Join us for energizing and engaging presentations focused around birding and conservation.
Presented by the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Chicago Audubon Society, and the Chicago Ornithological Society, this special series features four unique speakers with very different backgrounds and experiences in the birding community.
Registration is free to these in-person and virtual presentations. Explore our full lineup below.
Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World’s Most Misunderstood Bird
Virtual
Thursday, September 1
6pm
Rock pigeons are much maligned and overlooked, but they’re secretly fascinating, with a drama-rich 5000+-year-long history of domestication. Join author and cartoonist Rosemary Mosco to learn the secrets of pigeons – from milk, to genetics, to romance.
Rosemary makes books and cartoons that connect people with the natural world. Her Bird and Moon nature comics won the National Cartoonists Society’s award for Best Online Short Form Comic, were the subject of an award-winning museum exhibit, and are collected in a book that’s a 2019 ALA Great Graphic Novel for Teens. She makes best-selling science books for kids and adults, gives engaging keynotes at birding festivals, and writes for the PBS kids’ show Elinor Wonders Why.
At-Risk: A Year Investigating Vulnerability of Bird Populations, Their Vital Places, and Self
In Person
Thursday, October 13
6pm
In January 2021, Alison Világ set off on a journey charted by The State of the Birds, The 500 Most Important Bird Areas in the United States, and Google Maps’ “avoid highways” option. Rather than amassing a lengthy list, she was more interested in celebrating birds for their essence. Her intent through this was to gather stories for a book about vulnerable bird species and their vital places.
Alison traveled alone for much of the year, sleeping most nights in the back of her Toyota Tacoma. As the year progressed, her experiences with her own vulnerability as a woman alone on the road melded into her accumulating body of work. She’ll be sharing scenes from the human and natural–and the inner–landscapes traveled.
Past Speakers
Identify Any Bird Anywhere: Advanced Skills For Beginning Birders
Virtual
Thursday, May 19
6:30pm
This innovative presentation will help you learn a unique approach to identifying and connecting with birds. You won’t just hear cool tips about backyard birds, you’ll actually learn HOW TO LEARN about birds.
Kristi Dranginis will unveil the seven and a half questions to bird identification that will catapult your bird loving skills and confidence after just a little practice. You will walk away with a solid set of new bird ID skills that you can start applying right away.
Feathers to Form: How Birds Have Shaped An Art Practice
In Person
Thursday, July 7
6pm
Walter Kitundu will discuss his work as an instrument builder and performer and share how time spent with the birds impacted his artistic trajectory. This photo-rich presentation will span his early days as a DJ making instruments powered by the elements and eventually by flocks of pigeons, to spending a year with a wild Red-tailed Hawk, and then becoming a raptor researcher along the Pacific flyway. Walter will share the lessons he has learned from birds and reveal large scale projects he is currently working on that honor cultural histories using birdsong, language, storytelling, and volcanic eruptions.
