Family Sturnidae
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Status and abundance: Common to abundant year-round resident.
Habitat: Nearly ubiquitous. Most common in residential areas and around farms. Generally not found within the largest forest tracts in the Shawnee Hills.
Records and remarks: Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s and spread to Illinois by 1922 (Ford 1956, Bohlen 1978). Large flocks migrate through southern Illinois in fall and early spring. They often join other blackbird species. Very large roosts are common during winter, especially near strip mines where birds roost in dense tree stands and dense marsh grasses. Spring migration is most noticeable from late February through March, but fall migration is spread out over many weeks. The first autumnal migration is the formation of flocks of juveniles in their gray plumage during June and July. They are joined by adults in September and October, sometimes later. Starlings begin nesting in February and may raise as many as three broods during a summer. They compete for nest cavities with bluebirds and woodpeckers
and will readily nest in nest boxes. Few observers pay them much attention, because of the stigma attached to Starlings as an introduced species. Yet, their range expansion across North America and spectacular adaptation to landscapes so drastically modified by humans is fascinating.
Documentation: Specimen—ad. male, near Old DuQuoin, Perry Co., 10 Oct 1967 (SIU A-1597).
Family Bombycillidae
[Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus]
Status and abundance: Hypothetical.
Records and remarks: Ridgway (1889) noted that one was collected at Villa Ridge, Pulaski Co., on 18 Dec 1879, but the location of the specimen is now unknown.
Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum
Status and abundance: Common migrant. Uncommon, irregular summer resident and winter resident.
Habitat: Flocks are often found in both lowland and upland forest, in hedgerows, and in residential areas near berry-producing plants.
Records and remarks: Cedar Waxwings form tight flocks that fly quickly overhead, twisting and turning, and then alighting in the tops of trees, all the while uttering their high-pitched, hissing calls. They forage for fruit during migration and winter, and they also fly-catch on the wing during warmer weather. They have an unusual split migration during spring, where migrants arrive in good numbers, then there is a bit of a dip in numbers before a second wave of migrants appears.
SPRING—Migration is divided into two sections that are distinctly separate in most years but that are blended together in others. The first migrant flocks begin appearing as early as mid- or late January. Numbers peak in February and March, and the end of the early
migration period comes during early April. There is then a gap, usually during mid-April, when only a few waxwings occur. The next pulse of migrants appears in late April or early May and extends into late May or even early June. Some birds that linger into June may stay
to breed.
60, Carbondale, 20 Jan 2016 (DM)
55, Energy, Williamson Co., 26 Feb 1984 (JCR)
80, Pulaski Co., 8 Mar 2003 (KM)
125, Jackson Co., 16 Mar 2014 (C. Owlsley)
35, Alexander and Union Cos., 26 May 1984 (JCR)
SUMMER—Breeding populations are highly variable from year to year. In some years, no waxwings can be found during summer, but in others, they are relatively common. We have few nest data available from the region.
AUTUMN—Fall migration begins in late August and peaks in late October and early November. Because of the winter population, departure dates are difficult to define.
173, Crab Orchard NWR, 11 Nov 1984 (TF)
WINTER—Winter populations are highly irregular, probably depending on the size of the native fruit crops. They appear to be least numerous in the Till Plain.
194, Crab Orchard NWR, 17 Dec 1988 (WDR, KM)
Documentation: Specimen—ad. male, Crab Orchard NWR, Williamson Co., 26 Jun 1956 (SIU A-258).
Family Passeridae
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
Status and abundance: Common year-round resident.
Habitat: Nearly any human-inhabited area, but especially farms and towns.
Records and remarks: Originally introduced to New York in 1852. The year of the first appearance of the species in southern Illinois is unknown, but the year was sometime during the 1880s. About the only place one cannot find this sparrow is deep inside forest.
House Sparrows take over nest boxes and out-compete Cliff Swallows, bluebirds, and martins for nesting sites. Part of their competitive success can be attributed to breeding so early in the year: they get first access. Many people wish to dissuade House Sparrows from nesting in boxes erected for bluebirds or swallows. One way to keep House Sparrows out of boxes or martin houses is to keep the holes plugged until the bluebirds and martins have returned. Nests of House Sparrows have been found from February through October, and there are probably some individuals that try to breed in the other three months. Will (1973) studied them in McLeansboro, Hamilton Co., and found 275 adults and 130 nests on his one-hundred-acre
study plot. Over much of North America, perhaps including southern Illinois, House Sparrow numbers have declined since then. Most observers neglect counting this species except during organized counts. Observers are encouraged to count House Sparrows just like they count other native species and archive those data in eBird.
