We had a great time leading trips at the Illinois Ornithological Society's Shorebirding Weekend! The event was centered around Emiquon and Lake Chautauqua National Widllife Refuges, some of the Midewest's most important shorebird stopover sights. In total, we found an amazing 23 species of shorebirds (including a vagrant Ruff!), wonderful company, and a great event. A personal highlight for us was leading the Big Sit at the Lake Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge Crossdike--there's nothing quite like picking a good spot with loads of birds and seeing what comes to you. And it was great to promote our IOS-sponsored Panama tour that is coming up next June! We'll see you there again next year!
The Big Sit. We found 49 species in 2.5 hours, including 15 species of shorebirds. Slow birding like this is a great learning experience! (That mass of white on the right side of the photos is hundreds and hundreds of American White Pelicans.) Photo by Amanda Zeigler.
