The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 40 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois and occurrence of regularly occurring species at unusual times. Among these, IORC accepted 39 of the records while not accepting one. Among the accepted records were the following additions to the list of species having occurred in Illinois: Limpkin, Little Stint, and Cassin’s Kingbird.
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
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (34), 9 May to 28 June 2019 in Granite City, Madison County (2019-028; Frank Holmes)
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (2), 16 June 2019 northeast of Meredosia, Morgan County (2019-021; Colin Dobson)
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (28), 28-29 June 2019 in Grand Tower, Jackson County (2019-24; Rhonda Rothrock, Trevor Slovik)
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (19), 17 August 2019 in Grand Tower, Jackson County (2019-037; Dan Wylie)
- Fulvous Whistling-Duck, 6-27 August 2019 along the Big Muddy River levee at Island Road, Jackson County (2019-035; Don Mullison; Rhonda Rothrock, Dan Williams)
- Fulvous Whistling-Duck (23), 13 September to 5 October 2019 adjacent to Mississippi River levee roads near Merrimac, Monroe County (2019-046; Wally George; Travis Mahan, Geoffrey A. Williamson)
- Harlequin Duck, 21-30 December 2017 at Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2017-081; Keith McMullen, Al Smith)
- White-winged Dove, 2 May 2019 in Skokie, Cook County (2019-020; Amanda Tichacek)
- White-winged Dove, 23 August 2019 at Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge, Calhoun County (2019-039; Bill Rowe)
- Limpkin, 20 June to 7 November 2019 at Borah Lake, Olney, Richland County (2019-043; Brady Colin, Tom Colin, Matthew Cvetas, Fran Morel, Bob Shelby, Craig Taylor, Geoffrey A. Williamson)
- Ruff, 20 April 2018 at Canteen Lake, Madison County (2018-064; David Becher; Al Smith)
- Curlew Sandpiper, 20 May 2000 at Rend Lake, Jefferson County (2000-085; Brian L. Chandler)
- Little Stint, 3-7 August 2019 at the Emiquon Preserve, Fulton County (2019-032; Keith McMullen; Steve Freed, Davida Kalina, Geoffrey A. Williamson)
- Parasitic Jaeger, 16 September 2017 at Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2017-082; Al Smith)
- Little Gull, 24-26 February 2019 at Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2019-027; Dan Kassebaum)
- Great Black-backed Gull, 24 July 2019 south of Beall Woods State Park, Wabash County (2019-029; Leroy Harrison, Bob Shelby)
- Neotropic Cormorant, 27 June to 15 July 2013 at Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, Putnam County (2013-082; Benjamin Murphy, Jeff Smith)
- Anhinga, 8-13 July 2019 at Cache River State Natural Area, Johnson County (2019-026; Keith McMullen)
- Brown Pelican, 5 May 2018 at the Mt. Pulaski water treatment plant, Logan County (2018-070; Lara Borgerson)
- Brown Pelican, 18 August to 14 October 2018 at Carlyle Lake, Bond, Clinton, and Fayette counties (2018-065; Roger Hayes, Keith McMullen)
- Black Vulture, 1 May 2018 in Kankakee, Kankakee County (2018-068; Jed Hertz)
- Black Vulture, 17 July 2019 in Streator, LaSalle County (2019-034; Steven R. Wargo)
- Swallow-tailed Kite, 27 July 2019 near Rosecrans, Lake County (2019-030; Patricia Isaacson)
- Swallow-tailed Kite, 17 August 2019 in Thebes, Alexander County (2019-036; Steven Huggins)
- Swallow-tailed Kite, 22 August 2019 at Silver Creek Conservation Area, McHenry County (2019-042; Jeff Aufmann)
- Swallow-tailed Kite, 23 August 2019 north of Livingston, Madison County and during 1-16 September 2019 near Alton, Madison County (2019-040; Keith McMullen; David Becher, Frank Holmes, Devin Peipert, Kimberly Rohling)
- Swainson’s Hawk, 2 May 2019 in Hudson, McLean County (2019-038; Dan Williams)
- Gyrfalcon, 13 February 2017 in Lawndale Township, McLean County (2017-083; Tim Lindenbaum)
- Cassin’s Kingbird, 22 September 2019 at Montrose Point, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Cook County (2019-048; Krzysztof Kurylowicz; Vinod Babu, Robert D. Hughes, Steven Mlodinow)
- Say’s Phoebe, 8 September 2019 at Greene Valley Forest Preserve, DuPage County (2019-044; Urs Geiser, Bonnie Graham)
- Sage Thrasher, 29 September 2012 at Sand Bluff Bird Observatory, Winnebago County (2012-058; John Longhenry, Steve Reischel)
- Great-tailed Grackle, 5-6 August 2018 at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve, Lake County (2018-066; Joan Campbell, Bonnie Graham)
- MacGillivray’s Warbler, 3 May 2019 in Savanna, Carroll County (2019-047; Ethan Brown)
- Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s), 14 June 2019 at Illinois Beach State Park, Lake County (2019-031; Beau Schaefer)
- Black-throated Gray Warbler, 4 May 2019 east-southeast of Tisilkwa, Bureau County (2019-066; Douglas F. Stotz)
- Townsend’s Warbler, 15-17 September 2019 at Montrose Point, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Cook County (2019-045; Alison Newberry; Matthew Cvetas, Colin Dobson, Scott Judd, Geoffrey A. Williamson)
- Western Tanager, 9-13 May 2019 in Normal, McLean County (2019-025; Michael McKinley, Benjamin Murphy)
- Western Tanager, 21 September 2019 in River Forest, Cook County (2019-049; Jill S. Anderson)
- Painted Bunting, 2-12 June 2019 at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Will County (2019-023; Jeff Smith; Jared Gorrell, Davida Kalina, Vince Moxon)
Records Not Accepted
- Townsend’s Warbler, 22 May 1970 at Prairie Park in DeKalb County (1970-001)