Chicago Bird Collision Monitors Get New Director

Annette Prince is the new director of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), taking over from Robbie Hunsinger who has been director since the founding of the organization in 2003. CBCM volunteers monitor downtown Chicago during bird migration in the fall and spring and recover dead birds and rescue injured birds that have collided with buildings. It is estimated that anywhere from 100,000,000 to 1 billion birds are killed by collisions with buildings during migration in the United States each year.

Prince started volunteering as a bird monitor two years ago after attending a presentation by Hunsinger. During Prince’s four migration seasons with CBCM, she has served as a bird monitor, hotline coordinator and rescue team captain. This past fall, she took the role of associate director of operations – organizing and training a network that has grown from a handful of monitors to almost 80 volunteers who work on planning, monitoring, transporting birds and responding to bird emergencies.

“Coordinating the salvage, rescue and transport of hundreds of birds on busy migration days, like Columbus Day weekend this past fall when more than 400 injured birds were collected and sent to wildlife rehabilitation centers, can be like mobilizing an army,” says Prince.

Prince’s interest in birds and involvement in conservation issues developed during a long history of volunteer work with such organizations as the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the Shedd Aquarium and the Brookfield Zoo. She is currently a volunteer clinic assistant (an animal care volunteer) at Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Prince says that the most important work for CBCM in the future is “Advocating and facilitating risk reduction efforts for migratory birds, improving our monitoring and data collection abilities and promoting the establishment of a bird rehabilitation center within the city of Chicago.”

Prince emphasizes “We are fortunate to have the assistance of Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation in Barrington and Willowbrook Wildlife Center to care for the injured birds rescued by CBCM but we desperately need a rehabilitation center that our volunteers and the public can easily access in the city.”

CBCM is looking forward to the opening of an animal rehabilitation facility on Northerly Island (formerly Meigs Field), plans for which are in the works.

Chicago Audubon Society would like to thank Robbie Hunsinger for her monumental work with CBCM, and wishes the best of luck and success to Annette Prince!