Wings noticeably long on perched bird. Where breeding is restricted to a region of the state, this is indicated by enclosed in parentheses a letter(s) indicated the region (e.g.
Tail is dark with white outer feathers. As it hops, it often flicks its tail from side to side.
Bill is moderately short, not as strongly curved as similar curlews. Eastern populations have seriously declined since the 1960s. Hovers over water before diving for prey at the surface. In Illinois impressive numbers of Canada geese fly overhead or feast in cornfields in October, November and December—if you look among the crowd you may find some snow geese, a few greater white-fronted geese, and even an occasional Ross’s goose. Feeds on insects, crustaceans, and invertebrates. Brewer's Sparrow: Medium sparrow with finely streaked gray-brown upperparts, pale eye-ring, dark moustache stripe, and plain, pale gray underparts. Black wings have large white shoulder patches. Its pale brown under wings are visible in flight. Many of the young warblers and shorebirds look different from their parents and many of the adult warblers have worn plumages—so identifying all these species in fall can be a challenge. North America's smallest goose. Split from Western Scrub-Jay into two species, the California Scrub-Jay and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay in 2016 by the American Ornithologist Union. Boreal Chickadee: Large chickadee, brown upperparts, dark brown cap, small black bib, gray face and neck, white cheek, rufous sides, white underparts. The eyes, bill, and legs of all morphs are yellow. Yellow-billed Loon: Large loon, white-spotted black upperparts, white underparts, gray sides with fine white spots. Forages in groung, low vegetation. Face has thick, black eye-line. White underwings contrast with dark brown body in flight. Fish Crow: Medium-sized crow with black body and dark, heavy bill. Female is olive-green above, with gray back and yellow underparts. Swift, graceful flight, alternates several rapid, deep wing beats with long curving glides. The tail and vent are white. Scott's Oriole: Medium-sized oriole with black hood extending onto breast and back. Bill, legs, feet are black.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher: Medium flycatcher with pale gray upperparts and head, white underparts and throat, salmon-pink sides and flanks, and dark brown wings with white edges. Wilson's Plover: Medium plover, gray-brown upperparts and cap. Direct flight with strong steady wing beats. Legs and feet are black. Rapid direct flight with strong wing beats.
Diet includes fish and small birds. ). Brown-headed Nuthatch: Medium nuthatch, gray upperparts, brown cap, small, white nape patch, dark eye-line, white face, buff underparts. Legs and feet are black. Legs are blue-gray.
Little Gull: The smallest of all gulls, with pale gray upperparts and white nape, neck, breast, belly, and tail.
It has a buoyant, graceful flight with steady wing beats. Black wings have white bars. Gray-red cheek patch. Dovekie: Small seabird with black upperparts and hood, white underparts, and stubby, black, sparrow-like bill. Short flights, alternates rapid wing beats with brief periods of wings pulled to sides. You might be surprised to discover that some of Illinois’ most popular birding destinations are found within the metropolis of Chicago. It has a heavy direct flight with strong wing beats.
Until the 1980's thought to be a pale morph of the Western Grebe. Wings are long and relatively pointed. Black Scoter: Medium diving duck, entirely black except for yellow knob at base of black bill.
Bill, legs, and feet are black. 1 Ruffed Grouse in NW Illinois may represent a remnant native population or wild dispersals from Wisconsin or Iowa. Parasitic Jaeger: The dark morph of this medium-sized jaeger has a brown body, darker cap and pale underwing patches near tips. Bill is bright yellow; legs and feet are orange. Hudsonian Godwit: Large sandpiper with white-scaled, brown-black upperparts, black-barred chestnut-brown underparts. Meanwhile, buff-breasted sandpipers are visiting sod farms in northern Illinois. Hovers before plunge diving for prey. Forages on ground and in trees and bushes. Violet-green Swallow: Small swallow, dark, metallic green upperparts, iridescent purple rump.
Head has black hood and throat, sharply contrasting white eyebrow and cheek stripe, and yellow spot in front of eye. It has gray upper wings, white-edged with white-spotted black tips. Broad white stripes on black wings are visible in flight. New subspecies range maps for this bird will be available in the next iBird update at which time we will retire the Thayer’s Gull as it’s own species. 7 The status of Accidental for Whooping Crane is based on records of naturally occurring birds. Often flies with feet trailing and dangling below. Ivory Gull: A pure white gull whose entire life is restricted to the edge of the floating pack ice.
Black tips on the primary feathers are only seen in flight. Soars on thermals and updrafts. Sandhill cranes are flying, too. Female lacks black head and throat, has brown streaked upperparts and buff streaked underparts.
Baird's Sandpiper: This medium-sized bird has scaled gray-brown upperparts, white underparts and a dark-spotted gray-brown breast. Sabine's Gull: Small gull with gray back and white nape, rump, and underparts. Eats mostly insects in the summer. Legs are extremely long and red-pink.
The belly and under tail coverts are white. Pacific Loon: This medium-sized loon has a black-and-white checkered back and white underparts. Female has gray-brown upperparts, white underparts with brown streaks, and a light to dark salmon colored belly and vent. Black head has two white facial stripes. Varied Thrush: Large thrush, dark gray upperparts, rust-brown throat, breast, sides, eyebrows, black breast band, and white belly and undertail. Sexes similar, but male is smaller with a brighter bill base. Ash-throated Flycatcher: Medium flycatcher with gray-brown upperparts, pale gray throat and breast, and gray-brown tail with rufous highlights. The wings are black with yellow shoulder patches and two white bars. Undertail coverts are white. Weak fluttering flight. Feeds higher on the beach than other plovers. Bill, legs, and feet are black. Strong steady flight with deep wing beats. It has a gray crown and nape, red eyes and a slender black bill. Crown is rufous, throat is white with black stripes, and bill is gray.
