The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 10 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. IORC accepted seven of these records and did not accept three.

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

• White-winged Dove, 18-21 April 2023, Bloomington, McLean County (2023-011; Beverly Beauford; Michael McKinley).
• Limpkin, 12 April 2023, Kaskaskia River valley south-southwest of Vandalia, Fayette County (2023-008; Tyler Kimes).
• Limpkin, 3 May 2023, Mermet Lake, Massac County (2023-015; Matt Eisenhauer).
• Snowy Plover, 16 May 2023, Montrose Point in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, Cook County (2023-018; Tarik Shazad, Simon Tolzmann).
• Ruff, 14-29 April 2023, eastern Boone County north of Garden Prairie and southern McHenry County north of Huntley (2023-009; Dan Williams; Vicki Buchwald, Michal Furmanek, Geoffrey A. Williamson).
• Kirtland’s Warbler, 7 May 2023, Chicago Botanic Gardens, Glencoe, Cook County (2023-014; Anna Tendero; Andrea Tolzmann).
• Townsend’s Warbler, 27 April 2023, Big Marsh, Chicago, Cook County (2023-012; Raymond Huey).

Records Not Accepted

• Eastern Wood-Pewee, 10 January 2023, Brownstown, Fayette County (2023-007).
• Great-tailed Grackle, 12 May 2023, Hartford, Madison County (2023-017).
• MacGillivray’s Warbler, 2 September 2021, Forbes State Park, Marion County (2021-125).

The record of Crested Caracara from Fulton County in February 2023 (2023-004), recently accepted, is the first accepted record of this species for Illinois. This is the 455th species on the official Illinois State List of Birds.

Crested Caracara, 10 Feb 2023 in Fulton County. Photo by Leroy Harrison

This individual was initially found by Kevin Blodgett on 4 Feb 2023 at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge and was observed again by him and Randy Smith on the 6th. It was last seen in the area on 10 Feb 2023. IORC is aware of anecdotal reports that possibly indicate the bird’s presence near this area in early January 2023, but not verifiable details were received by IORC.

The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) recently concluded evaluations of 10 records of the occurrence of rare birds in Illinois. IORC accepted nine of these records and did not accept one.

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

• Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, 12-17 December 2022, Bloomington, McLean County (2022-089; Ryan Johnson; Wes Kolb, Charlotte Pavelka).
• Eurasian Wigeon, 11-17 November 2022, Mirador subdivision ponds, Kane County (2022-075; Kevin Hatcher, Vince Moxon; Scott Cohrs, Graham Deese, Haley Gottardo, Greg Jerzyk, Mike Losacco, Eric Secker, Katharine Spencer, Michael Warner).
• Mountain Plover, 24 and 28 April 2010, east of Arcola, Douglas County (2010-033; Greg Lambeth).
• Ross’s Gull, 11-15 March 2023, Lake Michigan lakefront in southeast Chicago, Cook County (2023-005; Robert D. Hughes, Henry Meade, Geoffrey A. Williamson). Found by Dan Lory.
• Crested Caracara, 4-10 February 2023, Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge and areas west of there, Fulton County (2023-004; Kevin Douglas Blodgett; Pete Fenner, C. Leroy Harrison, Frank Holmes, David B. Johnson, Scott Latimer, John Longhenry, Fran Morel, Jeff Skrentny, Randy Smith, Craig Taylor). First state record.
• Say’s Phoebe, 11-19 March 2023, Muirhead Springs Forest Preserve, Kane County (2023-006; Walt Lutz; Geoffrey A. Williamson).
• Bohemian Waxwing, 7-8 January 2023, Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park, Stephenson County (2023-002; Ryan Jones, Dan Williams). Found by Andy Sigler.
• Evening Grosbeak, 6-19 January 2023, Rockford, Winnebago County (2023-001; Dan Williams).
• Great-tailed Grackle, 15 January to 8 April 2023 (and possibly later), Monee, Will County and Richton Park, Cook County (2023-004; Lydia Pultorak; Diane Hicks).

