CHICAGO — As light mist obscured the far-off Chicago skyline, only the faint sounds of metal cranes clanging and construction vehicles beeping in the distance broke up the quiet morning at Park 566 in South Shore.

Peeking around tall patches of grass and peering through binoculars at Lake Michigan, Tarik Shahzad, a birder from the Norwood Park neighborhood, called Thursday’s cold, wet conditions ideal for spotting birds late in the year.

“If you want to find one of the largest prairies in the city of Chicago with threatened and endangered bird species, five-lined skink (lizards) and a lot of peace and solitude with an incredible view of the city skyline and Lake Michigan, Park 566 is the place,” he said.

Shahzad, 29, is on a mission to identify 300 birds in Cook County this year and only has two to go. He has already broken his own record of 296 spotted last year.

The tally is part of a challenge birders take on to see as many species as possible in a given area in 365 days.

In 2024, Shahzad first broke the bird spotting record in Cook County with 294 sightings. The race to spot more unique species every year has taken him across the county and even out onto Lake Michigan. The birder in second place had 12 fewer sightings as of Thursday afternoon, according to online database eBird.

Shahzad said he was desperately looking for a red crossbill Thursday but also hoped to see species of ducks and gulls that are rare to the area. He still took time to appreciate birds he had already spotted earlier this year, including Savannah sparrows flitting between grass stalks.

Birdwatching at Park 566 is often overshadowed by more popular areas such as Montrose Beach, Shahzad said.

But the former steel plant site has been undergoing significant changes since 2011, when work to transform the area into a park began. Current restoration involves controlled burns and the removal of invasive plant species. Residents have also been invited to vote on an official name for the park.

‘A pretty big deal’

Shahzad has always been interested in the environment. He attended Middlebury College in Vermont studying environmental policy and currently works for The Nature Conservancy, an environmental organization.

But it wasn’t until 2023 when he and his girlfriend attended a walk organized by the Chicago Ornithological Society at Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary that the hobby began to dominate his life.

This year, Shahzad has already spotted hundreds of more common birds but said he has only added around 15 to 20 to his count since June. A golden eagle flying over Northbrook joined his list Oct. 26.

Last weekend, Matt Igleski, executive director of the Chicago Bird Alliance, joined Shahzad and a few friends who had chartered a fishing boat to take them on Lake Michigan.

“All of a sudden, you can see Tarik; he’s like, ‘I think that might have been a Pacific loon,’” Igleski said. “We’re just getting the trip started, and that’s a pretty big deal. That’s a pretty rare bird for us.”

The Pacific loon was bird 298.

Many of the birds that Shahzad has yet to identify this year are endangered species, Igleski said. There’s also a chance to catch “vagrant” birds that are supposed to fly south from countries like Colombia for the winter but mistakenly go north instead.

“They’re just like going the wrong way very far,” Igleski said.

At Park 566, Shahzad tailed a group of three common loons appearing as little more than black silhouettes in the water. While not new finds for the year, he said they’re rare birds that only show during tight windows seasonally.

“They’re super cool. Do you know that haunting sort of call you hear in movies or in TV shows sometimes, especially in the wilderness?” Shahzad asked while playing an audio recording off his phone. “That long haunting call is a common loon.”

Environmental hazards

Park 566, also known as “USX,” used to be the site of U.S. Steel’s South Works facility. The plant was demolished in the ‘90s, and a roughly 70-acre plot is being restored as a natural area.

The portion of the park Shahzad walked around lacked any structures. Instead, dirt paths and stalks of grass populated the area, and steel beams lay on rocks along the coastline of Lake Michigan.

Shahzad said his decision to visit the South Shore park was partially motivated by competitiveness. While many of his birder friends would be at the ever-popular Montrose Beach, Shahzad said Park 566 offers opportunities to find species rarely seen farther north.

He didn’t run into any other people that morning. But Shahzad said there’s often 10 or so other birders around on good days. One reason more birders may go to Montrose Beach, he said, is because of the environmental destruction caused by industries that have left the South Shore, and people may be unaware of the efforts to restore the area.

Shahzad bent over and pointed to black, volcanic-looking rock. He said it was slag, a waste byproduct from steel manufacturing.

“A lot of this is actually pollution,” Shahzad said. “And it’s stuff that hadn’t been remediated. So there really isn’t justice, and a lot of the environmental hazards remain here.”

Areas such as Park 566 that support birds are important, he said, because of the threats many species face due to warming winters.

An overall warming of the Earth is occurring because of human activities such as fossil-fuel burning that release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, and forecasts for this year predict an abnormally warm winter due to a weather pattern known as an El Niño.

“I could miss a snowy owl or a swan if it doesn’t get cold enough by Dec. 31,” Shahzad said. “So yes, you know, climate change is impacting this hobby and things we can see. But more importantly, it’s affecting the birds there to find.”

A new moniker

Park 566 has been without an official name for too long, according to the Steelworkers Park Advisory Council, a community organization in the South Shore. The council is accepting suggestions via a Google Form that closes Dec. 31.

Edward Warden, president of the Chicago Ornithological Society, said he’s heard a few different ideas floating around. Many have suggested naming the park after prominent birders, such as Dan Lory, who, according to the Chicago Bird Alliance’s website, has a “manic obsession with Park 566.”

Lory helped enthusiasts first realize the park could be a birding hotspot, Warden said. He currently writes a Substack about urban birding.

However, the Chicago Park District requires that if a park is named after someone, that person has to have been dead for at least one year, according to its website.

“I don’t think any of those (suggestions) will go anywhere, though I think that a lot of really amazing people who are alive and among us today could potentially be great future candidates who are very important to the history of that park and that neighborhood and made a major impact,” Warden said.

Warden met Shahzad years ago through birding. While Shahzad said he plans to cut back on the hobby and breaking records should he hit the 300 mark, Warden doubted it.

“He’s crazy,” Warden said.

In the meantime, Shahzad plans to keep coming back to Park 566.

He didn’t spot a red crossbill or any other new species Thursday morning. But Shahzad said the bird has a roughly 5% chance of appearing on a given day. So, he estimates, coming back 20 times in November will improve his odds greatly.

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