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Birds of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Protecting over 300 bird species in the Great Lakes region.
The Great Lakes region provides habitat for over 300 bird species, including migratory, year-round, and winter visitors. From the endemic Cerulean Warbler, to the beloved endangered Great Lakes Piping Plover, from the diminutive Ruby-throated Hummingbird to secretive marsh birds, such as the Least Bittern and Sora.
̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ works across landscapes to protect birds and the places they need. We focus on restoring wetlands for secretive marsh birds, monitoring Piping Plovers at Great Lakes beaches and enhancing agricultural lands for Greater Prairie Chicken in Wisconsin.
Learn more about some of the area's most iconic species.
1
A small plover with a very short bill. Its pale back matches the white sand beaches and alkali flats that it inhabits. While many shorebirds have wide distributions, this one is a North American specialty, barely extending into Mexico in winter. Many of its nesting areas are subject to human disturbance or other threats, and it is now considered an endangered or threatened species in all parts of its range.
2
Extensive freshwater marshes are the favored haunts of this large, stout, solitary heron. It is seldom seen as it slips through the reeds, but its odd pumping or booming song, often heard at dusk or at night, carries for long distances across the marsh.
3
Found in several scattered areas of North America, Sandhill Cranes reach their peak abundance at migratory stopover points on the Great Plains. The early spring gathering of Sandhills on the Platte River in Nebraska is among the greatest wildlife spectacles on the continent, with over a quarter of a million birds present at one time. Although they are currently very common, their dependence on key stopover sites makes them vulnerable to loss of habitat in the future.
4
One of our rarest songbirds, Kirtland's is a relatively large warbler that forages slowly, close to the ground, wagging its tail up and down. It nests only in stands of young jack pines in central Michigan, a habitat that grows up only briefly after fires, and its nests have been heavily parasitized in recent decades by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Controlled burning to create more habitat, and control of cowbird numbers, have helped the warbler somewhat, but it is not necessarily out of danger yet.
5
At one time, the eerie hollow moaning of male prairie-chickens displaying on their spring 'booming grounds' was a common sound across much of central and eastern North America. Today the prairie-chickens are quite uncommon and localized; the race on the Atlantic seaboard, called the Heath Hen, became extinct in 1932. Greater Prairie-Chickens still thrive on a few areas of native grassland in the midwest.
6
The Sora makes its presence known with plaintive whistles and whinnies rising from the marshes all across North America. Despite its abundance, it is not often seen: As with other rails, it spends most of its time hidden in dense marshy growth or wet meadows. Occasionally it will walk about in full view at the edge of a pond, delighting any birders who happen to be nearby. Although Soras might seem like weak fliers when seen fluttering over the marsh, they regularly migrate long distances, many going to South America for the winter.
7
The national emblem of the United States since 1782, the Bald Eagle is a cultural and spiritual symbol, a symbol of freedom, democracy, environmental ethics, and wilderness. Native American cultures consider the Bald Eagle a sacred symbol of strength, spirituality, and connection to the Creator; the National Eagle Repository recognizes the significance to federally recognized tribes and provides Bald Eagle feathers and parts for religious purposes. Bald Eagle populations have significantly recovered since the 1970s, with populations breeding throughout is historic range in the United States and Canada.
8
Fluttering over meadows and hayfields in summer, the male Bobolink delivers a bubbling, tinkling song which, loosely interpreted, gives the species its name. The male is unmistakable in spring finery, but before fall migration he molts into a striped brown appearance like that of the female. Bobolinks in this plumage were once known as 'ricebirds' in the South, where they occasionally used to cause serious damage in the ricefields.
9
A sputtering, bubbling song among the cattails is a giveaway that the Marsh Wren is at home. A patient watcher eventually will see the bird as it slips furtively through the reeds or bounces to the top of a stem for a look around. Industrious male Marsh Wrens build 'dummy nests' in their nesting territories, occasionally up to twenty or more; most of these are never used for raising young, but the adults may sleep in them during other seasons.
10
The most widespread grebe in the New World, and the most familiar in most temperate parts of North America. Far less sociable than most grebes, almost never in flocks, sometimes found singly on small marshy ponds. When disturbed or suspicious, it may sink slowly until only head is above water. Rarely seen in flight. Often secretive in the breeding season, hiding in marsh, making bizarre whinnying, gobbling, cooing noises by day or night.
11
One of the smallest herons in the world, the Least Bittern is adapted for life in dense marshes. Rather than wading in the shallows like most herons, the Least Bittern climbs about in cattails and reeds, clinging to the stems with its long toes. Its narrow body allows it to slip through dense, tangled vegetation with ease. Because of its habitat choice, it often goes unseen except when it flies, but its cooing and clucking calls are heard frequently at dawn and dusk, and sometimes at night.
12
A small, graceful marsh tern, black and silver in breeding plumage. In its choice of surroundings, it leads a double life: in North America in summer it is a typical bird of freshwater marshes, but in winter it becomes a seabird along tropical coasts. Vulnerable to loss of marsh habitat, its numbers have decreased in many areas during recent decades.
13
Widespread and familiar (though often called 'crane'), the Great Blue Heron is the largest heron in North America. Often seen standing silently along inland rivers or lakeshores, or flying high overhead, with slow wingbeats, its head hunched back onto its shoulders. Highly adaptable, it thrives around all kinds of waters from subtropical mangrove swamps to desert rivers to the coastline of southern Alaska. With its variable diet, it can spend the winter farther north than most herons, even in areas where most waters freeze.
14
This is the most widespread of the three bluebirds. Although it is mostly 'eastern' in our area, the total range of the Eastern Bluebird extends south to Nicaragua. A high percentage of Eastern Bluebirds in North America today nest in birdhouses put up especially for them along 'bluebird trails.' When they are not nesting, these birds roam the countryside in small flocks.
15
Seemingly not as shy as the other brown thrushes, not as bold as the Robin, the Wood Thrush seems intermediate between those two related groups. It sometimes nests in suburbs and city parks, and it is still common in many eastern woodlands, where its flutelike songs add music to summer mornings. However, numbers of Wood Thrushes have declined seriously in recent decades, focusing the attention of conservationists on the problems facing our migratory birds.
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