Web sites and information on City Wildlife

from Chicago Wilderness Magazine on-line:
Great places to see birds in the Chicago Wilderness:

photo: Jim Nachel

http://www.chicagowilderness.org/explore/see/birds/index.cfm

Coyotes in Chicago:
http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/winter2005/news/coyotes.html

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/winter2001/wiley.html

From The Humane Society of the United States:
Coyotes in big cities:
http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/a_closer_look_at_wildlife/coyote.html

Chicago Area Bird-watching from National Geographic:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/destinations/Chicago/Chicago_Area_Bird_watching.html

WILD CHICAGO
Once upon a time, Illinois was alive with samplings of bigger, exotic beasts. Populating the state took care of that. In biologist Donald F. Hoffmeister's "Mammals of Illinois," a list of animals extirpated from Illinois since European settlers arrived include bison, Timber and Gray wolves, elk, mountain lions, marten (ferret-like critters), porcupine, fishers and black bears. This has left Illinois with a smorgasbord of smaller varmints: shrews, moles, bats, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, rats, mice, fox, skunk, lemmings, voles, woodchuck, chipmunk and pantheon of shore birds. Pre-twentieth century reports tell of river otters (endangered in Illinois, though still found downstate) in the Chicago river, but the last sighting was more than 100 years ago.

According to Dr. Gene Mueller, executive director for the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control, Chicago isn't a hotbed of exotic -- wild -- animals. "There are certainly deer sightings, near the forest preserves in the city." Aside from being called upon to help an occasional wandering or injured deer, Mueller notes that pesky raccoons, opossums and skunks are behind the majority of city complaints. North Michigan Avenue is a veritable hotbed (relatively speaking) of coyote sightings. "In fact," he says, "there was an incident in front of the Art Institute just last week."

In fact, as far as the urban wildlife experience, migrating shore birds are what we Chicagoans are more likely to see. In summer, you'll catch them heading south, in winter -- north. One of the city's best spots is just south of McCormick Place, along Lake Michigan's shoreline where the brush becomes impenetrable. Two other city spots, Jackson Park and the Lincoln Park Bird

Conservatory at the lake and Irving Park, are magnets for migrating birds as well. The real coup: sighting the indigenous American Kestrel (sparrow hawk); it lives in urban areas year round.

For the complete article:
http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/sg_wildlife.html

Chicago: The O'Hare for Migratory Birds

by Mary Boldan

The abandoned industrial sites and garbage dumps that surround the Lake Calumet region serve as a reminder that industrial progress does not come without cost. However, despite its intense industrial activity, this area remains a critical stopover for migratory birds and offers perhaps the greatest concentration of threatened and endangered species in Illinois, including the black-crowned night, great egret, double-crested cormorant, and pied-billed grebes, as well as one of the few yellow-headed blackbird colonies in Illinois.

Situated as it is at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, Chicago is a natural stopover for more than seven million birds, including birds as diverse as the red-tailed hawk and the Connecticut warbler, which fly along the western shore of Lake Michigan as they travel to nesting grounds as far north as the Arctic tundra. Chicago offers a unique environment for birds that shy away from expanses of open water and fly instead along rivers and shorelines. Carl Korschgen, a supervising wildlife biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in La Crosse, Wisconsin, adds "Chicago is a good resting place because the jet stream pushes the birds east of the Mississippi River."

Hoping to preserve and restore significant natural areas like Lake Calumet, as well as create new habitats, on March 25 of this year Mayor Richard Daley joined forces with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and signed the Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds. According to the Mayor, "The treaty is an important addition to our ongoing efforts through Nature Chicago to create open space, enhance habitats, and give Chicagoans the opportunity to appreciate [what it’s like] to be stewards of the natural environment." Daley sees the migratory bird treaty as extending Chicago’s environmental awareness. "These beautiful and wild creatures are an incredible natural resource," he says.

To read the rest of this article, go to:

http://www.consciouschoice.com/2000/cc1307/migratorybirds1307.html