Millions of birds fly overhead every spring and fall. Tools like BirdCast tell us how many birds are migrating, but a new project in Chicagoland is working to reveal who is flying over and when.

Join J’orge Garcia, Director of the Windy City Bird Lab, for a presentation on the Chicago Bird Migration Monitoring Project. You’ll learn how it began, how it works, where it’s headed and how you can get involved. Visit chicagobirdmigration.net to see the project’s dashboard.

Their growing network of Nocturnal Flight Call (NFC) recorders, launched in 2023 with foundational support from Cornell and Openlands, now spans 35 stations in collaboration with the University of Illinois, tracking migratory bird movement in across the Chicagoland region.

Waukegan will soon be joining a location list that includes the roof of the Willis “Sears” Tower, the Adler Planetarium, Northwestern University and the CCRx Warehouse at the Envision Unlimited Frick Center!

Join us for a tour of the Piping Plover Special Exhibit followed by this presentation.

J’orge Garcia, Windy City Bird Lab Director

J'orge Garcia is a Chicago-area birder who brings his unique skill set from working to support Chicago's maker community into our great birding community. He first discovered birding after modeling a 3D-printed lens mount to attach vintage lenses to a mirrorless camera. Jorge shared his birding journey online through Twitter as he explored printing postcards and learning about Chicago's avian diversity.

His online sharing led him to become increasingly involved in the local birding community. He previously served on the board of the Illinois Ornithological Society and coordinated the Birds in My Neighborhood program at Openlands.

He now serves as the Director of the Windy City Bird Lab, leading projects like the Chicago Bird Migration Monitoring Network, which studies bird migration across the region. The program has since grown to support monitoring efforts in Minnesota, California, Colorado, and Mexico.