View the 2025 Schedule: Festival Trip Guide

Festival Schedule

Please be sure of your selections before you complete your registration. Once you submit your registration, you can not modify it yourself; you must contact us to modify or cancel your registration.

Please note that the schedule is subject to change. Any changes incurred after registration will be emailed to participants directly.

The organizers of The Urban Birding Festival are committed to connecting people to birds regardless of income. Anyone with a financial need is encouraged to apply. Scholarships are given based on the availability of funds.

American Redstart Room


2025 Festival Presenter Schedule

Saturday
September 13, 2025

American Redstart Room

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Live Raptor Demo
with Wings & Talons

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Biology of Pileated Woodpeckers
with Chuck Rizzo
of Forest Preserves of Cook County

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Birding Oaxaca
with Em De Blas
of Chicago BIPOC Birders

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

The Spark Bird Project
with Jenn Lodi-Smith
of The Spark Bird Project

Connecticut Warbler Room

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Birding Across Illinois
with Nathan Goldberg
of Illinois Audubon Society

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Conserving Birds One Cup at a Time
with Greg DuBois
of Illinois Audubon Society

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Double Film Screening
Broken Flight + Early Birder
with Erika Valenciana and AJ Dhalla

Sunday
September 14, 2025

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Making McCormick Place Feather Friendly
with Paul Groleau
of Feather Friendly

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Saving the Uncommon Nighthawk
with Edward Warden
of Chicago Ornithological Society

Connecticut Warbler Room

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Art Workshop: Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene (new location)
with Holly Greenberg
of Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene
The Lunchbox” Room on 1st floor

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Focusing on Female Birds
with Stephanie Beilke
of Audubon Great Lakes