IORC Update, 29 May 2021: Records Reviewed

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The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 26 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. Among these, IORC accepted 22 of the records while not accepting 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.

Records Accepted

  • Common Ground-Dove, 23 November 2020, south of Martinsville, Clark County (2020-085; Steven Lima).
  • Snowy Plover, 4-7 May 2020, east of Woodson, Morgan County (2020-086; Colin Dobson).
  • Snowy Plover, 31 May 2020, Chestnut, Logan County (2020-087; Colin Dobson).
  • Purple Sandpiper (1 to 2), 6-19 December 2020, Waukegan, Lake County (2020-093; Dan Williams).
  • Parasitic Jaeger, 17 September 2020, Chicago’s Burnham Park, Cook County (2020-048; Jacob Drucker).
  • Parasitic Jaeger, 18-26 September 2020, Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2020-089; Colin Dobson).
  • Long-tailed Jaeger, 24-25 October 2020, Carlyle Lake, Clinton County (2020-100; Nathan Goldberg; C. Leroy Harrison, Ted Wolff).
  • Little Gull, 16-29 June 2019, Illinois River floodplain, Woodford County (2019-022; ).
  • California Gull, 19 July 2020 to 10 February 2021, Lake Springfield, Sangamon County (2020-027; Colin Dobson).
  • Neotropic Cormorant, 12 April 2020, Big Lake, Brown County (2020-088; Colin Dobson).
  • White-faced Ibis, 7-18 October 2020, Bailey Wetland, Richland County and Wayne County (2020-099; C. Leroy Harrison).
  • Black Vulture (4), 15 December 2020, east of Sam Parr State Park, Jasper County (2020-095; Bob Shelby).
  • Ash-throated Flycatcher, 30 October 2020, East Fork Lake, Richland County (2020-064; C. Leroy Harrison; Gary Bowman, Nathan Goldberg, Bob Shelby).
  • Great Kiskadee, 29 November to 13 December 2020, near the Widewaters area of the Des Plaines River, Will County (2020-091; John C. Weisgerber; Gioseppe Cesolini, John Heneghan, Tamima Itani, Geoffrey A. Williamson). First state record.
  • Hoary Redpoll, 18 November 2020, Kennekuk Cove County Park, Vermilion County (2020-090; Colin Dobson).
  • Hoary Redpoll, 8 December 2020, Chicago’s Jackson Park, Cook County (2020-094; Randy Shonkwiler).
  • White-winged Crossbill, 23 November 2020, Rockford, Winnebago County (2020-092; Dan Williams).
  • White-winged Crossbill (1 to 10), 10-26 December 2020, Hampton, Rock Island County (2020-098; Steve Freed; Dan Williams).
  • Kentucky Warbler, 13 December 2020, Waukegan, Lake County (2020-101; Peter Weber).
  • Western Tanager, 8-9 May 2019, Buffalo Park Forest Preserve, Kane County (2019-077; Eric Secker).
  • Western Tanager, 9 May 2019, Chicago’s Grant Park, Cook County (2019-076; Ann Haverstock).
  • Western Tanager, 12-17 December 2020, Channahon, Will County and 19-20 December 2020, Minooka, Grundy County (2020-097; Dan Williams, Geoffrey A. Williamson).

Records Not Accepted

  • Barrow’s Goldeneye, 28 November 2020, Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, Putnam County (2020-096).
  • Glossy Ibis, 22-30 September 2020, Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area, Grundy County (2020-059).
  • Palm Warbler (Yellow), 9 November 2020, Hickory Creek Preserve, Will County (2020-071).
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