Indigo Birding Nature Tours

07/11/2024

I'm heading to the Dunes on Saturday for a birding tour, and there are still a couple of spots open. Join us as we look for gulls, raptors, ducks, cranes, sparrows, and more. I'm hoping for a Black-legged Kittiwake (pictured from about this time last year), but you never know which birds will show up in November! Transportation is available from Chicago if needed. Link for more information and registration in the comments...

05/11/2024

One of the goals of the exploratory Puerto Rican birding tour was to find each of the 19 species endemic to the island. With the help of Julito A Salgado Velez of Puerto Rico Birding Trips, we found all of them in four days, along with over 100 other species! Here are the ones I was able to get decent photos of. If you want to go on our next birding tour to Puerto Rico, send me a message and I'll keep you in the loop!

01/11/2024

Birding the sandy Puerto Rican coast today! Sandwich Terns hanging out on posts, Sanderlings being Sanderlings, and lovely walks along the sand. Finished up with a coconut rum and pineapple juice drink to celebrate seeing the Puerto Rican nightjar.

30/10/2024

Kicking off our exploratory Puerto Rico Birding Tour with the Puerto Rican Owl, hotel parking lot birding (Kestrel, Puerto Rican Mango, and Monk Parakeets), and the delicious Puerto Rican plantain dish, mofongo. Trying to find all of the endemic species this week! Stay tuned…

17/10/2024

First Pine Siskins of the fall! Other “firsts of the season” birds for me today included Purple Finch, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-necked Grebe, Rusty Blackbird, and Bonaparte’s Gull. Even had some frost on the ground in Chicago this morning!

12/10/2024

Portrait of a Winter Wren.
Yesterday I had a brief look at this secretive species at Jackson Park, but I wasn't able to point it out to more than a couple of people before it disappeared in the vegetation. Today we heard it scolding a Cooper's Hawk that was feasting on a chipmunk at Montrose Point, but none of us were able to spot it among fallen branches. Of course, when I was working at home on the computer that faces the window this afternoon, this little darling hopped around in plain sight! It took a couple of tries, but I snuck out the door and captured a few photos before it disappeared. Keep an eye out... the Winter Wrens are starting to move through Chicago on their way south!

11/10/2024

We are moving back to Indiana! Newsletter link: - https://mailchi.mp/c8a6a08a0965/moving-back-to-indiana Also read about the Big Day tomorrow, and check out recent photos like this female Eastern Towhee.

06/10/2024

I had a little conversation with Herald-Times reporter Carol Kugler last week about the rare birds brought to Lake Monroe by Hurricane Helene, thinking that a small story might run in the Bloomington paper. Now Chip Methvin’s photo of the Sooty Tern from our kayak tour is in the Indianapolis Star! And just one correction, I hadn’t seen a Parasitic Jaeger before, so it was a 2-lifer day for all of us (and many other birders from the area).

Tropical seabirds, both sooty terns and a parasitic jaegar, were blown into Indiana by Hurricane Helene and spotted at a south-central Indiana lake.

05/10/2024

What fuel does it take to migrate thousands of miles? Lots of yummy bugs like this one! I had an up-close view of this young Black-throated Green Warbler “refueling” yesterday at Busse Woods. I especially like that it had to shake the beetle before gulping it down. Enjoy the series of photos!

05/10/2024

The October Big Day is coming up on Saturday, October 12. I have quite a few spots still open for the hike I am leading at Meadowbrook Nature Preserve near Valparaiso, IN. There are plenty of other walks around the state led by experts. Check out the list and register at this link:

On Saturday, Oct. 12, Indiana Audubon and Indiana Land Protection Alliance (ILPA) invite you to join a statewide celebration of birding and conservation. For the third consecutive year, we’re partnering to bring you the October Big Day Hikes at 17 unique locations across Indiana, showcasing the st...

04/10/2024

We wrapped up the kayak tours for the year on Monroe Lake on Sunday and Monday with great success! It truly is a valuable resource that we all should appreciate and work to protect. The birds just make it even better!
For those that didn't hear about the rare birds that showed up on the lake because of the hurricane, here is a link to the article about the Sooty Terns and the Parasitic Jaeger that had many birders excited over the weekend:
https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2024/10/04/hurricane-helene-brings-rare-seabirds-inland-to-south-central-indiana/75469058007/

26/09/2024

These little shorebirds entertained us on the sunset kayak tour on Lake Monroe on Sunday evening. The North Fork wildlife area will close to all boats on October 1st, so I have added one more sunset kayak tour to the calendar on Sunday, September 29 at 5:30 p.m. I'm excited to be back in Bloomington to lead this tour and others. If we have to cancel because of bad weather, all your money will be refunded, of course. Safety first!

21/09/2024

A new wave of migrating birds showed up in Chicago overnight! Here are a few that I managed to photograph. If you want to join me, I still have a couple of spots left for Monday morning’s bird tour in Bloomington, IN.

19/09/2024

Fall tours in Bloomington (Lake Monroe & Goose Pond), the Indiana Dunes, Jasper-Pulaski & Chicago- https://mailchi.mp/459fcb40723d/fall-tours-in-bloomington-chicago

16/09/2024

Bobolink! One of my favorite birds, and it was so kind to perch up for us on my afternoon outing for the