Welcome! Kane County Audubon Society is a local chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society. We are a group of more than 200 people who enjoy watching and studying wildlife of all types. People of all ages and skills are invited to our meetings and walks. All activities are open to the public. Monthly meetings are bird-oriented, but may concern other aspects of nature. Meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month. From September through May, we meet at 7 p.m. at Hickory Knolls Discovery Center at James O. Breen Community Park on the west side of St. Charles. Here’s a map. During the summer months, we gather at 6 p.m. at local nature areas for field trips. (See the events page for details.) Please join us.
Annual Swift Sit Set for Thursday, Sept. 9
Calling all Swifties! No, not Taylor Swift. Chimney Swifts!
The 12th annual KCA Chimney Swift Sit will be held Thursday, Sept. 9 at 6:45 p.m. at Burgess Norton Manufacturing Co. (north chimney), 737 Peyton St, Geneva. Meet at the back of the factory on 6th Street (between Stevens and Peyton Streets).
Join us and enjoy the aerial show as Swifts head to their roost in the evening. Bring a lawn chair and sit back and enjoy this amazing sight. Mosquitos are present—and the Swifts are happy about it—so dress appropriately and wear insect repellent, if desired.
Please do not park in the factory parking lot. This is a working factory. Plenty of street parking is available along 6th Street.
There’s still time to monitor Swifts. Volunteers are needed to check the following locations:
- Aurora: St Mary’s Catholic School, 430 E Downer
- Aurora: Science Tech Museum, 18 W Benton St.
- Burlington: See Saw Day Care, 275 South St.
- Carpentersville: Parkview Elementary, 122 Carpenter Blvd.
- Elgin: School District U-46 and two-story home at 4 S. Gifford (Both are viewable from the school parking lot off East Chicago Street.)
- South Elgin: Chimney at 114 N. LaFox St.
- St Charles: Marberry Cleaners, 315 E. Main St.
- St Charles: Trinity Vineyard Church, 16 S. 7th Ave.
- St Charles: Stanbridge Master Saddle, 122 W. Main St.
- St Charles: Doc Morgan, 108 S. 2nd St.
The business names may have changed, but the addresses are correct. Please let us know if you can check out one or more over the next week or two. Arrive 20 minutes before sunset and stay until all the birds are inside to roost, usually 20 to 30 minutes after sunset. For safety, it’s always a good idea to go in pairs.
KCA Offers Tour of Southern California in April 2027
“California, here we come!”
Join Kane County Audubon, a chapter of Illinois Audubon, for an exciting trip to Southern California on April 17-25, 2027. We’ll bird our way through deserts, over mountains, along the coast and set sail twice.
Fair warning: One of the themes for this trip will be constant movement. We will stay two nights at only one location. Everywhere else will be a one-night stay. However, that will allow us to explore many different habitats without backtracking.
We’ll enjoy two boat trips. One will be a whale watching boat with our own private bird guide. Our targets include Cassin’s Auklet, Scripps’ Murrelet, Black Storm Petrel, Sooty Shearwater and Cocos Booby. Our other boat trip will be to Santa Cruz Island for the endemic Island Scrub Jay.
We’ll visit as many hotspots as possible in quest of everything from shorebirds such as Wandering Tattler, Black Turnstone and Black Oystercatcher to Elegant Tern, exotics like Swinhoe’s White-eye, Red-crowned Amazon and Red-masked Parakeet, to California natives like Bushtit, Wrentit, Mountain Quail, California Scrub Jay, Oak Titmouse, and, if we are very lucky, California Condor. We’ll spend some time at the beautiful Joshua Tree National Park.
The last time KCA visited Southern California, in April 2015, the club tallied 162 species, including Ridgway’s Rail and LeConte’s Thrasher. We’ll be visiting some of the same places and plenty of new ones, too. Interested? You can download the itinerary here and the registration form here.
June Butterfly Walk Gets Multiple Species
Ten KCAers attended our “birds, butterflies and botany” walk June 27 at Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin.
Bluff Spring is a rare gem, a mix of prairie, woodlands, ponds, streams and wetlands—including the rare ecosystem that gives the site its name. Thanks to active restoration, this nature preserve is home to a rich diversity of plants, amphibians, insects and birds. Chris Bowman, a lifetime amateur lepidopterist who has photographed all the butterflies native to Illinois, led the walk and showed birders the many butterflies that call this special place home.
We saw several butterfly species. The best were a Northern Pearly Eye, Little Wood Satyr, and an uncommon Banded Hairstreak. The latter was actually on one of our cars at the end of the walk.
—Jackie Bowman
Our upcoming events
Saturday September 5, 7:30 a.m.
Bird Walk at Nelson Lake/ Dick Young Forest Preserve
Nelson Lake Road, Batavia. Meet in the parking lot by the silo.
Directions: Google Maps
Kane County Audubon invites you to their monthly bird walk around Nelson Lake, a leisurely walk to observe birds and nature in general. You don’t have to be an expert to enjoy the outdoors in the company of fellow nature-lovers.
If you have questions, contact Tim Klimowski, at 630-802-1153.
Wednesday September 9, 6:00 p.m.
KCA Potluck and Photo Sharing, Geneva American Legion Hall, 22 South Second Street, Geneva (across the street from the old library)
Directions: Google Maps
KCA will provide the main entrée and members will provide the sides. Members are also invited to share their favorite nature and bird photographs with the group. Please limit your selection to a maximum of 15 images. Contact John if you have images to share before the meeting.
If you have questions, contact John Sprovieri, at 630-776-0924.
Kane County Audubon Life Lists
Header image: Snow Buntings, by Jackie Bowman