Illinois Ornithological Society Dedicated to birds and birding in Illinois

Time 2021-01-03 11:04:01

Web Name: Illinois Ornithological Society Dedicated to birds and birding in Illinois

WebSite: http://www.illinoisbirds.org

ID:155145

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Society,Dedicated,Illinois,

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The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 17 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. Among these, IORC accepted 16 of the records while not accepting one.The records involved are summarized below. For each record, we indicate the species or form, with number of individuals in parentheses if greater than one, followed by date or date range, location, and county. The record number is indicated in parentheses, followed by, for accepted records, names of the documenters. If multiple documenters are listed, those understood by IORC to have been the original finders of the bird(s) are listed first and separated from the others by a semicolon. IORC thanks all the documenters, for accepted and unaccepted records alike, for their submissions. All documentation is maintained in the IORC archives so that there is a permanent record of all these observations. Documentation, regardless of the Committee’s decision, is a valuable part of the record of bird life in Illinois.White-winged Dove, 14 May 2018 in Shiloh, St. Clair County (2018-074; Karen Louis).White-winged Dove, 15 June 2018 in Oswego, Kendall County (2018-076; Scott Johnson).White-winged Dove (1 to 2), 4 May to 27 July 2020 (with two present during 9-14 May 2020) in Stonington, Christian County (2020-011; Tom Colin, Trevor Slovick, Ted Wolff).Ivory Gull, 3 January 2018 at Lake County Fairgrounds, Lake County (2018-073: Amar Ayyash).Little Gull, 1-2 September 2013 at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Mason County (2013-084; Eric W. Walters).Neotropic Cormorant, 20 June to 3 July 2020 at Pratt s Wayne Woods Forest Preserve, DuPage County (2020-022; Bonnie Graham).Brown Pelican, 3 October to 8 December 2018 at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Williamson County (2018-071; Chelsea DeVivo, Nathan Goldberg, Kimberly Rohling).Black Vulture (2), 14 July 2020 at Kickapoo State Park, Vermilion County (2020-025; Zachary Sutton).Barn Owl, 27 September 2017 in Chicago, Cook County (2017-084; L. Challoner).Prairie Falcon, 3 January 2018 in Ridgway Township, Gallatin County (2018-072; Ron Bradley).Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed), 22 May 2020 at Mississippi Palisades State Park, Carroll County (2020-024; Ethan Brown). The Committee s decision was that this record pertains to Junco hyemalis caniceps.Great-tailed Grackle, 20 August 2013 in Meredosia, Morgan County (2013-085; Shawn Billerman).Palm Warbler (Yellow), 8 November 2016 at McCormick Place, Chicago, Cook County (2016-098; Mary Hennen, David E. Willard).Western Tanager, 14-28 April 2013 in Warsaw, Hancock County (2013-083; James D. Paar).Western Tanager, 21 May 2017 in Serena, LaSalle County (2017-085; Joseph Young).Painted Bunting, 15-16 May 2018 in Mendota, LaSalle County (2018-075; Gene Rod).Black-headed Grosbeak, 3 October 2019 at West Ridge Nature Preserve, Chicago, Cook County (2019-070). Big Marsh Zugun-Sittas. Photo by Matt Igleski.Birding-related activities have proved themselves a great distraction in 2020.  The IOS Big Sit taking place from Sep 24-26 was a big hit with individuals seeking a bit of fun, social interaction, outdoor activities and good-humored competition while easily distancing and remaining safe.Maybe the team names should have been subject to competition, given their creative nature!  Sedentary…sharpies?  Pelicans gone batty.  No Egrets.  Or this one, that came with a nearly one-page explanation:  Big Marsh Zugun-Sitta!One team however had the name and the number of species to take the overall lead in the competition!  Kudos to Colin Dobson, Aerin Tedesco and Zachary Sutton of the COVID coRvids for a highly productive Big Sit at Lake Shelbyville in Moultrie County yielding 92 species of birds, including 13 species of shorebirds and 12 species of Warblers.  Wondering if Aerin will follow with a Covid Corvids band?On the financial front and from the onset, one team crushed the fundraising aspect of the Big Sit.  The Rollin’s Raptors, led by legendary green birder Beau Schaefer and including Andy Stewart, Gustavo Ustariz, Steve Mulhall and Jerry Hampton brought in $1202!  Hurray for the Rollin’s Raptors!Our current and past Illinois Young Birders stepped up to the challenge, with 3 Bruhs with Some Bins and the Youthful Jaegers battling it out at Montrose Point.  