IORC Update, 25 Feb 2023: Records Reviewed

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The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 15 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. IORC accepted 11 of these records and did not accept four.

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.

This Prairie Falcon, photographed by Paul Sweet at Illinois Beach State Park on 18 Nov 2022, represents one of three accepted Prairie Falcon records in this update.

Records Accepted

  • Rufous Hummingbird, 22-27 October 2022, Davis, Stephenson County (2022-082; Vernon Kleen).
  • Rufous Hummingbird, 30 October to 21 November 2022, Sorento, Bond County (2022-081; Vernon Kleen).
  • Parasitic Jaeger, 14 November 2022, Winthrop Harbor, Lake County (2022-077; Randall Wade).
  • Merlin (breeding record), 9 April to 8 July 2022, Belvidere, Boone County (2022-078; Joel Neylon).
  • Prairie Falcon, 25 October 2022 to 19 February 2023 (and possibly later), southeast of Arcola in Coles County (2022-086; Ron Bradley; D. Brewer, Amy Lynch, Andrea Tolzmann).
  • Prairie Falcon, 18 November 2022, Illinois Beach State Park (North Unit), Lake County (2022-076; Paul Sweet).
  • Prairie Falcon, 14 December 2022, Horseshoe Lake State Park, Madison County (2022-087; Frank Holmes).
  • Cave Swallow, 19 November 2022, Ft. Sheridan Forest Preserve, Lake County (2022-080; Lisa Maier).
  • Evening Grosbeak, 24 October 2022, Geneva, Kane County (2022-063; Scott Cohrs).
  • Evening Grosbeak, 26 October 2022, Kress Creek Farms Park, DuPage County (2022-064; Haley Gottardo).
  • Ovenbird, 18 December 2022, Hidden Lake Forest Preserve, DuPage County (2022-085; John Leonard).

Records Not Accepted

  • Parasitic Jaeger, 11 May 2019, Horseshoe Lake State Park, Madison County (2019-085).
  • White-faced Ibis, 16 October 2022, McGinnis Slough, Cook County (2022-061).
  • Prairie Falcon, 15 December 2022, Walnut, Bureau County (2022-088).
  • Pine Grosbeak, 12 November 2022, Winthrop Harbor, Lake County (2022-074).
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