Documentation: Specimen—ad. male, Carbondale, Jackson Co., 20 Feb 1961 (SIU A-1141).
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
Status and abundance: One recent well-documented record. Formerly hypothetical but now expanding into our area.
Records and remarks: Bohlen (1989) lists a record from Modoc, Randolph Co., but no substantiating details were preserved. Eurasian Tree Sparrows were introduced from Germany to St. Louis in 1870 (Flieg 1971) and spread into Illinois by the early 1900s. They are now well-established in central Illinois and are slowly spreading mostly northeastward. Recently, a few have wandered more widely. One was photographed north of Marion in Williamson County, 20 Dec 2022 by T. and C. DeNeal (https://ebird.org/checklist/S124339689 ). Several other reports, especially from Kaskaskia Island, Randolph County, are likely correct but are currently lacking photos. Reports with photos will facilitate a clearer understanding of the range expansion of this species. Some evidence suggests the species has been slower to expand than House Sparrow populations because they lack the same kinds of immune defenses House Sparrows possess.
Family Motacilladae
American Pipit Anthus rubescens
Mid-March – Mid-May
Late September - Mid-November
Status and abundance: Uncommon migrant. Occasional winter visitor and rare winter resident.
Habitat: Mudflats, wet short-grass fields and plowed agricultural fields.
Records and remarks: Pipits often form loose flocks that forage on the ground in fields with short or sparse vegetation, so they can conceivably be confused with Horned Larks when viewed at a distance. But their voices are more forceful and squeakier, and they lack the black breast band and facial markings of larks. Larks also walk with more upright posture than the hunched posture of foraging larks. Numbers observed during winter have been increasing over time. Severe winter weather pushes them out of the region, but in milder winters some can be found, primarily in the Floodplains.
SPRING—There seem to be two periods of spring migration. The first begins in mid-March and extends into mid-April, and the second begins in late April and ends in mid-May. The early migration period usually involves the most birds.
2, Union Co. CA, 2 Feb 2009 (MML)
20, Mermet Lake, 20 Feb 2017 (KM)
2, Horseshoe Lake CA, 26 Feb 1991 (JCR, TF, JD)
340, Perks, Pulaski Co., 13 Mar 1992 (TF)
3, Rend Lake, Jefferson Co., 12 May 1986 (TF, WDR)
2, Crab Orchard NWR, 14 May 1984 (JCR)
AUTUMN—Fall migration is less noticeable. Most migrants arrive after 20 September.
1, Rend Lake, Jefferson Co., 10 Sep 1988 (TF, WDR)
72, Paulton, Williamson Co., 12 Sep 1987 (WDR)
1, Rend Lake, Jefferson Co., 11 Nov 1987 (TF)
WINTER—Numbers during winter have continued to increase over time. Formerly very rare during winter, American Pipits are now occasionally encountered, particularly in the Flood Plains.
26, Horseshoe Lake CA, 19 Dec 1989 (SB, WDR)
80, Horseshoe Lake CA, 28 Dec 2015 (DM)
100, Union Co. CA, 25 Jan 2016 (JG, DM)
1, Mermet, Massac Co., 28 Jan 1989 (WDR)
Documentation: Photograph—Nason, Rend Lake, Jefferson Co., 10 Sep 1988 (SIU AP-247).
Sprague's Pipit Anthus spragueii
Status and abundance: Very rare migrant and winter visitor.
Habitat: Large short-grass fields, especially where alfalfa is planted.
Records and remarks: Probably more numerous than the few records indicate, because few observers take the time to search the appropriate habitat. The distinctive call of this species, a high-pitched squeet, squeet, is uttered when the species is flushed into flight from its grassy habitat. The extensive grasslands and agricultural lands on reclaimed strip mines in Perry County have proven to host a few Sprague’s Pipits.
AUTUMN—2, Pyramid SP, 10 Nov 2007 (DK, m.ob.)
1, Pyramid SP, 12 Nov 2006 (DK)
WINTER—Two records of birds in alfalfa fields are the only winter sightings:
4, Omaha, Gallatin Co., 13 Jan 1957 (Graber 1957)
imm. male collected, Cora, Jackson Co., 10 Jan 1957 (Graber 1957).
SPRING—6 or 7 in alfalfa, Omaha, Gallatin Co., 16 Mar 1957 (Graber 1957)
1 in alfalfa and a nearby heavily grazed pasture, near Perks, Pulaski Co., 18 Apr 1992 (Fink and Robinson 1992)
3, Pyramid SP, 21 Mar 2008 (DK)
1, Jackson Co., 9 May 1994 (BD, CS)
Documentation: Specimen—imm. male, Cora, Jackson Co., 10 Jan 1957 (INHS).