The name was an oracle of sort, as the Youthful Jaegers stole the show on both species (84) and funds ($589) achieved.American Avocet. Photo by Jake Cvetas.Our young winners will receive beautiful handmade peanut feeders very generously donated by Tim Joyce of Wild Birds Unlimited in Glenview.The IOS board is deeply grateful to every Big Sit participant, as well as to each donor, for their energy, enthusiasm and great generosity.  Together we raised $5255, which will enable IOS to continue strengthening our key offerings, such as our Illinois birds scientific research grants, our Illinois Young Birders programs, the Meadowlark journal and our field trips.No Egrets (Middle Fork Forest Preserve). Photo by Michael Avara.Black-bellied Plover (left) and Long-billed Dowitcher (right). Photos by Jake Cvetas.Eastern Phoebe (left) Photo by Aerin Tedesco. American Kestrel (center), Peregrine Falcon (top right), and Sharp-shinned Hawk (bottom right) Photos by Trevor Slovick.Philadelphia Vireo (left) and American Wigeon (right). Photos by Matt Igleski.Stay put. Count birds. Raise money! After the success of the spring IOS Backyard Big Day, IOS invites you to join other birders throughout Illinois on the weekend of September 25-27 for the IOS 2020 Big Sit Competition and Fundraiser. Sign up below and pick a day on the weekend to sit in one spot and count as many species of birds as possible, whether in your yard or your favorite park or preserve. You can count as an individual or family or teams of up to five (additional participants can come and go from your count circle as long as no more than five people are in the circle at one time and social distancing and state guidelines are followed). Teams are also invited to help solicit donations for their team and use the event as a fun way to help us raise funds for IOS. The 2020 IOS Big Sit funds will go towards supporting IOS and IOS initiatives like the Illinois Young Birders and the IOS Grants program. Prizes will be awarded to both the team that finds the most birds and the team that raises the most funds.A Big Sit, similar to a Big Day, is a competition where a team of birders counts as many species as possible within a 24 hour period.  While the Big Day involves moving around from spot to spot to maximize species sightings, a Big Sit is precisely as it sounds. You stay in one location, a 20ft diameter circle called a “count circle”, and only species seen or heard from that circle count for the final tally.  Count wherever you want and as long as you want during your chosen count day. The Big Sit is all about slowing down and enjoying good company, great birds, and, in this case, supporting a good cause! Full rules can be read here.1. Click the Start a Team button below and then click on Start a Fundraiser to create your fundraising team and find up to 5 people to join your Big Sit. To start a fundraiser, you will need to create a Donately account if you do not already have one. It is very straightforward. Don t forget a creative name! Don t forget to set a fundraising goal for yourself!2. Add a description which includes 1) Your teammates 2) Where you will be conducting your Big Sit 3) the date of your Big Sit.4. Share, share, share! Reach out to friends and family to donate to your Big Sit by sharing your donation page. Donors can do a 1-time donation, or they can pledge to donate an amount per species and complete their donation after you announce your final species total to them.  NOTE: Your team is responsible for keeping track of per species donors and reminding them to donate afterwards!  Encourage donors that they can donate both ways!On your competition day, sit back, relax, and have fun counting birds. Share your highlights as the day progresses in the new IOS Facebook Group. (A submission form will be posted closer to the event date to submit your final species total and any highlights you want to share from your day).Anyone interested is invited to join us for a virtual after party online as we share highlights with one another and announce winners. Prizes will be awarded for the team that counts the most birds and for the team that raises the most in donations (details to be announced).If you are supporting a specific team, you can donate via the link to their team page or search for the team below.If you are not supporting a specific team, feel free to pick one to support or you can submit a general donation to IOS.We invite donors to follow along during the event in the IOS Facebook Group and Join Us for the Results and After