Hood is solid black and eye-ring is dark red. It has a steady direct flight with rapid wing beats. Bill, legs,feet are yellow. Eyes are red and bill is orange-red with black tip. Eye-ring is thin and white.
In flight it shows long pointed wings with black flight feathers and white wing linings. Tail is brown with white edges. On a given day, 10,000 shorebirds representing dozens of species may be feeding and resting at this national wildlife refuge. Recently there are regularly occurring records that involve individuals from the experimental migratory population. Direct flight with strong fast wing beats. Yellow crown is bordered by a wide black cap; cheek and collar are black. Legs and feet are blue-gray. Lark Bunting: Large sparrow, nearly black with large white wing patches, short, white-edged tail, and heavy, blue-gray bill. Dark-streaked, white throat bordered by dark necklace. Ross's Goose: Small, white goose with black primary feathers and stubby gray-based red-orange bill. Field guides, illustrations, and database Copyright © 2004 - 2013. Direct flight on shallow, steady wing beats. Direct flight; slow downward wing beat and a powerful flick on the upbeat. In addition, a population of African Collared-Doves (Streptopelia roseogrisea) has been present in the Joliet area since at least 19xx and dispersers from this population or other escapes have been recorded in most counties of northeastern Illinois. The bill is yellow and the legs and feet are black. Dark juvenile is darker overall; has gray throat and lacks white belly. Feeds on pine seeds, acorns, fruit, frogs, snakes, carrion, insects and eggs and young of other birds. Wings and tail are gray. Red-throated Loon: Small loon with scaled gray back and white underparts.
In August and September a hummingbird feeder will attract migrating ruby-throated hummingbirds, and dripping water will attract various warbler species, especially the more common ones like Tennessee warbler and yellow-rumped warbler. Tail has white edges, dark center and tip. Its plumage blends well among prairie grasses, making it difficult to spot.
The crown, face and neck are buff with fine brown streaks. Pink legs, feet. Long-toed Stint: Medium sandpiper, scaled, brown, black and rufous upperparts, white-sided rump, white underparts, black-spotted sides, upper breast. This goose has a pinkish orange bill, white forehead, dark body and bright orange feet. The female is dull brown with a white patch on the face at base of bill. It has a white-striped black crown. Wings and notched tail are dark.
Thayer's Gull: Having had full species status since 1973, as of 2017, the AOU considers this gull to be a subspecies of the Iceland Gull and has lumped it there. Bill, legs, and feet are gray. Bright red throat, breast is black, belly is yellow, and flanks are barred black-and-white. Swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings. Red-necked Grebe: This large grebe has dark gray upperparts and cap, white lower face and nape, white underparts with gray flanks, red-brown neck and dark brown eyes.
Walks on ground, wades in water to forage.
White-tailed Kite: Small hawk with gray upperparts, black shoulders, and white face and underparts. It has a swift, graceful flight, alternating several rapid shallow wing beats with a glide. Legs and feet are pink. Cave Swallow: Small swallow (Southwest pelodoma), with steel-blue upperparts, white underparts, rufous wash on breast and sides. Eats snails, insects, frogs, shrimp, small fish and birds, eggs and young of other birds, fruits, berries, seeds and grains. As the efforts to establish this population as self-sustaining have failed, the occurrence of individuals from it does not influence the species’ status in the state.
Sexes are similar. Direct flight with graceful, shallow wing beats. Feeds on insects, mollusks and crustaceans. Greater Pewee: Large, plump flycatcher, olive-gray upperparts, white throat, gray breast, pale yellow belly.
As of March 2020, there are 450 species and two species pairs included in the official list. Wings are dark with thin,white bars. 2. Eats grains, fruits, insects, frogs, lizards, and eggs and young of other birds. Legs and feet are black. Hood is black and extends onto upper neck. Female similar but lacks bright gorget. The crown and nape are pale blue; distinct bill is orange-red, sweeping upward into a large, orange basal knob outlined in black. Diet includes aquatic invertebrates. During spring migration, magnolia warblers zip through the eastern half of the U.S. on the way to their breeding grounds in Canada and in northern states like Minnesota and Wisconsin. Ross's Gull: The pink gull of the high Arctic. It eats fish, insects, lemmings and crustaceans, and is also an active scavenger. Undulating, with several rapid wingbeats and a pause. Tail is long and black with white corners. Strong direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Tail has white patches at the base. Bill Thompson, III (Editor) and Sheryl De Vore (Contributor), Introduction to Bird Watching in Illinois ». Gray-brown wings.
Feeds mostly on fish, some crustaceans and insects. Direct flight on deep wing beats. Bohemian Waxwing: Large waxwing with gray upperparts, pink-gray crest, black mask and chin, and gray underparts. Sexes are similar. Black bill is long and stout.
This list of birds of Illinois includes species documented in the U.S. state of Illinois and accepted by the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee (IORC). It eats a variety of plant species and parts, especially grasses, sedges, grain and berries.
Very similar to American Crow, but call is different.
Belly and rump are bright yellow. Cassin's Sparrow: Medium, skulking grassland sparrow, fine brown streaks on gray-brown head and back, buff underparts.