Illinois & MIdwest Weekends
These trips are designed as long weekend birding getaways to some of the best birding destinations in Illinois and around the Midwest. Most of these trips start on Friday evening and conclude after a morning of birding on Sunday; the price includes the cost of lodging, most meals, and an expert guide. Unless otherwise specified, trips are limited to 8 participants.
Most of our trips are limited to weekends within Illinois, but we have started expanding to wonderful birding locations across the Midwest. Have a Midwest trip in mind? We are happy to take suggestions.
Illinois River Valley: Early Spring Migration Spectacle
February 23-25, 2024 (Fri-Sun) with Steve Huggins Price: $TBD per person sharing. Single supplement: $TBD Price includes two nights’ accommodation, meals from Dinner on Friday night through breakfast on Sunday morning, and an expert guide. This will be a self-driving tour.
The Snow Goose numbers in early spring at Emiquon can reach well into six figures, making it one of the Midwest’s great avian spectacles. We are timing this trip in hopes of seeing those peak numbers, along with a variety of other waterfowl, perhaps including Trumpeter Swan, Ross’sand Greater White-fronted Goose, and a variety of diving and dabbling ducks. A Friday evening outing offers a good chance to find Barred Owl as well.
The Mississippi River in central illinois
September 19-22, 2024 (Fri-Sun) with Steve Huggins Price: $TBD per person sharing. Single supplement: $TBD Price includes two nights’ accommodation, meals from Dinner on Friday night through breakfast on Sunday morning, and an expert guide. This will be a self-driving tour.
This three-night weekend tour offers a chance for exploration in a beautiful and seldom-birded part of the state. The entire county, Hancock, has only twelve eBird hotspots, and its neighbor to the north, Henderson, has only six, but those small numbers do a disservice to the excellent birding in the area. Based out of Nauvoo, a fascinating historic town, where that history lives today through its many Morman cultural sites, you will explore the Mississippi River Valley, far from any interstate, during the peak of fall migration. There will be a good chance to find a variety of warblers and other migrants, and shorebirds, too, if conditions allow. Birds that are more common in the southern half of the state—Pileated Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, and the like, should be easily found, along with American White Pelican, Bald Eagle, and other river birds. And given how little birding goes on in this area, there’s always the chance for a nice surprise or two!
