On the evening of October 16, more than five million birds are estimated to have flown through Cook County, which includes Chicago. They were propelled by favorable winds brought by a cold front

October 22, 2026 10:00 a.m.

The figure comes from the number of birds spotted by volunteers with the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, and it likely represents an undercount. Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Wildlife advocates are sounding the alarm after more than 1,000 birds were killed or injured in window collisions in the Chicago area last weekend, reports Fox 32 Chicago ’s Nic Flosi.

Volunteers with the nonprofit Chicago Bird Collision Monitors spent October 17 and 18 rescuing wounded birds and collecting the bodies of dead ones in downtown Chicago and the northern suburb of Evanston.

“We’d pick up a bird at a building, go around that building, and immediately find another,” Annette Prince , director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, tells the Chicago Sun-Times ’…