Party. Thank you in advance for your support of IOS!The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 16 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. Among these, IORC accepted 14 of the records while not accepting two.The records involved are summarized below. For each record, we indicate the species or form, with number of individuals in parentheses if greater than one, followed by date or date range, location, and county. The record number is indicated in parentheses, followed by, for accepted records, names of the documenters. If multiple documenters are listed, those understood by IORC to have been the original finders of the bird(s) are listed first and separated from the others by a semicolon. IORC thanks all the documenters, for accepted and unaccepted records alike, for their submissions. All documentation is maintained in the IORC archives so that there is a permanent record of all these observations. Documentation, regardless of the Committee’s decision, is a valuable part of the record of bird life in Illinois.Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (6), 4 June 2020 at Beall Woods State Park, Wabash County (2020-018; Robert E. Shelby).Harlequin Duck, 1-4 March 2020 in Moline, Rock Island County (2020-005; Steven Freed).White-winged Dove, 14-18 April 2020 in Metropolis, Massac County (2020-009; John Schwegman).Wood Stork (3), 23-28 August 2011 south of Kidd Lake Marsh State Natural Area, Monroe County (2011-041; Carl DauBach, Pen DauBach).Neotropic Cormorant, 24 May to 6 July 2020 in Zion, Lake County (2020-019; Daniel T. Williams). Found by Steven J. Huggins.Fish Crow, 10 May 2020 in Berwyn, Cook County (2020-014; Greg E. Neise).Townsend s Solitaire, 1-21 March 2020 at McCune Sand Prairie, Bureau County (2020-006; Davida Kalina, Craig Taylor). Found by Mike Madsen.Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed group) Junco hyemalis caniceps/dorsalis, 10 May 2020 in Arlington Heights, Cook County (2020-015; Fred Lieb). Townsend s Warbler, 16-26 April 2020 at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve, Cook County (2020-013; Isoo O Brien). Found by Heidi Tarasiuk.Western Tanager, 7-12 May 2020 in Albion, Edwards County (2020-012; C. Leroy Harrison, Robert E. Shelby). Found by Scott Attebury.Western Tanager, 19-21 May 2020 in Yorkville, Kendall County (2020-017; Daniel Baechle).Lazuli Bunting, 21 February to 1 March 2020 in Sherman, Sangamon County (2020-007; Trevor Slovick). Found by Jarod Hitchings.Lazuli Bunting, 16 March to 2 May 2020 in Marion Township, Ogle County (2020-010; Barbara Williams, Daniel T. Williams).Painted Bunting, 2 May 2020 in Chicago, Cook County (2020-016; Jeffrey R.R. Skrentny).Anhinga, 3 June 2020 in Wapella, DeWitt County (2020-020).Townsend s Solitaire, 16 March 2020 at Sand Creek Recreation Area, Macon County (2020-008).The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 25 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois and occurrence of regularly occurring species at unusual times. Among these, IORC accepted 19 of the records while not accepting six.The records involved are summarized below. For each record, we indicate the species or form, with number of individuals in parentheses if greater than one, followed by date or date range, location, and county. The record number is indicated in parentheses, followed by, for accepted records, names of the documenters. If multiple documenters are listed, those understood by IORC to have been the original finders of the bird(s) are listed first and separated from the others by a semicolon. IORC thanks all the documenters, for accepted and unaccepted records alike, for their submissions. All documentation is maintained in the IORC archives so that there is a permanent record of all these observations. Documentation, regardless of the Committee’s decision, is a valuable part of the record of bird life in Illinois.King Eider, 31 October to 2 November 2019 along the Evanston and Chicago lakefront, Cook County (2019-062; Tamima Itani; Matthew Cvetas, Dan Williams, Geoffrey A. Williamson).Harlequin Duck, 3 February 2020 in Moline, Rock Island County (2020-004; Steven Freed).Black Rail, 2 June 2019 at Killdeer Wetlands Forest Preserve, Cook County (2019-057; Stephanie Beilke).Ancient Murrelet, 9-10 November 2019 at Montrose Point, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Cook County (2019-063; Michael Carroll, Robert D. Hughes; Matthew Cvetas, Geoffrey A. Williamson).California Gull, 21 September 2019 at Eldon Hazlet State Park, Clinton County (2019-054; Colin Dobson).Arctic Tern, 14 September 2019 at Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2019-052; Colin Dobson).Neotropic Cormorant, 19-20 October 2019 at Rainbow Beach, Chicago, Cook County (2019-058; Andrew Aldrich).White-faced Ibis, 26 September to 23 October 2019 at Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, Putnam County (2019-051; Sarah Geiger; Andrew Aldrich, Keith McMullen, Dan Williams).White-faced Ibis, 14 October 2019 at Lake Springfield, Sangamon County (2019-069; H. David Bohlen).Swallow-tailed Kite, 24 August to 4 September near Allerton Park, Piatt County (2019-064; Leroy Harrison).Mississippi Kite, 28 August 2019 at Ft. Sheridan Forest Preserve, Lake County (2019-053; Adam Sell).Ferruginous Hawk, 26 November 2019 in Rochelle, Ogle County (2019-065; Andy Sigler, Craig Taylor).Barn Owl, 23 December 2019 at Prairie Ridge State Natural Area, Jasper County (2019-068; Bob Shelby).Gyrfalcon, 26 January to 1 February 2020 south of LaSalle Lake, LaSalle County (2020-003; Tamima Itani, Lisa Maier).Philadelphia Vireo, 30 November 2019 in Evanston, Cook County (2019-067; Jeff Bilsky).Townsend s Solitaire, 13 October 2019 in Oswego, Kendall County (2019-055; Scott Johnson).Townsend s Solitaire, 25 October 2019 at Henneberry Woods Forest Preserve, Kendall County (2019-056; Ryan Jones).Townsend s Solitaire, 19 January to 2 February 2020 at Silver Springs State Park, Kendall County (2020-002; Jeffrey Nelson; Andrew Aldrich, Dan Williams).Clay-colored Sparrow, 1 January 2020 in Libertyville, Lake County (2020-001; Jeff Sundberg).Ruff, 7 August 2019 at Peacock March, Will County (2019-033). Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, 25 August 2019 at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Mason County (2019-041).Arctic Tern, 25 October 2019 at Lakes Charleston, Coles County (2019-060).Anhinga, 1 October 2019 in West Dundee, Kane County (2019-050).White-faced Ibis, 20-21 September 2019 near Island Road levee, Jackson County (2019-059).Cassin s Vireo, 16 May 2019 at Ewing Park, Bloomington, McLean County (2019-061). Field Sparrow from Jill Anderson s backyard on the IOS Backyard Big Day.April 22, 2020 – The Illinois Ornithological Society Backyard Big Day went beyond our expectations on so many levels!  Nearly 200 households participated from 34 counties in Illinois.  People birded from their backyards, apartment windows, apartment building rooftops or grounds.  Birders are known to be competitive and spirited, and friendly exchanges were posted throughout the day.  One common theme emerged, surprise at what one could find in their own backyard or outside their window or from their rooftop if they looked long enough.  You would think Matthew Cvetas, ace birder, past president of IOS and past ebird reviewer for Cook County would have seen it all in his Evanston backyard.  Yet it was only mid-morning when he posted with much fanfare that he had a LeConte s Sparrow in his yard!  Having a land-locked yard did not doom one to land birds, as one of Amanda Tichacek s early flyovers over her Skokie yard was a Common Loon.  An apartment living situation did not condemn one to a paltry null list for the day, quite the opposite in fact, especially if your apartment benefited from direct (albeit distant) views of the Montrose Harbor and fish hook Pier, as in the case of Geoff Williamson, who ended the day with some 30 species out of his window.  Birders were treated to migrating Broad-winged Hawks, mating birds of all stripes, first-of-year birds, yard lifers, lifer lifers, etc.  One yard however, raked in one species after the other throughout the day for a total of 54 species, including a Worm-eating Warbler, a Yellow-throated Warbler, another 8 species of warblers, vireos, tanagers Rhonda Rothrock s yard at the edge of Shawnee National Forest was a microcosm of the forest itself.Depending on circumstances, we may hold another backyard competition in May.  Please watch the IOS Facebook page, Red Hill Birding Facebook page and the IBET mailings for further announcements.If you are new to IOS and would like to learn more about the organization please spend some time exploring the website. We would love to have you join as a member or make a donation to support many of our initiatives. The Illinois Ornithological Society publishes Meadowlark, which documents the highlights of bird life in Illinois.  IOS also provides grants to college students for ornithological research, and is the parent organization for Illinois Young Birders.  Adam Sell is a board member and secretary of the organization.Josh and Adam both lead tours for Red Hill Birding, which has run fundraising tours for IOS to Panama, Montana, and (soon) to Colombia.  