Tarik Shahzad logged 294 birds last year, a new record to Cook County, which is a hot spot for bird-watching in the Midwest.

Shahzad, who works for the Nature Conservancy, said he spent almost every free moment last year looking for birds. The ...

Every morning and every afternoon for a month last summer, he staked out a spot at the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary in Chicago, searching for the marbled godwit. Every night, he went home empty ...