Just Outside Downtown Chicago Is Illinois' Nature Preserve With Scenic Wetland Trails And Urban Birdwatching

Chicago is one of America's most vibrant, world-class cities, offering visitors no end of cool and wondrous things to do and discover. If the hustle and bustle gets to be too much, the "Windy City" boasts more than 600 beautiful parks where you can escape for a relaxing time out. If you're craving an even richer immersion in Mother Nature that leans more unspoiled than manicured park, LaBagh Woods on the outskirts of downtown Chicago is a convenient, marvelous retreat. This tranquil nature preserve boasts scenic woodlands and wetlands, trails, and some of the city's most incredible urban birdwatching.

Nestled on the Northwest side of Chicago, the lush, 160-acre LaBagh Woods is part of the vast Forest Preserves of Cook County, a 70,000 acre expanse filled with an ecologically diverse array of flora and fauna. Eighty acres of LaBagh is dedicated to the preserve. Visitors can explore LaBagh and the surrounding area via scenic trails, or take in the outdoors from the open fields and picnic area.

LaBagh Woods is roughly 11 miles from downtown Chicago, which is only a 30-minute drive away. It's firmly located inside Chicago's urban city limits, yet it offers city-goers a remarkable opportunity to connect with unspoiled landscapes and incredible creatures. The preserve is anchored by wetlands, meadows, and savannahs that are home to nearly 300 species of plants and several species of animals, including mink, coyotes, beavers, foxes, turtles, and 30 species of butterflies. The preserve is known for its abundant birdwatching. More than 180 bird species have been recorded in the woods, a staggering amount of avian activity for an urban zone.

The best birdwatching in the U.S. tends to be outside of dense urban areas. Yet LaBagh is a birding paradise despite its tempestuous location next to Interstate 94 and within earshot of noisy airplane traffic operating from O'Hare Airport. That's because the North Branch of the Chicago River meanders through the woods. For people, the river is a beloved waterway for boat tours showcasing iconic architecture, but for birds it's a critical migratory corridor. Towering oak, maple, and cottonwood trees shelter birds with cover, and they can easily forage for food among the preserve's 3,500 types of native shrubs. 

Birding in LaBagh is a feathery feast of colors, shapes, and sizes. Hooded, Canadian, and Tennessee warblers, Baltimore orioles, indigo buntings, numerous species of woodpeckers, great horned owls, belted kingfishers, and ospreys hardly scratch the surface of the endless bird species you'll likely glimpse here. You might even spy an outlier or two. A Swainson's Warbler, a rarity hailing from the southern part of the U.S., has been spotted here, as well as a broad-billed hummingbird, whose usual environs are Mexico and a handful of Southwest states. Of the 187 species that have been spotted in the preserve, 45 are known to breed here, including Cooper's and red-tailed hawks. 

Popular birding spots include the picnic groves and the forested areas bordering the preserve. LaBagh is open year-round, but visiting during the spring migratory season yields sightings of tanagers, sparrows, and spring warblers. In 2016, the Forest Preserves of Cook County launched the initiative #BirdThePreserves, which aims to raise awareness of the county's top-notch birding.

The Forest Preserves of Cook County boast more than 300 miles of trails, with roughly 20 of these miles comprising the North Branch Trail System. The southern section of the North Branch Trail, which follows the Chicago River north from Chicago to Glencoe, home to the massive, ethereal Chicago Botanical Gardens, starts in LaBagh Woods at the Irene C. Hernandez Family Picnic Area. You can easily bike, hike, run, or stroll the flat, paved, 1.2-mile portion of the trail that runs through LaBagh. This peaceful, forested stretch winds through gorgeous trees and foliage where you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for birds and other wildlife. If you'd like to discover the other lush parks and green spaces along the North Branch Trail, be sure to set aside a good five or more hours.

Stay on the North Branch Trail as it links up with the LaBagh Trail Loop. This portion of the riverside trail is an unpaved but easy swoop around a marshy wetland for 2.1 miles. Watch out for the occasional dirt path splintering off into the woods along the way. Several hikers writing on AllTrails have shared that the loop is an excellent place for trail running and spotting wildlife, from birds galore to chipmunks, deer, and frogs. Hikers also report the loop can at times be a muddy mess, so it's best avoided after periods of heavy rain. "Great for bird watching and trail running. Won't get far on parts of the trail if it's been rainy, way too muddy and wet," shared one hiker on AllTrails.