Birding Illinois
Bird watching in Illinois can be a thrilling, heady adventure filled with color and song. And you can enjoy it out in the field or from your own backyard. Year-round, black-capped and Carolina chickadees add spirit to the day, giving their dee-dee-dee calls as they snatch seeds from a feeder or build nests in a tree hole right in your backyard. Year-round, too, woodpeckers, nuthatches, cardinals, and blue jays will all come to your yard if you provide them with food, water, and shelter. And during spring and fall migration, Baltimore orioles will eat orange halves provided for them, while scarlet tanagers may enjoy the suet that you put out for the woodpeckers and nuthatches.