12 TsH EavAtU D'U.B'O N@ BUSA Leni 
Other uncommon species include: Glaucous Gull, reported _by Rock 
Island and Mercer; Little Gull, by Cook County—Chicago Urban; Fish Crow, 
by Adams County; and Brewer's Blackbird, by Peoria—(Chillicothe. 
Quite a few “out-of-season” species were reported. These include: 
Black-crowned Night Heron and American Bittern, Will County; Black- 
bellied Plover, Cook-Calumet City; Woodcock, Will; Eastern Phoebe, 
Marion; Tree Swallow, McHenry; Swainson’s Thrush, Carroll and White- 
side; Yellow-headed Blackbird, Rock Island; Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 
Champaign; Savannah Sparrow, Cook, DuPage and Kane; LeConte’s Spar- 
row, Jersey and Calhoun; Chipping Sparrow, Richland; Clay-colored Spar- 
row, Randolph and Lincoln’s Sparrow, Peoria. 
Of the total of 340 Bald Eagles reported, 211 were adults, 115 imma- 
tures, and 14 unidentifiable. Ten counts reported Bald Eagles—7 on the 
Mississippi River and 3 on the Illinois River. 
The two counts with the highest numbers of species 'were Fulton and 
Mason with 86 and Rock Island with 81, indicating that a variety of habitat, 
including open water, contributes to a high number of species. Cook 
County—-Chicago Urban had the highest number of individuals—284,287. 
Of these, however, 21,000 were Starlings and 255,000 House Sparrows, in- 
dicating perhaps that these two species have “taken over’ in our urban 
areas. 
524 Nathan Road, Park Forest South, Ill. 60466 
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Census Editor’s Note: This year brought in two notable changes in our 
“system” of counting and reporting birds. The first of these was the use 
of an official “Verification Form” for unusual species. Many of these were 
forwarded to us and to National Audubon, although some field observers 
submitted hastily-scribbled notes. We hope that the need to review all the 
points of verification has helped some enthusiastic reporters to consider a 
rare observation twice. 
The second change was the omission of some 1,300,000 blackbirds by 
our friends in St. Clair County, at their request. See their discussion in the 
description of their area. We feel that this gives us a truer picture of the 
other species in our state. However, this picture was almost equally mud- 
died by the inclusion of Rock Doves in the count per the National Society. 
We have always opposed this listing, as we feel there is no way one can 
be sure that he is looking at a feral Rock Dove and not at someone’s half- 
domesticated pet pigeon. If we were to toss out the immense counts of 
blackbirds, but put in the enormous number of wild pigeons in downtown 
Chicago and other cities, we could be right back where we started. 
This year, again, we give special thanks to Kit Struthers, who not only 
compiles the table, but also retypes all the reports (some of which are 
hand written). Extra thanks also, to all the counters and reporters, some 
of whom took part in half a dozen or more outings, in all kinds of weather. 
This year, for the first time in about twenty, I thought there were a few 
more birds than the year before in the same parts of the Arboretum (I 
found the same Brown Thrasher that forgot to go south again). Could it 
be that some of our native birds are at last learning to live with the 
flood of humanity that is spreading across the countryside? 
—-Paul H. Lobik, 22W681 Tamarack, Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137 
