Berwyn, IL Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Berwyn Code of Ordinances § 616.10 has two sentences, and each one sets a separate prohibition. The first bars any person from killing or wounding, or attempting to kill or wound, any song, plumage or game bird that is not the property of that person. The methods are listed as firearms, slingshots, bows and arrows, stones, and the catch-all phrase or otherwise, so the choice of tool does not matter. An attempt counts the same as a completed act.

The second sentence protects nests. No person shall take the eggs of any song, plumage or game bird within a private enclosure or on any public grounds. The words private enclosure and public grounds cover both fenced private property and city-owned space, so a resident cannot take eggs from a backyard nest structure or from a park.

The protection turns on ownership. A bird that is the property of the person, such as a bird kept as a pet in a residence or in a cage, falls outside the first sentence. The code does not create a species list, so song, plumage and game birds carry their ordinary meaning.

The bird rules sit beside other Chapter 616 provisions that shape how residents deal with birds. Section 616.14 treats feeding wild or feral birds, including pigeon, vulture, sparrow, morning dove, starling and crow, as prohibited except from a compliant feeder in residential areas, and § 616.08(A) bars keeping turkeys, ducks, geese and other like fowl at all. Section 616.05 also bars instigating any cock fight or other fighting of any animal or fowl. Enforcement of the chapter belongs to the Berwyn Police Department, which handles violations of Chapter 616 and impounds animals under § 616.07.