I . ,I I owl A JOURNAL (JF lLLif\JOIS BffiDS Volume 21, Number 3 2012 ·' ILLINOIS ORNITHOLOGICAL SocIETY President's Message The Illinois Spring Bird Count Where were you on May 6, 1972? That was the first (official) Spring Bird Count here in Illinois - though a 'trial run' count had actually th been conducted almost a year earlier, on May g , 1971. From thal Publisher beginning, the SBC goal has been to get birders to cover every one Illinois Ornithological Society of the 102 counties in our great state, counting the migrants and the President returning resident breeding species. ·. Robert Fisher Ably coordinated by Vern Kleen over a substantial chunk of those Vice President 40 plus years (THANKS, VERN!), doing the Spring Count has Urs Geiser been a fixture in the lives of many members of the Illinois birding Treasurer community. Karen and I participated in our first Count in 1976 here in Alex Meloy DuPage County; I was the driver and Karen tallied as we wound our Recording Secretary way through the streets of Downers Grove eventually recording just Denis Bohm under 800 birds of 36 different species. Our highlight was two Gray­ Membership Secretary cheeked Thmshes! Looking backward with a somewhat jaundiced eye, Barbara Williams I wonder if they weren't Uusl) SwainSon's. Chief Editor The SBC results provide powerful statistics on population trends by Sheryl DeVore species, range changes over time, and a host of other useful information Past President on the state of the birds here in Illinois - like the impressive increase Jenny Vogt in the numbers of Cooper's Hawks as they populate the suburbs and residential areas across the state, or the explosive growth of Blue-gray Board of Directors Gnatcatchers (at one time a fairly rare SBC bird, especially in the Amar Ay yash northern half of Illinois, now seemingly everywhere there's suitable Tara Beveroth habitat for this diminutive woodland species). The data has also Joan Bruchman delineated the declines of three species once more common in Illinois Josh Engel they are today: Ring-necked Pheasants (a victim of changes in Matt Fraker than agricultural practices, especially the elimi:nalion of hedgerows), Red­ Bob Fisher headed Woodpeckers, and Bewick's Wrens, a species disappearing Urs Geiser from much of i Sl'ang in the eastern USA. Matt McKim-Louder .t e Barbara Williams Vernretired as statewide compiler after the 2009 SBC; Tara Beveroth, Avian Field Specialist forINHS and IOS Board member, took over for Associate Editors Vern in this important job, beginning in 2010. The transition has been Steven D. Bailey very seamless, and the longstanding question of where and how to JefferyWalk store the ULinois SBC database has been resolved. Implemented by Tara and her !NHS colleagues, the entire database is being stored at Photo Editor the Midwest Avian Data Center: http://data.prbo.org/partners/mwadc/. Steven D. Bailey Stay tuned; complete public access to this 40+ year history is StaffIllustrators coming soon on the MADC website. And if you attended the recent Peter Olson Gull Frolic, you also heard from Tara about the other substantive Michael P. Retter change to the SBC. Begimring in 2013, two day i11 early May will be Barbara Williams scheduled for the Count. lt's always been a .struggle fo get coverage Pre-Press Production in all Ulinois counties - the population center counties attract large 1mmbers of the l tl , sometimes no coverage Kathy Ade birders, n.u·al counties get it e at all. By sw.ftch.ing to two day format, dedica�ed SBCers will [email protected] the have the opportunity to count in their home patch on one day, and then help Printing count in an underbirded county the next! I can't wait! CityWide Printing, Des Plaines, Illinois Robert Fisher MEADOWLARI( A JOURNAL OF }LLJNOIS BIRDS Volume 21, Number 3 - 2012 JSSN 1065-2043 Visit Our Website at: http://www.illinoisbirds.org Articles -------------- Illinois's record irruption of Snowy Owls 74 during the winter of 2011/2012 with notes on historical distribution Letter from the Editor - David B. Johnson Last winter season, birders witnessed a record irrup­ sampling of Snowy Owl pellet contents tion of Snowy Owls in Illinois - and we've got a list of A 84 every, if not nearly every Snowy seen in our state right during winter 2011/2012 here in the pages of Meadowlark. David B . .lohnson, a - Joshua Engel I. fellow birder and friend, wrote a spectacular article with accompanying rabies and histograms regarding this great ----------­ year for an uncommon winter visitor. Photographers were Photo Gallery out in full force Laking pictures of the owls as far south A Snowy Owl Extravaganza 85 as Pulaski County. Associate and Photo Editor Steven D. Bailey gathered all these photos and gained permis­ sion from the photographers to publish them here in Departments Meadowlark. The photographers are commended for their The 2011/2012 Christmas Bird Count 89 stunning images of