LINCOLN PARK — Steve Huggins doesn't mind standing on the rooftop of a seven-story Lincoln Park building in which he lives for hours on end.
In sometimes freezing, windy conditions, Huggins watches and photographs hundreds — and occasionally thousands — of the 7 million birds from 300 species that pass through Chicago each year.
This week and through the first half of November is prime time to track the dozen-plus species of raptors like hawks, falcons, kestrels and eagles, plus sandhill cranes and other feathered friends that hug the Lake Michigan shoreline from Rogers Park to East Side as they head south for the winter.
Justin Breen says there are millions of birds migrating through Chicago:
"All you have to do is look up," said Huggins, 42, who views the birds with a telescope and binoculars by himself but also invites fellow residents and friends to join him.
"It's been pretty cool to show the residents of my building some of the birds that come through," Huggins said. "To them at first I must look pretty crazy standing on the rooftop with binoculars and a scope, and they probably think I'm a peeping tom or something. But when I show them, they think it's pretty cool."
Sandhill cranes passing through Chicago. [Photos by Steve Huggins]
Huggins, a native of England, has been birding since he was 4 years old. He's lived in Chicago for 15 years, and, for the first seven or eight, would travel every weekend to Illinois Beach State Park near the Wisconsin border to document bird life. He grew tired of the long drive and started birding from his building in the last few years.
Huggins is fascinated by migrating birds, especially when hundreds of them come flying through. Over four days this month, Huggins said he viewed almost 20,000 common nighthawks. He said bald eagles, osprey and rough-legged hawks are regular travelers over Chicago, and he's even spotted endangered whooping cranes.
Huggins sometimes spends up to eight hours on top of the roof, enduring heavy winds and frigid surroundings to watch his beloved birds. Huggins said his wife thinks he's a bit crazy, but that's OK.
"It's hard to say what birds mean to me, but for me life would be very empty without them," Huggins said.
An osprey in Lakeview
Dozens of turkey vultures.
A red-tailed hawk near the Hancock Center.
An American kestrel with the Willis Tower in the background.
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