Season: Mid-May to early July

Places to go: Chats like patches of dense, brushy second-growth interspersed with open areas. At Keiselburg Forest Preserve, look in the brushy edges of the prairies. At Rock Cut, search the brushy edges along Hart Road or along the roads near the campground.

Tips for finding and identifying: Heres another bird that is most easily found by song. Chat songs are varied, loud and often include harsh, grating notes. The bird often sits still in an inconspicuous place while calling, so they can be much harder to see than to hear but, once you see a Chat, the bold yellow under parts make it easy to identify visually.

Submitted by Barbara Williams