owls posing, behaving and interacting with other birds. Meanwhile Barbara Williams crafted - Paul W. Sweet another of her great cover drawings to introduce readers to what they'll find in the issue. And Board Member Josh Field Notes: Winter Season 2011/2012 99 Engel of The Field Museum examined some Snowy Owl - Kelly J. McKay and Steven D. Bailey pellets to see what they were eating, then wrote a piece about it for this issue as well. We added four extra pages to get the terrific images in, as well as the Christmas Bird Count and the Winter field notes. This issue has been a long time corning - we've had to work hard to get all the many details, including all the photographers' names, right, along with dates and places About Our Cover: seen. IOS Board Member and Membership Secretary Barbara From the editorial staff, we hope you will enjoy this Williams created this issue's cover of a Snowy Owl. Barbara special issue, a lasting legacy to the Snowy Owl invasion has been a devoted student of natural history for many years of2011/2012. We also have it in digital format to be saved and has been a birder since she saw her first Scarlet Tanager for perpetuity. at the age of 4. She ran the biology department at the Coming next issue: Dave Johnson's article on a Black­ Burpee Musuem ofNatural History for 13 years. throaled Blue Warbler in Chicago during winter, Jeff She lives in Rockford with her husband, Daniel. Smith's article on finding eight owl species in one day Both are dedicated volunteers for IOS. in Illinois, and, Lhe Illinois Statewide Spring Bird Count report from last season. Thanks to all our members for supporting IOS to make issues like these become reality. Copyright©20 J by the Illinois Ornithological Society. 3 Above: No part ofthis journal may be reproduced without the written Sn011".J' Ovvl ivith American Cmn·: permission of IOS and the chief editor, except brief passages Northerly Island, Chicago, Cook County. of a paragraph or less in which attribution is made to the 29 January 20 I 2. Photo by Richard Remington. journaland author. Vo lume 21, Number 3 73 In many natural objects, Illinois's Record whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if Irruption of Snowy imparting some special virtue of its own, as in Owls during the marbles, japonicas, and winter of pearls ... that as in essence 2011/2012 whiteness is not so much a with notes on color as the visible absence of color, and at the same historical time the concrete of all colors; is iffor these reasons distribution that there is such a dumb blankness, fitll of meaning, By David B. Jo hnson in a wide landscape of snows ... - Herman Melville, MobyDick Across lllinois during the fall, ncdc.noaa.gov/). Illinois's irruption was an aircraft strike of a bird at winter and spring of 2011/2012 was "just part of the iceberg," so O'Hare International Airport on 11 observers, birders, raptor rehabilita­ to speak, being part of a continent November 2011. On 19 November tors, scientists and the general public wide Snowy Owl irruption, massive at Montrose beach and fishhook pier were amazed at the extent to which in scope across the North American in Chicago, Cook County birders Snowy Owls irrupted into the state. continent west to east and as far south observed two Snowy Owls having Articles and photographs of Snowy as Texas (Dolan 2012) and even as flown in off Lake Michigan. Before Owls made front covers of Illinois far flung as Honolulu, Hawaii, a this and through the end of fall the newspapers (DeVore 201 1), televi­ first ever record for Hawaii (ebird stage had already been set for a major sion stations ran special newscasts 2012). For all of the participants who irruption. In Canada in southern about the irruption, and birders were ventured out to witness this record Ontario by mid-November Snowy often treated to multiple sightings of irruption in Illinois and elsewhere - it Owls were showing up at many Snowy Owls throughout Illinois. The was truly impressive. (See Figure l locations with 14 Snowy Owls at huge extent of this most recent record and Table 1) Nittishi Point on 9 November being 2011/2012 invasion of 133 sightings The first Snowy Owl recorded in a peak tally in the massive fall move­ or detections in 34 counties in Illinois Illinois during the 2011/12 season ment (Bain 2012), and in southern was, no doubt, bolstered by the ebird Manitoba the owls were widespread. contributions of citizen scientists Just to the north, multiple Snowy (in most cases experienced birders), Owls were noted in 27 Minnesota other birding forums, the Christmas counties, 37 Wisconsin counties and Bird Count database (a color pho­ 24 Michigan counties by the end of tograph of a Snowy Owl graced the fall season in the Western Great the cover of the 112th CBC issue, Lakes region (Svingen 2012), while LeBaron 2012) and the increased a large irruption in the Dakotas was interest in owls bolstered by the well unde1way.