Critter News

JANUARY 3, 2011

New Jersey Illinois Massachusetts Colorado Maine WORST STATES Ohio Hawaii Alabama North Dakota Mississippi Idaho South Dakota (worst) According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the states fell this way. BEST Illinois (best) Maine Michigan Oregon California WORST Mississippi Idaho Hawaii North Dakota Kentucky. According to this Technorati article , the Humane Society rated the states on their animal protection laws. BEST STATES California (best-yay!)

Animal Protection 139

Animal Protection Protection Animal Legal Defense Fund 2011 139

Critter News

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Last summer, Alley Cat Allies conducted an analysis of Illinois Department of Agriculture reports collected from the 247 animal pounds and shelters licensed by the state that handled cats in 2006. More than 60,000 cats were killed in Illinois animal pounds and shelters in 2006. Illinois is one of the few states with laws already requiring pounds and shelters to report the fate of animals in their custody.

2008 100

2008 Cats Illinois 2006 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2021

Birds and Booze News: Imperial Oak Brewing of Willow Springs, Illinois has collaborated with the Chicago Ornithological Society for a second year to release a Piping Plover Pale Ale , with proceeds of its sales going to conservation and education efforts by the Society.

India 87

India Ostriches Illinois Chicago 87

Critter News

DECEMBER 26, 2008

Among the best: California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Oregon. The ALDF has released a report on how different states' animal protection laws stack up. And the worst: Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arkansas, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, South Dakota, Wyoming You can check out the whole report on their web site.

Animal Legal Defense Fund 100

Animal Legal Defense Fund 2008 Animal Protection Guam 100

4 The Love Of Animals

AUGUST 21, 2012

Best Friends Pet Care is a leading national pet care company and offers boarding, daycare, grooming and training at 42 locations across 18 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.

2012 176

2012 Dogs Oklahoma Maryland 176

Animal Person

JUNE 23, 2010

They're from a legal farm in Illinois, so the law isn't the reason. Here's my first problem with this: The number of lions in the wild is not affected by the farming operation in Illinois. Have you seen the ridiculous television show, Wipeout ? There's something hilarious about people intentionally putting themselves in a position to be beaten up like Wile E. Coyote. It's all in fun, with much of the humor coming from the commentators and the special sound effects.

Lions 106

Lions 2010 Illinois Chickens 106

4 The Love Of Animals

JULY 27, 2012

Canine athletes are jumping through hoops to capture the gold at Doggy Games in Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and Texas. London isn’t the only town where athletes are bringing home the gold this week. Best Friends Pet Care ( www.bestfriendspetcare.com ) is hosting its own version – the Doggy Olympic Games — at more than a dozen locations across the U.S. Just check out these amazing doggy athletes!

Game 166

Game 2012 Maryland Indiana 166

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2020

The authors are Bianca Lopez ( The New School ), Emily Minor ( University of Illinois at Chicago ), and Andrew Crooks ( George Mason University ), and the article is “ Insights into human-wildlife interactions in cities from bird sightings recorded online.”.

2020 92

2020 Chicago Illinois Michigan 92

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

As an Illinois state senator, he backed at least a dozen animal protection laws, including those to strengthen the penalties for animal cruelty, to help animal shelters, to promote spaying and neutering, and to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Not a big surprise considering McCain's VP choice. I’m proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors—which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans—has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President.

Obama 100

Obama 2008 Humane Puppy Mills 100

4 The Love Of Animals

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Since 2000, Chris Long has been a store associate at a Home Depot in Illinois. Having a pet does not mean you have to give up hopes of having a lush, well-manicured yard. Although dog ownership may pose some challenges in the quest to achieve garden greatness, it’s definitely not a hopeless cause. The key is balance.

2012 200

2012 Dogs ASPCA Pets 200

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2019

Focusing on an often under-appreciated portion of the continent, the book showcases forty species found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio – but perhaps not for long. I’m hardly the first person to observe that it’s all too easy to get overwhelmed by bad environmental news, and the title Endangered and Disappearing Birds of the Midwest sounds like a pretty major downer.

