Birds Find Sanctuary at McCormick Place

On October 18, 2003, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, members of Audubon-Chicago Region and Chicago Park District officials dedicated the six-acre McCormick Place Bird Sanctuary, located just south of McCormick Place atop an underground parking garage. This is the city's fourth lakefront bird sanctuary, part of a plan to attract and protect the estimated five to seven million birds that migrate through the region every year.

For feathered visitors, the sanctuary offers specially tailored native prairie plantings and more than 800 native bushes with tasty berries. A solar-powered birdbath will be added. Human visitors can look for birds from a wheelchair-accessible observation platform and an unfenced three-acre portion of the prairie with interpretive signs.

The sanctuary has already attracted migrating birds. Last summer, Hyde Park resident and avid birder Scott Carpenter spotted more than 60 species in just a handful of visits. More than 200 species are expected to frequent the sanctuary once the prairie becomes established.

During the summer of 2003, the Chicago Park District collaborated with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority to build the sanctuary. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also contributed funds to the project. Audubon-Chicago Region helped select diverse prairie plants that would grow well in the shallow soil above the parking garage. ComEd partnered with the park district to provide the signage.

The sanctuary is most easily reached by foot or by air (meaning fewer people and dogs) though drivers can get there by parking near Lake Meadows Park (31st Street and the lakefront) and walking north 0.8 miles along the lakefront. Visitors can also walk south from the Museum Campus, and the lakefront bike trail passes directly in front of the sanctuary.

Audubon-Chicago Region is organizing a group of volunteer stewards to collect seeds for new plantings and to take part in planning. For more information, contact Judy Pollock at (847) 965-1150 or jpollock@audubon.org.

— Ben LeFort