ieiiN Odes. AU DUB ON, BULLE TLN 15 
to be out. However, the rivers were nearly completely covered. On the 
Illinois River the area from Grafton to Kampsville upstream for about 35 
miles had a large concentration of eagles. See report of 1972 count. There 
were 126 adults, 124 immatures and 14 not aged. This area is close to the 
Mississippi. There is a strong possibility that some of these eagles may have 
come from a distant waterfowl refuge. For instance, the number of eagles 
at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Mo., dropped from 54 adults 
and 92 immatures on December 7 to 4 adults and 26 immatures on January 
7 to only 2 adults on the count date. Weather prevented a count in Nebraska 
with only one eagle on the count date. A count was made on February 22 
from Grand Island to Kearney and 18 adults and 5 immatures were found. 
This count was made by the Nebraska Ornithologist’s Union. The Kentucky 
count was made by the Kentucky Ornithological Society. The Tennessee 
count was by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the TOS, the Fish 
and Wildlife Service and the Sierra Club. The Columbia Audubon Society 
found 20 of the Missouri eagles. 
The original intent of this one day count was to show increases or 
decreases in the ratio of immatures to adults. Results for the past four 
years tend to show something else. Each year waters north of our count 
freeze up. The increased numbers of eagles and the increase of immatures 
must be caused by eagles coming to the Mississippi River from the south, 
east or west. If these come from Fish and Wildlife areas where many 
wounded or crippled waterfowl are found, then the ratio of immatures 
would be very biased. It is reasonable to assume that the count shows our 
eagles doing quite well; however the increases must be used with caution. 
—510 Island Avenue 
East Moline, Illinois 61244 
PINTAILS NEST AGAIN AT GOOSE LAKE PRAIRIE 
by JARED VERNER 
Birkenholz (Illinois Audubon Bulletin, Fall 1973, p. 32) reported a brood 
of Pintails (Anas acuta) at Goose Lake Prairie State Park, Grundy County, 
on 11 June, 1973. As nearly as Birkenholz could determine, this was the 
first documented record of Pintails nesting in Illinois since the 1940’s. On 
14 May 1974, I flushed a female Pintail from her nest, containing 10 warm 
_ eggs, near the center of Block 6 at Goose Lake Prairie. The site was visited 
' again two weeks later by Birkenholz and myself, but the nest could not 
be relocated. Possibly the eggs hatched between visits, or perhaps heavy 
rains during the intervening period flooded the nest. These two records, 
coming in consecutive years, give hope that the new preserve at Goose 
Lake Prairie may attract Pintails back to Illinois as regular breeders. 
—Department of Biological Sciences 
IWinois State University 
Normal, Illinois 61761 
