The 400 Club: Meet Illinois’ most dedicated rare bird chasers

How many times can I call in sick or leave work early without losing my job? It’s a question Bruce Heimer ponders with regularity. The Elmhurst electrician is a bird chaser. When a rare species is spotted in Illinois, one he hasn’t seen before, he’s out the door.

“Chasing” is a way of life for a select cadre of birders like Heimer who seek to grow their Illinois life list at every opportunity. Of those, a small number have equaled or surpassed 400 species — a challenging milestone that can take decades to achieve.

Membership in the so-called 400 Club is open to all, but so far fewer than 20 birders have joined. Because here’s the thing: When your Illinois list approaches 400 species, it’s hard to see anything new. Birders in such rarified air are lucky to add one or two species a year.

The Illinois official bird list totals 460 species. Of these, about 325 are “regular” in the state — generally found every year. Another 30 or so are rated “casual,” detected far less often.

That leaves about 100 species on the all-time list that are either extinct or “accidental.” Often the accidentals are first-time records, like the Great Kiskadee in Channahon in 2020 and the Broad-tailed Hummingbird in Champaign in 2023.

Roseate Tern joined the list of legendary sightings on May 23. About 75 birders hurried to Illinois Beach State Park that day to witness the vagrant seabird, an Illinois first.

For 400 Club members and wannabes, the accidentals are must-see birds. Fortunately, digital technology has made chasing them easier. The internet, smartphones, and free apps like Discord and eBird changed the game. Reports of an avian Elvis now arrive instantly.

Keeping score

Birders of all stripes document their progress on Listers Corner, a data repository on the Illinois Audubon Society website. The category to watch is “Illinois Life List.”

The first person to report 400 species on Listers Corner did so in 2013. It’s likely, however, that several birders hit the mark sooner. We can’t know for sure, because not all birders choose to post their numbers.

We do know the 400 Club is growing. Listers Corner showed three people at 400 or more species in 2018. Today it’s about a dozen, with several birders peeking in the clubhouse window with Illinois life lists in the high 390s.

Two Chicago birders, Joe Lill and Geoff Williamson, joined the club in April thanks to a wayward Lazuli Bunting using a feeder in Wauconda. Homeowner Jan Merl welcomed birders to her yard to ogle the rare visitor, a Western species.

The state’s top listers know each other well. They travel to the same places to get glimpses of the same elusive birds. Sometimes they arrive in the same vehicle, tamping down the notion that these birders are fierce rivals. The 400 Club members I contacted were all about the birds and just doing what they like to do.

Chicagoan Andy Sigler claims an Illinois life list of 420 species, and probably none is higher. A truly statewide birder, Sigler has observed at least 200 species in each of the 102 counties, itself a remarkable achievement.

“I’m more interested in motivating myself than impressing other people,” Sigler said, explaining his listing pursuits. Besides, he said, building a big state list depends mostly on having no time constraints. “Four hundred is just a number … It doesn’t say anything about birding ability.”

Sigler cherishes the Ross’s Gull he discovered at Cook County’s Gillson Park in 1978, the first record in Illinois and only the third in the Lower 48.

Heimer, who considers Sigler a mentor, is newer to the game. He remembers being in the 400 Club for about two weeks after bagging a Chestnut-collared Longspur in Chicago in 2024. Then came the news that Hoary Redpoll would no longer count as a distinct species, dropping him back to 399. He regained 400 last year with a Cassin’s Kingbird in Lake County.

Reaching 400 Illinois birds was a singular goal for Heimer. For others, such as Bob Fisher, a Downers Grove birder, the milestone happens naturally over time.

Fisher and his late wife, Karen, traveled throughout Illinois for birds, a shared passion. On Listers Corner, they still lead the “Buddy List” category.

“It was about the adventure,” he said. “Four hundred was not a goal but an outcome because we enjoyed chasing (rare) birds.”

A White-winged Dove in Kane County was Fisher’s 400th Illinois bird and he’s since added 10 more. Karen’s total, preserved on Listers Corner, was 386 when she passed away in 2018.

Border games

Ornithological research sometimes results in changes to the official list of countable birds. European Goldfinch, for example, was declared a countable Illinois species in 2024. Birders who had already seen one got to add a bird to their life list without even leaving home. But it can go the other way, too, as with Hoary Redpoll.

Listing rules can be as quirky as the hobby itself, but birders follow a code of honor that ensures fair play. In the case of geographic borders, another human creation, listing can turn almost comical.

Joel Greenberg, a 400-clubber from Westmont, recalls a trip to the Ohio River to add Least Tern. He witnessed several but had to wait until the birds crossed the northern bank to count them as Illinois birds. The river’s airspace, he knew, is considered Kentucky.

From end to end, Illinois runs about 400 miles — a fitting distance for birders in the 400 Club, who endure long road trips routinely. Greenberg’s Ohio River experience came just after he’d driven 350 miles to check off Bachman’s Sparrow in Johnson County.

Although Steve Bailey now lives in Mundelein, he’s thankful that for many years his home base was Danville. Starting from east-central Illinois often helped minimize his rare bird chase miles.

Bailey fondly recalls some amazing Illinois visitors, even keeping a side list of his 38 “best birds.” Among them are Ancient Murrelet, Clark’s Nutcracker, and Northern Wheatear. He’s proud of the Curlew Sandpiper he discovered in 1986 while checking a remnant prairie pothole in Vermilion County.

Al Stokie also knows the exhilaration of finding a “mega.” He’ll never forget the Ivory Gull he spotted on a Christmas Bird Count in 1991 at Montrose Point in Chicago. “It’s the only really rare bird that I actually found myself,” Stokie said. To his relief, fellow birders soon verified the gull.

Some birds get away. When that happens, avid listers feel the pain of missing what can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Cindy Alberico, a Crest Hill resident, chased the state’s first Painted Redstart in 2022. She was on the scene at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Lake County, but the one-day-wonder ghosted her.

“It was hot and buggy, and after slogging through those woods for about forever I finally convinced myself that it just wasn’t worth it. I still regret it.”

Alberico’s pursuit, it must be noted, was compromised by a bum shoulder she’d recently dislocated. Her memory brightens when recounting the Gyrfalcon she discovered in LaSalle County in 2003, and a Black-backed Woodpecker finally viewed in Will County in 1986. “I think I looked for that bird five or six times before I got it.”

Persistence is right up there with time and a full tank of gas when noting the essential assets of our state’s most prolific bird listers. A treasure hunter’s mentality comes in handy, too.

Members of the 400 Club, present and future, are standing by, eager to chase down our state’s next history-making bird.

Jeff Reiter’s column appears regularly in Neighbor. You can reach him via his blog, Words on Birds.