Dave Walsten 



lingering for a week on Wooded Island, made himself 

 not just famous, but immortal. Now when I take new 

 people to the island, I point out the place to them, even 

 though I never saw the bird. This is oral tradition in the 

 making, and I feel an obligation not to break the chain. 



Wooded Island is the one place in Chicago where a 

 black rail in search of enduring fame could have landed 

 and got what he was after. As a North Sider, I do most of 

 my birding at Montrose Harbor or the Lincoln Park Bird 

 Sanctuary. We get some birders at these places in April 

 and May or September and October, but we are always 

 just a small group surrounded by fishermen, joggers, dog 

 walkers, frisbee players, drug dealers, picnickers, and 

 unfortunate souls whose worldly goods will fit in a shop- 

 ping cart. 



At Wooded Island on weekend mornings in spring 

 and fall, the birders are plainly in charge. You can't turn 

 around without seeing somebody staring through binoc- 

 ulars patiently waiting for a warbler to come out from 

 behind a leaf or for a woodpecker to come out from be- 

 hind a tree trunk. 



The biggest group will usually be following Doug 

 Anderson. Doug is the current president of the Chicago 

 Audubon Society, and he has been leading bird walks on 

 Wooded Island for 12 years. Every Monday, Wednesday, 

 and Friday at 7 a.m. and every Saturday at 8 a.m. , from 

 the first of March through the end of May and from the 

 first of September until the end of November, Doug 

 leads a party on a birding tour of the island, starting from 

 the Clarence Darrow Bridge at the north end. 



The birders circle the island on the paved walk and 

 cross the bridge at the south end to look at the "meadow," 

 an open grassy area. A few years ago a large portion of the 

 meadow was converted to a golf driving range, a move 



The yellow warbler (Den- 

 droica petechia), a com- 

 mon Illinois resident, adds 

 its canary brightness to the 

 island's verdant scene. Q 



Barlh Schorre Bruce Coleman Inc. New York 