Show them your support by liking Red Hill Birding on Facebook and following them on Instagram.IOS Backyard Big Day ResultsMarch 25, 2020 As a way to showcase the redesigned Meadowlark Magazine to potential members, and in light of people being stuck at home more during the stay-in-place order, we are happy to announce that the latest issue of Meadowlark Magazine is available online here as a gift to the entire birding community. We hope you enjoy it!To our members and those slated to receive this issue of Meadowlark, our printer is currently still operating as an essential business. There may be delays, but we expect you to receive your print copy in the mail within the next few weeks.If you are not currently a member or let your membership lapse, we encourage you to become a member today and help us continue to grow IOS as an organization. In light of the current economy and the fact that we have already had to cancel outings that we rely on for revenue, we are particularly grateful to those who can join at the “Contributor” level or higher or are able to make an extra donation to support the work of IOS.Finally, thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue of Meadowlark either through documenting rare bird sightings with IORC, sending us photos, posting sightings in eBird, writing articles, or assisting field reports and field notes.The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of five records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois and occurrence of regularly occurring species at unusual times. Among these, IORC accepted two of the records while not accepting three. Among the accepted records was the following addition to the list of species having occurred in Illinois: Small-billed Elaenia.The records involved are summarized below. For each record, we indicate the species or form, with number of individuals in parentheses if greater than one, followed by date or date range, location, and county. The record number is indicated in parentheses, followed by, for accepted records, names of the documenters. If multiple documenters are listed, those understood by IORC to have been the original finders of the bird(s) are listed first and separated from the others by a semicolon. IORC thanks all the documenters, for accepted and unaccepted records alike, for their submissions. All documentation is maintained in the IORC archives so that there is a permanent record of all these observations. Documentation, regardless of the Committee’s decision, is a valuable part of the record of bird life in Illinois.Small-billed Elaenia, 17-22 April 2012 at Douglas Park, Chicago, Cook County (2012-007; Aaron Gyllenhaal, Ethan Gyllenhaal; Mark Bowman, C.A. Bridge, Bonnie Duman, Matthew Fraker, Gordon Garcia, Nathan Goldberg, Jerry Goldner, Jim Hully, Stoil Ivanov, Ken Koontz, Nolan Lameka, Joshua Little, Lisa Rest, Ryan Sanderson, Brian Tang, Monte Taylor).Swainson s Warbler, 3 May 2018 at Northwestern University, Evanston, Cook County (2018-069; Allison Sloan).Barnacle Goose, 25-28 February 2019 at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, DuPage County and Bartlett Lake Prairie Wetland, Oswego, Kendall County (2019-002).Mottled Duck (2), 30 May 2013 at Montrose Point, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Cook County (2013-016). This was a resubmission of a previously accepted record, based on better understanding of detecting evidence of hybrid origin in this complex.Mottled Duck, 29 October 2013, 16 November 2013, and 28 April 2014 at Sangchris Lake State Park, Sangamon County (2013-065). The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) has recently made publicly available, via a set of web pages, a variety of information related to its work. They are found at http://geoffwilliamson.info/iorc/. Importantly, a section of these pages regarding documentation of bird records represents a portion of the IORC archives. This archival material includes documentary items sent to IORC (mostly written documentation and physical evidence in the form of photographs, videos, and sound recordings, but also a few other items) plus also the evaluation votes and comments of IORC members. The web pages from 2011 to the present are essentially complete with respect to the documentary materials. With regard to votes and comments of IORC members on records, IORC s practice now is to provide here all votes and comments going forward; however, these are not now available for all records.Each year s listing of records includes for all records the serial number, species or