Birds of the Illinois River A Century of Change

Jeff Walk

© bugbog.com

SA Forbes

AO Gross

FC Bellrose

R & J Graber

Bird Abundance Has Increased

21% 11% 9% 8%

Four Species Represent Nearly Half of All Birds in Illinois

76 Species are

“One Bird in a Thousand”

or Rarer

Changes in Land Cover Profoundly Affect Birds

Loss of Grassland & Intensified Agriculture

Loss of Grassland & Intensified Agriculture

Expansion of Developed Areas

Expansion of Developed Areas

Red-winged Blackbird Horned Lark

Northern Cardinal European Starling

Northern Bobwhite

Eastern Meadowlark Red-headed Woodpecker

1912

Adapted from a figure by the Illinois Natural History Survey

Circa1925

A NDERSON L AKE

Aquatic bed Floating-leaved aquatic Levee Non-persistent emergent Open water Scrub-shrub

1955

Bottomland forest Campground Cropland Levee Non-persistent emergent Open water Road Sand Scrub-shrub

2005

Stafford et al. 2010

Eastern Kingbird Mourning Dove

Eastern Bluebird

American Kestrel

All Images Mary Kay Rubey

© Mary Kay Rubey

Floodplain Restoration

EMIQUON

Floodplain Restoration

EMIQUON

Bob Stratton, USFWS

Jeff Jones Brian E Small/VIREO

Acknowledgements Bellrose Waterfowl Research Center

Forbes Biological Station Chris Hine, Heath Hagy

and State Wildlife Grant Program

Project T-16-P-1 – Statewide Bird Survey and

Illinois Department of Natural Resources W-43-R – Aerial Inventories

John Buhnerkempe, Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources

Richard Day, Daybreak Imagery Jean Graber

Mary Kay Rubey