January 2024

IORC Update, 12 January 2024

The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 20 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. IORC accepted 19 of these records and did not accept one. Among the accepted records are two additions to the official state list: Broad-tailed Hummingbird and European Goldfinch. Broad-tailed Hummingbird was accepted on the basis of an individual observed in Champaign County during November. European Goldfinch was accepted based on an argument that this introduced exotic species is now established with a viable breeding population in the state.

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

  • Cinnamon Teal, 14 October 2023, Lake Springfield, Sangamon County (2023-096; H. David Bohlen).
  • Broad-tailed Hummingbird, 7-10 November 2023, Champaign, Champaign County (2023-087; Deanna Uphoff; Nathan Goldberg, C. Leroy Harrison, Yusuf Jassim, David B. Johnson, Alyssa Rod, Steve Zehner). First state record.
  • Purple Gallinule, 5 November 2023, Chicago, Cook County (2023-089).
  • Limpkin, mid-May 2023, Springfield, Sangamon County (2023-094; Paul Countryman).
  • Limpkin, late October to 26 November 2023, Lockport, Will County (2023-095; Cindy Alberico, Nancy Buis, Ryan Jones, Jayne Leone).
  • Limpkin, 6-7 November 2023, Chicago, Cook County (2023-088).
  • Limpkin, 11-12 November 2023, Riverview Farmstead Preserve, Will County (2023-091; Sajo Naik).
  • Limpkin, 11-27 November 2023, Oswego, Kendall County (2023-097; Ingrid Croall, Jackson Croall).
  • Limpkin, 13-19 November 2023, East Fork Lake, Richland County (2023-102; C. Leroy Harrison).
  • Limpkin, 16 November 2023, Carpenter-Gurgens Park, Springfield, Sangamon County (2023-093; Joe Coffey).
  • Limpkin, 23 November to 2 December 2023, along Fox River in Oswego, Kendall County (2023-106; Scott Johnson).
  • Limpkin, 3 December 2023, Lake Petersburg, Menard County (2023-104; Jim Herkert).
  • Limpkin, 11-12 December 2023, Poplar Creek Forest Preserve, Cook County (2023-107; Katie Scott; Lisa Pool).
  • Pomarine Jaeger, 11 November to 6 December 2023, Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2023-090; Dan Kassebaum; Nathan Goldberg, C. Leroy Harrison, Ryan Jones, Alyssa Rod, Bode Thompson).
  • Ferruginous Hawk, 6-7 November 2023, Chicago, Cook County (2023-086; Santo Locasto; Aaron Gyllenhaal).
  • Prairie Falcon, 6 December 2023, Fairmont City, St. Clair County (2023-105; Stacia Novy).
  • Great Crested Flycatcher, 23-24 November 2023, Mt. Morris, Ogle County (2023-098; Mary Bacon; Dan Williams).
  • European Goldfinch, 7 June 2021, Waukegan, Lake County (2021-043; Danielle Leone). First state record.
  • Great-tailed Grackle, 26 November 2023, Belleville, St. Clair County (2023-103; Josh Carter).

Records Not Accepted

  • Red-shouldered Hawk (extimus), 4 August 2023, Pyramid State Park, Perry County (2023-041).

IOS Speaker Series: The Finch Research Network presents “Hawaiian Honeycreepers and the Conservation Crisis – Past, Present, and Future”

Wednesday, January 24th at 7:00pm

Click here to register.

Hawaiian Honeycreepers and the Conservation Crisis – Past, Present and Future

A group of rose finches from central Asia migrated over the Pacific Ocean, thus irrupting, as finches tend to do, 6,000 miles, landing on Hawaii more than 5 million years ago. This may have happened a few times. These finches found unique foods and habitats, and they adaptively radiated to dozens of species. This is similar to the story of Darwin’s finches, and these rose finches adaptively radiated into more 50 new species that exploited these food resources. 

After settlers arrived, rats, cats, pigs, mongooses, invasive plants, diseases, and the most current threat, mosquitos carrying avian malaria, were introduced. From a high of 53-56 species, now only 16 remain. New efforts are being done to help the last remaining species. 

The Finch Research Network and The Honeycreepers Project

Matt Young, FiRN Founder and Executive Director
Matt has been observing and enjoying nature since a very young age. He’s lived in Central New York for 26+ years and it was during this time when he really started studying everything from birds to orchids, and bogs and fens. Matt received his B.S. in Water Resources with a minor in Meteorology from SUNY-Oneonta and his M.S. in Ornithology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry/Syracuse University in 2003. Matt did his masters research on avian diversity in restored wetlands of central New York at the Great Swamp Conservancy. He was a Regional Editor of the Kingbird for 10 years, the state ornithological journal in New York, was an Adjunct Professor in Environmental Studies at SUNY-Cortland, and currently teaches an Intro to Birding class for Cornell University and was the Board Chair at The Wetland Trust.

Over the last 26 years he’s worked as a social worker (and is currently) with special needs young adults and adolescents for close to 12 years, and worked at the Cornell Lab across 15+ years where he did extensive field work for the Lab’s Cerulean and Golden-winged Warblers atlas projects, and was project lead on the Lab’s first Finch Irruptive Bird Survey for Bird Source in 1999. He was the Collections Management Leader/Audio Engineer at the Macaulay Library ~12 years where he edited sounds for several Merlin packs around the world in addition to being the lead audio engineer on guides, the Songs of the Warblers of North America, Audubon Society Voices of Hawaii’s Birds, and the Cornell Lab’s Guides to Bird Sounds, the North America Master and Essential Sets. He’s been a tour guide leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, written finch species accounts for breeding bird atlases and Birds of the World, and has published several papers about the Red Crossbill vocal complex including describing a new call type Type 12. He’s currently working on Finches of United States and Canada with Lillian Stokes and is also the President and Founder of the Finch Research Network (FiRN).

Nathan Goldberg, FiRN Hawaiian Honeycreeper Project Lead
Nathan Goldberg is a graduate of Cornell University, and a tour leader and guide for the Red Hill Birding team. He is an avid birder for over a decade and from the Chicagoland region. In 2020, he set the Illinois Big Year record, seeing 341 species over the course of the year. After leading a trip in Hawaii in 2021 he reached out to Matt to get involved in helping raise awareness around the conservation crisis in Hawaii.

To learn more about the Honeycreepers Project, click here.

Click here to register.

2023 Grants Summary

This year we were able to fund 3 grant proposals! This brings the total to 133 grants and over $120,500 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 2022 IOS Grants Program received ten 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 2023 grant requests to be fully funded.

Sponsor Organizations:
DuPage Birding Club
Illinois Audubon Society
Lake-Cook Audubon Society
Illinois Ornithological Society

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 Leonard 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 2023 grants. Where noted, individuals and organizations targeted those grants for their donations.

Recipient Affiliation Project  
Abhay Agarwal Sanctuary for the Skies Sanctuary For The Skies  
Avery Dart Illinois State University Effects of extra-pair paternity on provisioning effort and nest defense in male house wrens (Troglodytes aedon)  
Adrianna Yoder DePaul University Habitat Characteristics & Seasonality of Red-headed Woodpecker Cavity Use  
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