Barnacle Goose in Illinois

This page pulls together in one place some information regarding Barnacle Goose in Illinois and other states in the Midwest.

Articles with information regarding distribution and occurrence of Barnacle Goose

  • M.L.P. Retter, "A Barnacle Goose in LaSalle County with a Discussion on Provenance of North American and Illinois Records," Meadowlark, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 82-84, 2007.
  • D.F. Sherony, "Greenland Geese in North America," Birding, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 46-56, May-Jun 2008.
  • G. Malosh and N. Pulcinella, "Acceptance of Barnacle Goose to the Official List of the Birds of Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania Birds, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 194-199, Aug-Nov 2008.
  • M.L.P. Retter, letter to the editor, Birding, vol. 40, no. 6, p. 10-13, Nov-Dec 2008 (includes reply and editor's note).
  • E.S. Brinkley, "The Changing Seasons: Cold Enough for You?", North American Birds, vol. 62, no. 2, p. 204ff, 2008.
  • P. Hess, "News and Notes," Birding, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 26-29, May-Jun 2009.
  • M.V.A. Burrell, "The Case for Accepting Ontario Reports of Barnacle Goose," Ontario Birds, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 122-136, Dec 2017.

On-line forum and listserve regarding distribution and occurrence of Barnacle Goose

  • Discussions on the ID Frontiers and Bird Records Committee Forum listserves during late July 2013.
  • Postings to Illinois Birders Forum topic "Barnacle Goose, Kendall/Will County" during 27 Nov 2012 to 21 Dec 2012 (accessed 15 Jan 2016)
  • Postings to Illinois Birders Forum topic "Barnacle Goose; Lake Bloomington, McLean Co; 01/29/13" during 29 Jan 2013 to 13 Feb 2013 (accessed 15 Jan 2016)
  • Postings to Illinois Birders Forum topic "Status of Barnacle Goose in ABA" during 27 Nov 2012 to 30 Jul 2013 (accessed 15 Jan 2016)

Information about other states' and provinces' records committee actions on Barnacle Goose

  • Missouri:
  • Indiana:
    • Communication on 6 Dec 2015 from John Kendall to IORC secretary Geoff Williamson.
    • "Review of the provenance of the first accepted Barnacle Goose record for Indiana" by John Kendall, 19 Jun 2014, sent to the Indiana Bird Records Committee. Within this document are communications to Kendall from indidivuals associated with other state and provincial records committees about the status of Barnacle Goose in their area. These communications came from the following states and provinces: Ohio (Vic Fazio), Michigan (Adam Byrne), New Hampshire (Pam Hunt), Pennsylvania (Geoff Malosh and Nick Pulcinella), Ontario (Josh Vandermeulen), Quebec (Michel Gosselin).
    • Communication during 2018 from Kirk Roth to IORC member Matt Fraker.
    • Indiana record 1750-BRNG-001-JASP2012 (first accepted record for Indiana)

Chronological roster of Barnacle Goose sightings in Illinois. Observations involve only one bird unless indicated by a number in parentheses following the date. References to eBird checklists include those available in the November 2015 eBird dataset, and all sightings available in that data set are included. Mention of documentation submitted to IORC and the disposition of those records by the Committee are in bold typeface.

  1. 22 Dec 1961, Williamson. Cited in Retter (2007).
  2. 26 Jan 1969, Morton Arboretum, DuPage, eBird checklist S23122130.
  3. 8 Dec 1968 (2), DuPage. Cited in Bohlen (1989). Cited in Retter (2007). Reports in eBird may indicate that this individual was present until at least 26 Jan 1969.
  4. 3 Jan 1981, Union. Cited in Bohlen (1989). Cited in Retter (2007).
  5. 3 May 1981, Madison. Cited in Retter (2007).
  6. 1-30 Jan 1983, Winnebago. IORC record 1983-003. Circulated in 2019 (decision pending). Cited in Bohlen (1989). Cited in Retter (2007). Three checklists in eBird.
  7. 7 Apr 1986, St. Clair. Cited in Retter (2007).
  8. 30 Dec 1987 to Feb 1988, Vermilion. Cited in Retter (2007).
  9. 31 Dec 1988, Lake. Cited in Retter (2007).
  10. 4 Oct 1998, Winnebago. IORC record 1998-067 (published in the 5th IORC report). Cited in Retter (2007). Not accepted based on origin; identification considered correct. Immature bird.
  11. Winter 1988-1989, Cook. Cited in Retter (2007).
  12. 7 Nov 2003, Cook. Cited in Retter (2007).
  13. 1-7 Nov 2006, LaSalle. Cited in Retter (2007). A photograph taken 6 Nov 2006 by Peter S. Weber appears in Meadowlark, vol. 16, no. 3, p. 82. Five checklists in eBird.
  14. 12-13 Dec 2009, Lake Renwick, Will, eBird checklist S5632430.
  15. 22 Dec 2009, Christian. Dave Bohlen posted to IBET that "... there was an adult Barnacle Goose shot by a hunter at Sangchris Lake State Park in Christian County, Illinois on December 22, 2009. David Bohlen was contacted by the taxidermist about this goose and he took photos of the bird before and after the mounting. This photo is on file at the Illinois State Museum Research and Collections Center."
  16. 13 Dec 2010, Union. This individual was reported in a 1 Apr 2011 article in The Southern. (The date of the article gives one pause.)
  17. 19 Jan 2011, Madison. IORC record 2011-039. This record was not accepted. Found and photographed by Scott Lawson in Troy City Park in Troy. Bill Rudden photographed Cackling Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese at the site two days later. This sighting was reported in a MO-BIRDS post by Bill Rudden on 21 Jan 2011.
  18. 27 Nov to 16 Dec 2012, Will, Kendall, and Kane. IORC record 2012-057. This record was accepted and is the first record accepted by IORC. This one was found and photographed 27 Nov 2012 on the Kendall/Will line by Andrew Aldrich, rediscovered by him and photographed 8 Dec 2012 in Kane, and was last seen 16 Dec 2012 in sw. Kane by John Heneghan (per his IBET post).
  19. 29 Jan to 12 Feb 2013, McLean. IORC record 2013-004. This record was not accepted.
  20. 5 Oct 2015 (3), Mercer. IORC record 2015-038. This record was not accepted. There also is a 10 Oct 2015 eBird report that may pertain to this sighting.
  21. 16-19 Dec 2017, McLean. IORC record 2017-064. Circulated in 2019 (decision pending).
  22. 25 Feb 2018, Macon. IORC record 2018-011. This record was not accepted.
  23. 25, 26 & 28 Feb 2019, DuPage and Kendall. IORC record 2019-002. Circulated in 2019 (decision pending).

 

This page was last updated on 7 July 2019