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Ilhnois Field Notes — 1958 
By Jack Keegan 
A FELLOW MEMBER of the White Pines Bird Club suggested that the follow- 
ing observations were worth recording in the AUDUBON BULLETIN, Each 
instance was verified by other members of the club; most of the observa- 
tions were made through a 30-power Balscope: 
European Widgeon (1), April 14, one mile east of Sterling. 
Whistling Swan (1), March 24, four miles east of Sterling. 
Common Loon (4), May 5, one mile east of Sterling. 
Snow Goose (12), May 9, one mile east of Sterling. 
Ruddy Turnstone (1), May 28, one mile east of Sterling. 
We have seen Lark Sparrows all summer long for the past few years 
some ten miles north-east of Dixon. 
Many of the water-birds were seen on the Sinissippi mud flats one mile 
east of Sterling. It was on April 14 that I was studying a flock of about 30 
ducks through the Balscope with the sun behind and to one side. There 
were mostly Bald-pates, with a pair of Mallards and a pair of Coots. One 
was swimming back and forth in front of the others on the bank; this one 
had a red head, distinctly different from all other Bald-pates. I studied him 
for about 20 minutes, looking first at the bird, then at my Peterson’s and 
Pough’s field guides. I knew then that I definitely had seen the European 
Widgeon. I could not locate a female, and the male was not there the fol- 
lowing day. 
808 Madison, Dixon, Illinois 
By Peter C. Petersen, Jr. 
HERE ARE SOME of the more uncommon birds I have seen this year in the 
Tri-Cities area on the Illinois side of the Mississippi: 
May 30, Spring Lake and Lock #13 with Tom Morrissey and Mrs. Peter 
Petersen: Red-breasted Merganser, 1; Ruddy Turnstone, 1; Baird’s Sandpiper, 
1; Dunlin, 12. 
June 13, near mouth of Rock River in Mississippi, in boat: Least Tern, 10. 
August 38, Spring Lake with Mrs. Peter Petersen and Fred Lesher of 
Clinton, Iowa: Green-winged Teal, 1; Baird’s Sandpiper, 1; Western Sand- 
piper, 1; Dunlin, 55; Dowitcher, 2; Stilt Sandpiper, 1; Forster's Tern, 2. 
Sept. 1, Lock #138, with Maurice and Fred Lesher and Jim Lewis: Tree 
Swallows, 500 plus; Bank Swallows, 2000 plus; Rough-winged Swallows, 500 plus. 
Sept. 6, Sunset Park, Rock Island, with Dennis Sheets: Louisiana Water- 
Thrush 1; Canada Warbler, 1; Veery, 2. 
Sept. 14, Cordova Quarry, with Don Herold, Director of the Davenport 
Public Museum of Davenport, Iowa: Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 1. 
Sept. 20-21, highlights of the I.A.S. Campout near Port Byron, IIl.: 95 
species total. Broad-winged Hawks, 245 (estimated by Bob Trial); Caspian 
Tern, 5 to 10 seen migrating down the Mississippi; Osprey, Bonaparte’s Gull, 
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Connecticut Warbler seen 
near the Cordova Quarry and the camp. On Saturday evening seven of us 
tried a different technique in bird-watching. We took an outboard up the 