form, county, first and last date of observation, and status of the record. Where this or other information on these web pages differs from that in published IORC reports, the latter represent the official record.IORC members examine Slate-colored and White-winged Junco specimens at IORC s February 2020 meeting in the Field Museum of Natural History. Left to right: Bob Hughes, Paul Sweet, Adam Sell, Doug Stotz, Vida Kalina.IORC is making all this material web-accessible, and hence readily available, to inform better the birding public about IORC s work and to facilitate access to at least part of its archives. IORC hopes that this material s availability will encourage the submission of documentation of rare and unusual birds in Illinois, will help to improve the understanding of the documentation and review process, and will by example help to improve the quality of submitted documentary materials.Question, suggestions, and corrections may be directed via email to the IORC Secretary, Geoff Williamson, at iorcommittee at gmail dot com.One of the purposes of the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee(IORC), per its bylaws, is “to maintain the official Illinois State List ofBirds.” Among the various changes and updates to the list, the most exciting areadditions of species. Year 2019 was a banner year in this regard, with thespecies total growing by five. By comparison, the previous five speciesadditions happened over a five-year long period from 2014 to 2018. Four of thefive from 2019 represented species unrecorded in Illinois prior to 2019:Limpkin, Little Stint, Lewis’s Woodpecker, and Cassin’s Kingbird. Three of thesewere long-staying vagrants, allowing many Illinois birders to travel to seethem. Only the kingbird was a one-day wonder. The fifth addition, Barnacle Goose,came from evaluations concluding in 2019 of prior records going back to 1983.The species total for Illinois now rests at 449. Sneaking under the radar in all this was that 2019 included a State List change event of a rarity on a par with that of adding five new species. A family of birds was newly added to the state list! Limpkin is the sole member of Aramidae, a family within order Gruiformes (which also includes the rails and cranes). Families are added to the State List very infrequently. Thelast time was, well, 2017, but that event stemmed from Yellow-breasted Chatbeing split out from the Wood-Warblers (family Parulidae) into its own familyIcteriidae. Yellow-breasted Chats have been present in Illinois for a longtime. The four most recent family-level additions to Illinois’s list that wereprecipitated by a bird being newly recorded in the state were spread over aperiod of about 60 years. 2019, family Aramidae (Limpkins): Limpkin[2017, family Icteriidae (Yellow-breastedChats): Yellow-breasted Chat]1990, family Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers):Northern Wheatear1986, family Fregatidae (Frigatebirds): MagnificentFrigatebird1983, family Sulidae (Boobies and Gannets): NorthernGannet1962, family Alcidae (Auks, Murres, and Puffins):Ancient MurreletOn the official Illinois State List of Birds there are now 449 species, 62 families, and 21 orders represented. We will be having a panel of Big Year birders talking about their various types of Big Years from 2020. Submit your summer field notes. For contact info for the current spring season field notes editor, please visit http://www.illinoisbirds.org/meadowlark-journal-info/ Vist the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) Web site to find out how to participate in the Spring Bird Count (SBC). Submit your summer field notes. For contact info for the current spring season field notes editor, please visit http://www.illinoisbirds.org/meadowlark-journal-info/ Submit your summer field notes. For contact info for the current breeding season field notes editor, please visit http://www.illinoisbirds.org/meadowlark-journal-info/ Submit your summer field notes. For contact info for the current spring season field notes editor, please visit http://www.illinoisbirds.org/meadowlark-journal-info/ Submit your summer field notes. For contact info for the current spring season field notes editor, please visit http://www.illinoisbirds.org/meadowlark-journal-info/ Vist the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) Web site to find out how to participate in the Spring Bird Count (SBC). Submit your summer field notes. For contact info for the current spring season field notes editor, please visit http://www.illinoisbirds.org/meadowlark-journal-info/

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