2019 48

2019 Indiana Downers Iowa 48

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy outings to two hotspots that aren’t yet on the map: Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch in Bedford, NY, and Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Illinois. Calling all hawkeyes! North America is in the prime of raptor migration season, with millions of hawks, accipters, and buteos flying south for the winter.

2013 65

2013 Illinois Pennsylvania United States 65

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

In Abraham Lincoln’s day, Prairie Chickens were an incredibly abundant part of the Illinois prairie landscape. Today in Illinois, 68 males survive. There are no individuals remaining within an area of nearly 56,900 sq miles which once formed the core of the range of this truly magnificent bird, This area where the highest densities were recorded stretched from central and northern Iowa into western Illinois before covering most of northeast Missouri.

Chickens 70

Chickens 2015 Illinois Nebraska 70

4 The Love Of Animals

AUGUST 22, 2011

About the Author: Monarch Landing is a Chicago senior living community located near the city in Naperville, Illinois. Not all retirement communities are created equal. And while many are similar, there are always certain things that set the best ones apart from the rest. One of these things is how the retirement community regards its residents owning pets.

2011 131

2011 Pets Landlord Guinea Pigs 131

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Another researcher, from the University of Illinois, asserts that the bugs need to be worked out of these systems before they’re cleared for widespread use. Birds and airplane compete for right-of-way at Sky Harbor Airport and Seaplane Base (image by Donald Emmerich, Wikimedia Commons). For about as long as people have been flying planes, pilots of all type of aircraft have been experiencing birdstrikes. Sometimes the damage is little more than dented panel or cracked windshield.

2013 68

2013 Israel Netherlands Illinois 68

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2019

Of course, if you are an average birder in, say, Illinois or Alberta, you probably haven’t lost too much sleep over this group, in spite of its difficulty. Warning: Any and all flycatchers shown in this post may be misidentified. Cut me some slack. These are the Empidonax flycatchers we are talking about here. Dear North American birders: You know them. You fear them. You have probably misidentified them.

2019 53

2019 West Virginia Illinois Rabbits 53

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2014

But the turkey vultures would certainly leave the places we saw them – Montana, North Dakota, Illinois and Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio and eventually New York – and head south. The only bird we saw in every state was the Turkey Vulture. No vast kettles, yet, only ones and twos. Maybe only to the southern borders of the same state in the case of some of the Pennsylvania birds, maybe down beyond the limits of the US through Central America for the westerners.

2014 59

2014 Pennsylvania North Dakota Indiana 59

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

Flower, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Christopher J. Whelan, from the Illinois Natural History Survey, explained, “The increased utilization of EAB-infested ash trees by woodpeckers and bark-foraging birds observed in our study demonstrates that woodpeckers are able to shift their behavior to actively target EAB.” How do you solve a problem like the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB)? With all due respect to Maria von Trapp, combating the greatest infestation that U.S.

Woodpeckers 86

Woodpeckers 2014 Illinois Chicago 86

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2020

I dread to imagine what Yellow-billed Cuckoos from Illinois, Missouri, and elsewhere will find when they arrive on these wintering grounds in 2020. On the northern birding calendar, October is a time for sparrows, cool weather, and tired fall leaves.

Costa Rica 90

Costa Rica 2020 Paraguay Colombia 90

Animal Ethics

JULY 19, 2007

In DeKalb, Illinois, that monster is Cavel International, the only remaining plant in the U.S. Cavel, a Belgian company, kills horses in Illinois for export to Europe. In response to citizen outrage over horses being slaughtered in Illinois, the Illinois legislature decided to tie off the loophole for good by passing House Bill 1711. Apparently, Belgian citizens must have a say regarding what businesses can be engaged in in the state of Illinois!]

Horse Slaughter 40

Horse Slaughter 2007 Illinois Slaughter 40

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2015

In addition to North Carolina, six other states have named the cardinal their state bird, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. When birders in the eastern United States see a flash of red up in the canopy or deep inside nearby bushes, more likely than not those crimson feathers belong to the iconic Northern Cardinal.

