Here are state big day tallies for specific family groups. The number following the avian families represents the total non-vagrant species that could be found in Illinois. Some counts may not appear to be significant from a whole state perspective, but could represent the record for a specific region (ie. north, central, south); some counts may represent the record for the season (ie. winter, spring, summer, winter). Species highlights for some counts are listed in the key below.
During the year 2001, a new record was set in the 'Warbler' category. This old record was from a famous Big Day attempt where an airplane was used to fly observers northward late in the day. While they didn't come close to breaking the state Big Day record, they did stumble into the Illinois Warbler category record.
Congratulations to Kevin Richmond
for breaking this 15 year old record!
Flycatchers
(10)
1. 11# Central
Illinois 05/29/96
K. Richmond
2. 10* Southern
Illinois/E. St.Louis 05/19/95 T.Fink
Key: #= Western Wood-Pewee if accepted by
IORC * = Western Kingbird
Warblers
(36)
1. 35* West-central/central
Illinois 05/12/01 K.
Richmond
2. 34^ Northern/Southern
Illinois 05/19/86 D.Bohlen,J.Greenberg,V.Kleen,S.Robinson
3. 33# Southern
Illinois
05/12/95
T.Fink
4. 32 Chicago's
Jackson
Park 05/09/93
S.Suter
32 Mason County 05/08/93
L.Augustine,K.Richmond
32 Piatt County 05/08/93 R.Chapel
7. 30 Northeast
Illinois
05/13/89
R.Hughes,A.Sigler
8. 29 Northeast
Illinois 05/19/84
J.Greenberg,S.Mlodinow
29 Chicago Botanic Gardens 05/16/93
A.Anderson,C.Lee,S.Lee,W.Marcisz
10. 28 Cook County
05/09/93
A.Stokie
Key: * = missed Connecticut # = all
in
3.5 hours ^ = another 34 tally by R. Chapel is rumored