-in Registration. (Walk-in Registration is $50).
9:00 a.m. Keynote Speaker - In Lecture Hall Auditorium (LHA): Kevin McGowan, Ph.D., Project Manager, Distance Learning Bird Biology of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will present Social Behavior of Birds. To Know the Crow: Surprising Findings from Over a Quarter Century of Studying Crows.
10:15 a.m sessions:
a) Beau Schaefer, Avid Lake County Lister, Big Day Birder, Biology Teacher: Birding the Chain O Lakes State Park, Lake County, Illinois. Room C-13
b) Wendy Paulson, Birder, Conservationist, Teacher: Birding Central Park, New York City. Room C-28
c) Peter Kasper, Bird Site Monitor, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Physicist: Birds of Australia. Room C-33
d) Sheryl DeVore, Chicago Audubon Board Member and authorBirds of Illinois: Bird Song Primer: Why Birds Sing and How to Recognize Their Melodies and Calls. LHA
11:15 a.m. sessions:
e) Doug Stotz, Senior Conservation Ecologist, Bird Division, Field Museum: Birding the Hennepin Wetlands and Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge of Illinois. LHA
f) Sam Burckhardt, Chicago Ornithological Society: Birding Eastern Michigan; Kirtland’s Warbler nesting areas. Room C-13
g) Glyn Dawson, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago: Top Birding Spots in the UK. Room C-28
h) Kevin McGowan: A talk about birds in New York State—A Dynamic History of the Birds of New York, looking at the change in bird distributions over the last 200 years, including the dramatic changes described in his book, The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of New York State. Room C-33
1:00 p.m. sessions:
i) Bob Fisher and Vicky Sroczynski, Bird Conservation Network, and DuPage Birding Club: Waterfall Glen and Greene Valley, Two Bird Diversity Hot Spots of DuPage County, Illinois. LHA
j) Vince Cavalieri, Biologist, US Fish & Wildlife: The Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Project. Room C-13
k) Mary Lou Mellon, Past President, Bird Conservation Network: Birding the Seychelles Islands, a Tropical Paradise in the Indian Ocean. Room C-28
l) Amar Ayyash, Math Teacher; Board of Directors-Illinois Ornithological Society; Gull website anythinglarus.com: Gull ID in the Great Lakes Region. Room C-33
2:00 p.m. sessions:
m) Brad Bumgardner, Park Interpretive Naturalist, Indiana Dunes State Park: Birding the Indiana Dunes and other Indiana Lakeshore Locations. LHA
n) Nicholas Lund, National Parks Conservation Association; Senior Manager, Landscape Conservation Program: Birding in the National Parks. Room C-28 (full)
o) Josh Engel, Field Museum and Tropical Birding Tours: Birding Under Buddha's Gaze in the Mountains of Bhutan. Room C-33
p) Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz, authors of The Midwestern Native Garden ... : Creating Bird and Butterfly Friendly Backyards and Gardens with Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants. Room C-13
3:00 p.m. Closing Speaker (In Lecture Hall Auditorium): Joel Greenberg, Research Associate, Chicago Academy of Sciences Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the Field Museum will present Of Birds and Murder: The Life of Nathan Leopold.
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
It promises to be a very exciting day!
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