North Carolina 62

North Carolina 2015 Legislature West Virginia 62

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 4, 2007

Years later, after he had gone off to teach at Northern Illinois University and I had gone off to teach at the University of Texas at Arlington, we discovered that we had a shared interest in animal rights. Here is a profile of my friend and co-blogger Mylan Engel Jr. We went to graduate school together at the University of Arizona. I didn't like Mylan at the time, and I'm sure he didn't like me. Mylan worked in epistemology. I worked in ethics.

2007 40

2007 Arlington Illinois Arizona 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Birders in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, West Virginia, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Maryland, and Virginia are all enjoying Snowy Owls , but none as much as the North Carolina birders, who are enjoying their first and second Snowy Owls in thirteen years. Snowy Owl in Queens, New York, 1 December 2013.

Owls 87

Owls 2013 Rhode Island North Carolina 87

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

Monk Parakeets are established not only in New York City, but in at least seven states (Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Texas), Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Quebec, Canada in North America; Belgium, Italy, England, and Spain in Europe; cities in South America (where they are considered introduced since these are not rural areas), and possibly even Japan. Urban parakeets in Northern Illinois: A 40-year perspective.

2014 68

2014 Chicago Puerto Rico Illinois 68

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2014

I can’t speak for other locations, but the Illinois birders’ listserv has been pretty dead today. Glad you asked. It’s cold enough in Chicago—where our high temperature for the day was –2 degrees Farenheit—that the polar bear at the zoo spent the day inside. It’s cold enough to freeze vodka. It’s colder than both the South and North Poles. Is this “polar plunge” that’s gripping much of the U.S. Midwest (and, soon, the East) bad for birds?

2014 56

2014 Polar Bears Chicago Illinois 56

Animal Ethics

APRIL 18, 2007

Since a number of "Animal Ethics" readers reside in the northern Illinois area, I thought I would call your attention to an exciting lecture that is taking place on Northern Illinois University's campus. Professor Jenni made her debut appearance in DeKalb in September 2002 when she presented her paper “The Power of the Visual” at the Northern Illinois Ethic Consortium’s inaugural conference Ethics in Contemporary Life.

2007 40

2007 Illinois Ethics Psychology 40

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2021

of Illinois News Bureau, Nov. Of all the living things in our world to be passionate about, mushrooms may rate as the most unlikely.

North America 88

North America America 2018 Illinois 88

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2015

Musselman of Quincy Illinois is generally credited with originating the bluebird conservation movement that extended beyond local boundaries. From the 1913 USDA Farmers Bulletin #513, Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard: “The bluebird is one of the most familiar tenants of the farm and dooryard. Its favorite nesting sites are crannies in the farm buildings or boxes made for its use or natural cavities in old apple trees.

2015 56

2015 Tenant Illinois Farming 56

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2017

In Chicago in the early 2000s a sudden influx of European Goldfinches – possibly due to a rogue deliberate release – resulted in nesting records from Illinois and Wisconsin. When I was a kid, and couldn’t travel, I thought patch birding sounded dreadfully boring.

2017 41

2017 Illinois Wisconsin Chicago 41

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Even some states that technically have checklists barely qualify: the great state of Illinois has just a single checklist with two species (from an airport). Since 2016, writers at 10,000 Birds have been contributing checklists to a joint eBird account called the “10,000 Birds Collaborative.” Every month, Redgannet summarizes the checklists, providing an updated life list, year list, and country list. For the United States, there is also a state list.

2018 43

2018 Rhode Island Puerto Rico Minnesota 43

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2013

One has been seen in New Jersey in 1988 , in Illinois in 1949, and in Ohio in 1954 (Links are PDFs.) – interestingly, all in May.). A sewage pond is, like a landfill, one of those places by which non-birders get very confused. “Wait, you’re going to a sewage pond? Voluntarily? To see birds? What is wrong with you?”

2013 60

2013 Nevada Illinois Ohio 60

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2013

The Magic Hedge is renowned as one of the premier warbler watching sites in Illinois. Airline logistics and politics have kept me from Chicago for a while, so a trip there in the latter half of April was eagerly anticipated. My first encounter of the morning called for the red pen to add to my list of 10,000 Bird contributors in the form of the delightful Meredith Matthews.

