Red Hill Birding

09/06/2025

As spring migration winds down here in the Midwest, birders here are already looking forward to more migration excitement coming in the fall! Join us on one of our peak of fall migration tours--each a great chance to learn about fall migration and identifying migrants in their non-breeding plumage, all while enjoying beautiful fall weather and scenery.

Click on the photos for the link to each tour:
Midwest Weekend: Detroit (Sept. 18-21)
Chicago Fall Migration & Architecture (Sept. 18-22)
Hawk Ridge Minnesota (Sept. 25-29)
Cape May Migration Madness (Sept. 26-30)

https://www.redhillbirding.com/tours-2025

24/05/2025

FROM THE FIELD UPDATE: Most birders go to Michigan to see Kirtland's Warbler, but there is a small population in Central Wisconsin as well, and Steve is leading our first Midwest Weekend of the year to Wisconsin Kirtland's country right now for the Memorial Day weekend. Their first order of business: see Kirtland's Warbler! Not only did they find the bird itself and get great views, they found a giant version on a mural as well.

We have another Midwest Weekend tour coming up in September, to the Detroit area for raptors (peak Broad-winged Hawk season!), shorebirds, and songbirds. There are still spaces available. https://www.redhillbirding.com/weekends

23/05/2025

Earlier in April, Adam wrapped up our first-ever "chicken run." One of the best avian spectacles in the world, an April visit to the mountains and prairies of Colorado and surrounding states provides the birder an opportunity to see the majority of North American grouse -- and most are displaying!

We look forward to offering this tour to our clients on a more regular basis in the future. Until then, check out some of Adam's photos from the tour and our eBird trip report:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/359222

Have an interest in this tour? Don't hesitate to reach out!
https://www.redhillbirding.com/contact-us

22/05/2025

We had a fantastic time leading field trips--15 of them in all--for the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival last weekend. Here are a few photo highlights from tours led by Steve, Adam, and Josh, the three guides representing Red Hill Birding at the festival.

We'll be back at it at The Urban Birding Festival in the fall as one of the lead sponsors of our hometown birding festival. Get ready!

19/05/2025

We are proud to have been sponsors of the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival for the fourth year in a row! It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces and catch up with friends and clients from around the world. Between Adam, Steve, and Josh, we led 15 tours over the course of the festival, contributed to the silent auction fundraiser, participated in the Migration Marketplace, and talked to countless people about....birds (and about Red Hill Birding). We'll post some field trip highlights later in the week. Thanks to Indiana Audubon for organizing another great event!

13/05/2025

This time of year we have nearly daily local trips around the Chicago area. For out of town birders looking for a hit of spring migration, we often visit Montrose Point on Chicago's north side, whose beach is home to Chicago's #1 Living Bird Celebrities, Imani the Piping Plover and his partner Sea Rocket. It's always nice to take a little beach break to check them out. Photo of Imani by Josh.

Fun fact: More eBird lists have been submitted at Montrose Point than any other single hotspot in the world. We're going to do our part to contribute to that tomorrow when we hope to find Imani and Sea Rocket again!

07/05/2025

We love seeing the name Red Hill Birding on mailings like this one!

We've been working with the Illinois Audubon Society for many years, having led their groups on dozens of trips around Illinois, plus trips to faraway places like Colombia, Florida, and Arizona.

Our 2025 collaborations kicked off today with our Chicago Lakefront Migration Focus series, which we've been leading in spring and fall since 2021 (here we are this morning photographing Imani, Montrose Beach's celebrity Piping Plover).

Later in the year we will be leading field trips for their Annual Gathering for the third year in a row. Hence the mailing! Registration opens on June 6.

30/04/2025

Our spring migration guiding in the Chicago area is ramping up! We've had a couple of targeted private trips for out of town birders over the last few days. Steve took out a client from Utah--in town for a work conference--who had three target birds: European Goldfinch, Henslow's Sparrow, and Winter Wren. They went 3/3 in just one morning!

Then Josh led a group of friends from around the country who came primarily for two targets, but after seeing those, they added a couple more. No problem! We ended up going 4/4: European Goldfinch, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, and Smith's Longspur.

It was a couple of great days in the field, and it's not even May yet, which is when both migration and our field trips really go strong.

https://www.redhillbirding.com/chicagobirding

22/04/2025

We've been talking about running a tour like this for years, and this spring the stars finally aligned, with Adam getting the enviable job of leading our first ever "chicken run". This is a classic tour of the prairies of western Kansas and Nebraska and the plains, mountains, and sagebrush of Colorado, to see the extraordinary mating displays of many of North America's grouse, along with loads of other great birds!

They hit the ground running yesterday, with an amazing experience with the rare Lesser Prairie-Chicken on private property in western Kansas.

Although we don't have a scheduled departure of this tour yet, we would be happy to do it as a private tour for your bird club, friends, photography group--whoever you like to travel with!

22/04/2025

Red Hill Birding was featured in today's Chicago Tribune!

Nation’s grassland birds, found in 14 states, have declined 43% since 1970, more than any other category, and are currently ‘in crisis.’

18/04/2025

Our beloved Midwest is home to some of the most spectacular bird migrations anywhere, spring or fall. We have two tours this year to show off the Midwest's best in fall. One is our annual tour with Steve Huggins to the famed Hawk Ridge in Duluth, Minnesota, this year September 25-29.

This is a unique tour--not only do you get to enjoy the spectacular migration of raptors, songbirds, and waterbirds along the North Shore of Lake Superior, you get to experience Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory's banding programs, including Saw-whet Owl banding! This tour features great birding, great research, and great food, all in a beautiful Great Lakes setting. Join us!