The primary reference for this guide is:

The Birds of Illinois by H. David Bohlen, asst. curator/zoology, The Illinois State Museum. It is used with permission of the author. Other sources will be noted in the text.

Any errors in this guide should be attributed to the web editor. Please let us know of any errors or omissions. Send us a note at : barnowl@illinoisraptorcenter.org

Special thanks are due to The State Journal-Register which provides a donation that pays for the hosting of this web site. The newspaper also has allowed me to use photographs I originally took for the newspaper to supplement this guide. This guide would not be possible without the newspaper's support.

Photographer Dennis Oehmke has been photographing Illinois birds since the 1970's. He has been documenting rare birds that occur in central Illinois on his own time for the Illinois State Museum for many of those years. Dennis has graciously allowed his work to be used, free of charge, for this guide. The Illinois Raptor Center is grateful for his generous donation! Kanae Hirabayashi is a Chicago area bird watcher and combines a digital camera with a spotting scope to achieve striking closeup photographs. She has provided many pictures of hard to find species. Special thanks to these talented people. Chris Young-Web Editor.