More Flavor: City Gem Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

  • Snowyplover_large

If nothing else, taking up birdwatching gives you a convenient excuse to bring terms like "Magnificent Frigatebird" and "Purple Gallinule" into conversation. In this sancturary, also known as the Magic Hedge, a Snowy Plover isn't a snowplow, and an Ash-throated Flycatcher isn't a cigar-smoking guy with a faulty zipper — they're rare specimens that feed, nest, and mate just four miles north of downtown Chicago. In decades past, the army planted honeysuckle at Montrose Point to conceal its barracks, unwittingly kick-starting this avian haven; nowadays, the 15-acre parkland is a habitat for over 300 bird species, and is internationally renowned as a birdwatchers' mecca.

– Jesse Stein

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