IORC Update, 14 November 2020: Records Reviewed

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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.

Records Accepted

  • 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).

Records Not Accepted

  • Black-headed Grosbeak, 3 October 2019 at West Ridge Nature Preserve, Chicago, Cook County (2019-070).
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