Chicago 57

Chicago 2013 Illinois Seattle 57

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2013

Discussion of such an uncommon raptor in northern latitudes seems all the more inexplicable when Black Hawks are mentioned in the same breath as Chicago, as if we’ve ever known an ABA-approved sighting of Common Black Hawks in Illinois… Of course, hockey fans know that the Chicago Blackhawks have set the first months of the abbreviated 2013 NHL season ablaze with a record-setting scoring streak.

2013 79

2013 Chicago Illinois Trinidad 79

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2016

Did it nest in some remnant riparian zone in the west or did it swoop between forest patches in southern Illinois? Snow has touched down in some places up north, up there on the breeding grounds of Mourning Warblers , Baltimore Orioles , and Sharp-shinned Hawks.

2016 49

2016 Baltimore Illinois Honduras 49

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

You find them in the south from Florida to Texas and down into Mexico, occasionally as far north as the Carolinas in the east and up the Mississippi River as far north as Illinois. There really isn’t much to say about the Mottled Duck. It is one of several species in the Mallard -complex of ducks, along with American Black Duck , Mexican Duck , and quite a few others.

Ducks 58

Ducks 2012 Illinois Mississippi 58

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2013

King Rail and chick in Illinois cc-by Andy Reago. Clapper and King rails ( Rallus longirostris and R. elegans ) are the largest rails in the Americas. Their taxonomic status long has been unclear due to their overall similarity and the fact that in eastern North America and Cuba, they hybridize. But some recent work by James Maley and others is shedding more light on these secretive and fascinating birds.

2013 74

2013 Species Cuba Louisiana 74

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

Maria and I, first-year graduate students in Zac Cheviron’s lab at the University of Illinois, Urbana-. Peripatetic ornithologist Nick Sly has long been a friend of the blog here and has contributed such classics as Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult and Forpus passerinus and the Ornithologists of Masaguaral. We’re always interested in what he’s up to and pleased that his research and our collective interest in cool birds can come together in such an opportune manner.

2013 71

2013 Panama Research Illinois 71

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2014

I’ll never forget an orphaned Northern Cardinal nestling that I really fussed over a few years back,” said Arden Zich of Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn, Illinois. “We So I asked seven wildlife rehabilitators, “Tell me your favorite (or one of your favorites) release story – the kind that makes you keep going, in spite of everything.”. “A

2014 75

2014 Tulsa Ohio Raccoons 75

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2021

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently finalized a rule regarding its narrowing interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). However, it is unlikely that this rule will stand long enough for it to be implemented on its effective date of February 8, 2021.

Maryland 77

Maryland Obama Illinois Massachusetts 77

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

Forever Home Feline Ranch – Springfield, Illinois. It’s time for the Santa Paws Drive ! The mission of the Santa Paws Drive is to bring holiday cheer to shelter animals around the world. How do they do it? With your help of course! The Santa Paws Drive is an online toy drive dedicated to shelter pets to bring them a little joy and fun while they await their forever homes. This year’s goal is to raise $1,000 in cash donations for each shelter ($6,000 total) plus oodles of toys and treats!

2012 173

2012 Shelters Hungary Illinois 173

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Ridgway, born in 1850 in Mr. Carmel, Illinois, was a boy many of us would recognize; all he wanted to do was bird. I spent the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the usual post-hurricane activities—looking for storm birds, making sure my loved ones were o.k., trying to grasp the enormity of what had just happened, and reading this book, The Feathery Tribe: Robert Ridgway and the Modern Study of Birds by Daniel Lewis. My daughter thought it was an odd choice—nonfiction, on the scholarly side.

2012 54

2012 Illinois Costa Rica Nevada 54

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

He held appointments as Assistant Professor of German at the University of Illinois, Reader in Art and Archaeology at Princeton, and Associate Professor of Medieval Studies at Fordham.

2011 50

2011 Tucson Nebraska Deer 50

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2011

But in November I flew back north to Illinois to see a special pair of eagles, my best bird(s) of the year. On this final day of 2011 it is time, just like it was on the final day of 2010 , to share your Best Birds of the Year. Well, actually, your Best Bird of the Year will only be shared here if you took the time to respond to the post in which we here at 10,000 Birds shared our Best Birds of the Year.

2011 56

2011 Ohio North Dakota Illinois 56