TaBLe 4. — Fledging success of eastern phoebes in Illinois. 
> Enna 
Region Years Months 
yrthwest 1968 April-June 
ntral 1969, 1972 April-June 
uth: 
wth of Franklin Co. 1972 April-June 
uth of Franklin Co. 1967, 1970-1972 April-June 
April-May 15 
May 15-June 
Number Percent Fledged Percent of Nests with 
of Nests Nests Eggs Cowbird Eggs 
22 57 43 14 
21 57 41 29 
16 47 30 33 
60 36 29 0 
30 45 38 0 
30 23 17 0 
TT TT Te a ees 
y do until they start migration. The time of day when 
gration occurs is also unknown. We have not found 
oebes among the thousands of night migrants killed at 
nois television towers. 
We have only scant data on the molt. We have seen 
ing in the post-juvenal molt on August 5 in central 
nois, and a “flock” of six phoebes in fresh plumage on 
y 29 in southern Illinois. 
The onset of the fall migration in this species will 
»bably not be known certainly without careful studies 
ng banded birds, or telemetry. Swink’s (1960) counts 
phoebes in northeastern Illinois, and ours for the 
rthwest and other regions of the state (Fig. 18) show 
it September-October is a period of notable activity for 
oebes. Our counts, though highly variable from region 
region, suggest that the migration may begin in late 
gust and that it is largely over by the end of October, 
h highest peaks occurring in September and October 
g. 18). Phoebe records as late as November 10 and 13 
northern Illinois (Cooke 19085, Lyon 1933), 
vember 4 for central Illinois (Graber 1962), and 
vember 19 for southern Illinois (Graber, unpublished) 
ud be interpreted either as late fall migration or early 
lux of winter birds. 
Neither Swink’s (1960) counts nor ours for spring and 
account for any productivity. The ratio for all regions 
J4 to 1.00) of spring (March-April) to fall 
ptember-October) counts actually shows more birds in 
spring. The ratio was 1.2 phoebes in the spring to 1.0 
che fall in northern Illinois, and 1.8 to 1.0 in central 
nois. Only in the south where the largest numbers of 
sebes were seen was the fall count higher (1.0 in the 
ing to 1.3 in the fall). 
nter Records 
‘The eastern phoebe has been reported in the winter 
least 15 records) in all three regions of the state (Fig. 
- Nearly all of these records fall between December 18 
| January 1, and most of them are from recent (since 
0) Christmas censuses. There are almost as many 
orts from northern Illinois as from the southern 
ion, probably reflecting the distribution of observers 
ier than of birds. In recent years especially, phoebes 
€ been reported in the winter in the Christmas counts 
EASTERN PHOEBE 
WINTER RECORDS 
DEC.1— FEB.1 
@ 1950- 
A 1900- 1949 
Toph wane | 
geese (i 
ee 
= il ee 
M BEFORE 1900 
f 
| 
unt 
4 
eit 
=i H 
ie uvincston | j 
s PEORIA/ woooroan | | ne} 
# less ei =) fe a iRoQUOIS | 
= be hee aa 
McOONOUGH| FULTON [eeeh fone mt 
eo | | ESE a 
gee ee \ 
MASON > ay > } ' 
= ~\ regan OE WIT A} cHampaict | VERMILIDN 
ee eee! ae ee 
‘ert I | \ 
Cc 81 1 an eg pede . 
—- © Fin "On 4 = 
oes pe ) 
MORGAN oy, a = Bal \ Pingus 
— ourtriel 5 eCGAn 
pegs 
a =a CHRISTIAN Li’ | coles i 
a has 
GREENE ; = —j SHELBY 
j 
MACOUBIN | MONTGOMER 
SS 
EFFINGHAM 
JASPER 
[ees | CRAWFORO 
¥ ' 
rel \ 4 
Cae 
= fa . ne RICHI oy lass 
i 
MARION 
WASHINGTON 
JEFFERSON 
—4 
J 
ea PERRY 
FRANKLIN 
J 
—— 4 
mt 
Bae |wittiasson| SALINE (GALLATIN 
Fig. 25. — Winter records of the eastern phoebe in Illinois. The 
three regions of the state, as referred to in the text, are shown by the 
heavy lines. 
of many northern states, including Vermont in 1965 and 
1972 and Maine in 1967. It is still questionable whether 
phoebes actually winter through and survive in these 
northern areas, including Illinois. 
The earliest mention of the phoebe in winter is that of 
Cooke (1885) for southern Illinois. Recent checklists of 
birds indicate that the phoebe is generally absent from 
southern Illinois from mid-December to mid-February 
27 
