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Shorebirds have fascinated man for eons. Their movements are controlled by weather and the need to make major movements of some 20,000 miles per year. They seem to always be on the move even when they stage on favorite feeding site. There are famous staging sites such as Fundy Bay in Canada, Delaware Bay. Inland staging sites include Great Salt Lake, Cheyenne Bottoms, and wetlands of the Illinois River Valley. Single day estimates of some 20,000 individuals have been made on Lake Chautauqua with some one million shorebirds using the wetlands of the Valley every August. All the heron & egrets, gulls, terns, migrating swallows and passerine and resident Eurasian Tree Sparrow are expected to be present.

On the weekend of August 8 - 10, IOS is holding its 3rd two-day workshop on shorebird identification. The weekend begins Saturday morning with shorebirding at one of the Valley's sites led by local shorebird experts Travis Mahan and Steve Bailey, followed by an afternoon workshop on shorebird identification lead by Geoff Williamson. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning there will other field trip to put the new identification information and techniques to the test. Workshop will be limited to 40 participants so get your reservations in. Experts will be available to help you with identification and apply the techniques learned in the workshop.

Lake Chautauqua has 35 species of shorebirds on its official checklist, including Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Ruff, Black-necked Stilt, three species of phalaropes, Avocet, two godwits species and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - in 2007, Marbled Godwit and Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes were found. Wetlands of the Illinois River are critical staging areas for shorebirds of the central U.S. Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge and the other sites are part of the Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuges Complex. Chautauqua along with other sites has been designated as part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Sites attracting large numbers of shorebirds are rare in Illinois but Chautauqua is the best place to find them.

The official checklist of the Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuges, which includes Chautauqua NWR and other sites along the Illinois River Valley, lists 35 species of shorebirds, including Piping Plover, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Hudsonian Godwit, Marbled Godwit, Red Knot, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Ruff, and all three species of phalaropes. Last year's trip yielded a total of 20 species of shorebirds, which is a typical number when shorebirding in August along the Illinois River Valley. Other species likely to be encountered on this trip include American White Pelican, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, terns, migrant swallows, flycatchers, and passerines, and resident Eurasian Tree Sparrows.

COME ON DOWN AND JOIN US for an unprecedented opportunity to improve your shorebird identification skills in the classroom and in the field. Join us for one day on Saturday, August 9 and, if you would like more, stay on for the Sunday morning field trip. A registration fee of $30 for IOS members and $40 for non-IOS members is required to cover expenses and help expand the Society's education and research grant programs. Registration fee includes a box lunch.

Persons wishing to attend should send registration or contact: Bob Montgomery (847-428-8219; cell: 847-751-0069) 533 Wendt Ave., East Dundee, IL 60118 or e-mail. The deadline for registration is August 1, 2008.

We plan on getting together at Town House Restaurant & Lounge (north side of square) in downtown Havana at 8:30 p.m. to discuss final plans, meeting times, pass out maps and car pooling. The workshop will be held at the Dixon Mounds Museum near Lewistown following a box lunch served near the Museum.

Note: Depending on conditions and accessibility of mudflats, participants should be prepared for the potential of walking through mud and other wetland substrates by bringing knee-high boots or old shoes. Also, some of the distances walked could be significant, so please come prepared for the intense heat typical of mid-August by bringing plenty of water, sunscreen, etc.

Program

Accommodations

Registration

Registration can be completed by filling out the 2008 Chautauqua Shorebird Spectacular Registration Form (a PDF*). If you have trouble opening the registration form from the above link, right-click directly on the link and choose Save Target As from the menu that appears. Save the file to your desktop and double-click it. Adobe Reader will launch and the registration form will open up in it.