Nature Areas
Lincoln Park Addison Migratory Bird Sanctuary
Directions: Lincoln Park Addison Migratory Bird Sanctuary is located east of Lake Shore Drive at 3600N Addison. The sanctuary is located in the fenced area behind the totem pole in Lincoln Park.
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Description:
An eight-foot tall fence protects Lincoln Park’s six-acre migratory bird sanctuary. The public is not allowed in because the area is strictly for the birds, plants, and other wildlife. More than 150 different species of birds visit the sanctuary. Among them six species of herons and bitterns including black crowned night herons (which roost here many months of the year); wood ducks (which successfully nested here in the summer of 2001); snipe and woodcock; hawks; yellow-billed cuckoos; hummingbirds (which use the jewelweed extensively in the fall); thrushes; vireos; 34 species of warblers; 18 native species of sparrows and many more. The sanctuary is also home to many small mammals such as rabbit, raccoon, opossum, and the occasional fox or coyote.
Addison is unique because it is the only bird sanctuary in the Parks that does not allow people inside it. However, as a result of recent Park District improvements in 2001, visitors will soon have improved visual access from a viewing platform that will overlook newly expanded ponds on the east side of the sanctuary. Sanctuary improvements also include expansion to the east and south, contained by a new staggered fence that offers improved viewing opportunities and a gently winding aggregate path along the north and west side.
The sanctuary was originally designed to mimic the shore landscape of Lake Michigan. Inside the protective fence are ridges with shallow ponds between them, draining to a marsh on the west side. The pond edges support plants like, marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) and skunk cabbage (Symplorocarpus foetidus), while the marsh contains plants like sweet flag (Acorus calamus) and water parsnip (Sium suave).
There is something blooming in the sanctuary nearly every month of the year. Spring blooming wildflowers include mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum), Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), spring beauty (Claytonia virginica), and six species of trillium. Summer wildflowers include tall bellflower (Campanula americana), fringed loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) and Purple Joe pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum). Goldenrods (Solidago sp.) and asters (Aster sp.) provide color in autumn months and fallen leaves provide cover for feeding sparrows. The sanctuary also contains many species of sedges and woodland grasses such as bottlebrush grass (Hystrix patula) and woodland brome (Bromus purgans). Oak and hackberry trees outside the sanctuary also provide great bird habitat and the opportunity for bird sightings around the fence.
Much work has been done in recent years to get the bird sanctuary to its current state of health. The sanctuary has benefited greatly from the dedication and hard work of community volunteers who collect and scatter native seed, plant native species, pick up trash, monitor vegetation, birds, and their interaction, and remove invasive species including buckthorn, aggressive saplings, garlic mustard, and purple loosestrife.
Chicago Park District
Department of Natural Resources
February 2002