View the 2026 Schedule: Festival Trip Guide
Last Chance to Register!
Registration Closes Sunday 9/13 at 11 PM
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.
We would like to thank our 2026 Scholarship Sponsors for helping us expand the scholarship program - Chicago BIPOC Birders, Dodd Camera, IndiGo Birding Nature Tours, Swarovski, and Wild Birds Unlimited - Arlington Heights & Glenview
2026 Festival Presentation Schedule
Thursday, September 17th
6:00 pm
Virtual Presentation - Be a Better Birder: Get Ready for the Urban Birding Festival
with Jessica Becker
Forest Preserves of Cook County
All presentations at the festival will be in the classrooms upstairs inside The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Presentation rooms sponsored by Audubon Great Lakes and Forest Preserves of Cook County.
Friday
September 18, 2026
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
The Right Binoculars for You
with Whitney Lanfranco
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The Early Bird Drinks The Coffee!
with Ginger Deason
Good Bird
Saturday
September 19, 2026
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Live Raptor Demo
with Wings & Talons
American Redstart Room
Sponsored by Forest Preserves of Cook County
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The Dinosaur Origin of Birds
with Jingmai O’Connor
Field Museum
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
MWRD’s Impact on Fish and Bird Population
with MWRD Commissioner Eira Corral Sepulveda
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
Connecticut Warbler Room
Sponsored by Audubon Great Lakes
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Birds of a Feather Talk Together LIVE
with RJ and Amanda Pole, John Bates, & Shannon Hackett
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Cranes over Illinois: The Ongoing Conservation Story of Sandhill and Whooping Cranes
with Alicia Ward & Mary Callaghan
International Crane Foundation
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Linking Avian Migratory Stopover to Legacies of Urban Inequity
with Mikko Jimenez
Sunday
September 20, 2026
American Redstart Room
Sponsored by Forest Preserves of Cook County
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Man and Gulls
with Amar Ayyash
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Hummingbirds: An Ethno-ornithological Tour
with Em De Blas
Connecticut Warbler Room
Sponsored by Audubon Great Lakes
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Access in Practice: Real Ways to Make Birding More Accessible and Inclusive
with Cat Fribley
Birdability
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Secretive Marshbird Monitoring in the Calumet
with Owen Hejna & Stephanie Beilke
Audubon Great Lakes