Records Not Accepted

• Bewick’s Wren, 4 June 2022, Hennepin Canal lock 21, Bureau County (2022-079).

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.

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).

At its 14 January 2023 annual meeting, the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC) removed Evening Grosbeak from the Review List.

The Review List consists of all bird forms for which IORC reviews all records (possibly excepting records from specified areas for some forms). It includes all species of Casual, Accidental, or Accidental (provisional) status; first state nesting records for a species; as well as such other forms as IORC decides upon.

In February 2020, IORC assessed the status of all species on the Illinois State List of Birds and made adjustments as appropriate. As a consequence of that review, the status of Evening Grosbeak moved from Regular (at least eight records in the past ten years) to Casual (at least six records in the state and three to seven records in the past ten years) on the basis of fewer than eight Evening Grosbeak records over the prior 10 year period. Then, of course, came the winter of 2020-21, during which Illinois was awash in Evening Grosbeaks. During the winter of 2021-22, there were only a few records of the species, but during the current 2022-23 winter, many Evening Grosbeaks again moved into our state. With regular occurrence once again established for Evening Grosbeak, IORC removed the species from the Review List.

The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee, or IORC, is the committee of the Illinois Ornithological Society that evaluates records of rare birds and maintains the official Illinois State List of Birds, among other activities. We operate as a seven person unit, consisting of an annually elected Secretary and six members who are elected to staggered three-year terms. One of the members serves as the committee’s Vice-Secretary.

At the end of each year, two of the staggered three-year member terms comes to a close. This year, the memberships of Walter Marcisz and Paul Sweet ended. Both individuals were serving a second consecutive three-year term, and IORC’s bylaws mandates that such individuals must step off IORC before becoming eligible to serve again. IORC has been fortunate: not only have both Walter and Paul consistently provided expert commentary on rarity records, they have each contributed to the work of IORC in other ways.

Walter Marcisz served on IORC from 2017 through 2022. During that time, he helped to smooth the interaction between IORC and eBird, and he contributed greatly in identifying and recruiting new members for service on IORC. His evaluations of records were always thorough and typically included thoughtful and informative commentary. His voice in deliberations will be missed.

Paul Sweet is one of the longest serving IORC members over its entire history. He has been active on IORC in one form or another since 2005, including a number of three-year terms as a voting member, broken up by a multi-year stint of service as the IORC secretary. He further served for five years as vice-secretary of IORC. Paul also chaired a Bylaws Subcommittee for IORC, leading a significant revision of IORC’s operating procedures over the course of several years. In addition, Paul served as chair of the Archives Subcommittee, substantively advancing that subcommittee’s efforts to make more broadly available the variety of materials in IORC’s archives as well as to set standards for materials to archive for present-day records, including those that come to IORC via eBird. Thank you, Paul, for all your contributions!

Replacing Walter and Paul on IORC are Steve Huggins and Dan Williams, each elected to a three-year term as a voting member. Steve Huggins began birding at the age of four in his native England, and developed rigorous skills in the British birding scene. He has traveled broadly throughout the world on quests for birds and has seen about a half of the world’s species. He is well-known in Illinois as an accomplished birding and nature guide based in Chicago. Dan Williams has been a nature and bird enthusiast from an early age. Since the early 1970s he has been a advocate for conservation in the Rockford area and has contributed much energy to foster an appreciation of nature. The leadership positions he has held in local, state, and national organizations are too numerous to list here, but among those fortunate to have benefitted from his involvement are the North Central Illinois Ornithological Society, the Illinois Audubon Society, the Sinnissippi, the Burpee Museum of Natural History, and the Natural Land Institute. He was president of the American Birding Association from 1993 to 1997. He is a keen observer with a deep knowledge of the birds of Illinois, the United States, and through his extensive travels, the world.

The roster of IORC members for 2023 are the following individuals:

• Geoff Williamson (secretary)
• Steve Huggins
• Davida Kalina
• Adam Sell (vice-secretary)
• Terry Walsh
• Kyle Wiktor
• Dan Williams