December 2018

Important IOS President’s Message and Membership Survey

Meadowlark Covers over the Years
Meadowlark Covers over the Years

The Illinois Ornithological Society (IOS) has been going strong for more than 25 years, long before I first raised my binoculars in the prairie state. IOS was founded by a group of like minded individuals who shared a common goal of wanting to document the status and distribution of our birds. At the time of its inception, IOS filled a niche, creating a statewide organization that could galvanize a broader birding community. The medium, which they chose to document bird life, we know now as the venerable, Meadowlark, a scientific journal that has provided engaging content, beautiful locally sourced artwork and photos, thorough seasonal field notes from contributors across the state, as well as avian research articles from IOS grants recipients.

The effort it takes to produce one issue of Meadowlark is vast. Countless hours are spent by a few dedicated volunteers chasing articles and photos, compiling seasonal data, and laying out the publication. Because of a limited number of resources and the substantial amount of time it takes to produce seasonal field notes from an explosion of data in recent years, we have fallen well behind our desired publishing schedule. On top of this, we recently accepted the resignation of our talented editor, Sheryl DeVore, along with field notes editors, David Johnson and Steve Bailey. All of them are long time volunteers with IOS and we wouldn’t be where we are today without their considerable efforts. We thank them for their service and will miss them greatly.

I would be lying if I said the future of the magazine were anything but uncertain at this time. Have you ever heard of the saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it?” Well, that has been the case for many years with IOS. We have continued to rely on a small pool of dedicated volunteers to produce this journal that are now no longer available. If we’d like to see the journal continue in its current form, we need to assemble a new staff of invigorated volunteers. IOS needs you to help us fill that void now. Until we have the right people on staff and a plan to go forward, I regret to tell you that MEADOWLARK PUBLISHING WILL BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.

The IOS Board is hard at work evaluating all of our programs including Meadowlark and putting together plans to take this organization forward. Everything is on the table and we would love your input on how best to proceed. After all, this is a membership organization and every voice counts. To that end, we implore you to COMPLETE OUR MEMBERSHIP SURVEY. It will only take 5-10 minutes of your time and will provide us valuable insight.

In my next communication to you, I hope to have some resolution to this issue. In the meantime, if you have an interest in joining our team, contact us and get involved today. I promise that you won’t regret it.

Matthew Cvetas
IOS President

2018 Grants Summary: The Century Mark!

This year we surpassed 100 grants given out to support a wide variety of bird-related research and conservation projects! A total of 103 grants totaling $90,564 have been awarded since the program’s inception, through this year.

One of IOS’s objectives is “To promote scientific research and education in order to improve knowledge and awareness of birds in Illinois”. The IOS Grants Program was initiated several years ago to support this objective with funding.

The 2018 IOS Grants Program received nine requests for funding, representing a notably diverse set of study goals. The IOS review team evaluated each proposal, and determined that all were suitable for funding within the scope of that key objective described above. In addition to money provided directly by IOS, donations by four organizations and many individuals made it possible for all of the 2018 grant requests to be fully funded.

Sponsor Organizations:
Chicago Ornithological Society
DuPage Birding Club
Lake-Cook Audubon
Kane County Audubon

Individual Sponsors:
Paula Aschim
Denis Bohm
Margie and Alan Busic
Donnie Dann
Sonia Da Silva
Daniel Daubach
Glenna Eaves
Joyce Gettleman
Tamima Itani
Janice Knight
Katy Krigbaum
Rosemary McLeod
Sue Roellig
Marsha Steffen

Thanks to you all! Without the generosity of these organizations and IOS members and friends in the bird conservation community, IOS would not be able to support these projects. The support exemplified by this funding sends an important message to these students and researchers: We believe in your work, and we care about the future of our state’s bird life!

Thanks to John Andrews and Scott Meister for reviewing and evaluating all the requests.

Congratulations to the grant recipients! Watch for their project articles in future issues of Meadowlark and watch for short summaries on the IOS website. Here’s a synopsis of the 2018 grants. Where noted, individuals and organizations targeted those grants for their donations.

Recipient Affiliation Project Fully Sponsored by
Luke Malanchuk University of Illinois Abundance and Distribution of Shorebirds in the Illinois River Valley, and Stopover Ecology of Pectoral Sandpipers (Calidris melanotos) in East-Central Illinois. Chicago Ornithological Society
Benton Hendrickson Southern Illinois University Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Selection of Breeding Mississippi (Ictinia mississippiensis) in Southern Illinois Dupage Birding Club
Abigail Danner Monmouth College Do Northern Cardinals and American Goldfinches Use Non-Visual Cues to Determine the Carotenoid Content of a Potential Food Source? Individual Sponsors and IOS
Daniel Goldberg Illinois State University Acoustic and Behavioral Monitoring of Threatened and Declining Rails in Illinois through Call-Playback Surveys and Autonomous Recorders Dupage Birding Club
Krti Tallam University of Illinois Impacts of Human Disturbance on American Robin Incubation Individual Sponsors and IOS
Todd Jones University of Illinois Do pre- to post-fledging carryover effects drive patterns of differential post-fledging survival in altricial songbirds? Individual Sponsors and IOS
Kayce Miller DePaul University Problem-solving performance of songbirds in urban and rural environments Lake-Cook Audubon
Alex Glass Southern Illinois University Responses in grassland bird productivity to habitat structure, management actions, and grassland community dynamics Individual Sponsors and IOS
Shelby Lawson University of Illinois Exploring the Perceptual and Neural Basis of Functional Reference Signaling in Yellow Warblers Individual Sponsors and IOS

A few 2018 research highlights!

For Luke Malanchuk’s project, VHF transmitters are attached to Pectoral Sandpipers and American Golden-Plovers, in spring, to look at stopover duration and habitat use in the agriculturally dominated landscape of east-central Illinois.
Luke Malanchuk’s project uses five aerial surveys, conducted in both spring and fall, to look at abundance and distribution of shorebirds in the Illinois River Valley, telemetry of Pectoral Sandpipers and American Golden-Plovers in east-central Illinois is conducted in spring.
Field Sparrow nest with newly-hatched nestlings. A big part of Alex’s project is searching for grassland songbird nests and monitoring them to determine success Photo taken just after finding the nest.
Alex Glass holds a prairie kingsnake. Alex surveys for snakes to determine nest predator activity on different grassland patches and how they may respond to land management actions, as well as influence grassland bird nest success.
Abigail Danner’s project uses bird-cams to study diet choice in songbirds. Blue Jay pictured.
Abigail Danner’s project using bird-cams to study diet choice in songbirds. Black-capped Chickadee and Northern Cardinal pictured.
Kayce Miller fills her bird feeder to attract birds to her experiment on problem-solving in birds.
Kayce Miller sets up a motion-activated camera for her experiment on problem-solving in birds.
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