RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Will County >> Birds >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Birds, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Birds and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Birds:
    • 41.475031, -88.197284
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Birds
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Will County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Will County
    • Since Birds is near Grundy County and also Kendall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kendall County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Birds

Communities Also Named Birds ...

We found five communities that are also named Birds.

There is one other community in Illinois that is also named Birds.

Beyond Illinois, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Illinois ...
    • Lawrence County
      • This Birds is located in Lawrence County and lies 184 miles [296.1 km]<1> to the south of the Birds that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Birds.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Larimer County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Birds [Larimer County].
    • Florida
      • Lake County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Birds [Lake County].
    • Georgia
      • Effingham County
      • This Birds is located in Effingham County and lies 737 miles [1,186.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Birds that is located in Will County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Effingham County community of Birds.
    • Texas
      • Tarrant County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Tarrant County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tarrant County community of Birds.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Birds ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Crystal Lawns
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Crystal Lawns is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lawns
  • Erin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Erin is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erin
  • Fox Meadow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Fox Meadow is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Meadow
  • Hunt Club
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hunt Club is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Club
  • Oak Lane
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Oak Lane is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Lane
  • Pheasant Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Pheasant Landing is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Landing
  • Pleasant Knoll
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Knoll is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Knoll
  • Prairie Trail
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Prairie Trail is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Trail
  • Riverwalk
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Riverwalk is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwalk
  • Rock Run Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Rock Run Park is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Run Park
  • Rockdale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Rockdale is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,884 people
  • Springwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Springwood is located in Will County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springwood
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Squires Mill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Squires Mill is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squires Mill
    • Sunset Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Sunset Hills is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Hills
    • Sunset Ridge
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Sunset Ridge is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ridge
    • Vintage
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Vintage is located in Will County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage

How Far From Birds to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Birds to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Birds and extending to:

  • Joliet, which is the Seat of Will County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 139 miles [223.7 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Birds to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 614 miles [988.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,222 miles [10,013.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,961 miles [11,202.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,845 miles [7,797.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Birds) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Birds could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Birds, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Birds to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Birds. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4750, Longitude: -88.1973       In this case, the coordinates for Birds have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.811 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.702 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.961 degrees.