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Illinois Ornithology

A finding aid for Illinois Ornithology resources, historical and current, including publications of the Illinois Natural History Survey.
Drawing of multiple men standing in a storage room, which has birds on shelves and in containers on the ground.

Birds of Illinois: Catalogue

pp. 77-85 in Wilber, C. D. Transactions of the Illinois Natural History Society, 1861.

Bird with brown feathers and a yellow and black underbelly looking towards the sky while standing in a field of grass.

The Ornithology of Illinois

by Robert Ridgway, first published in 1889,

Color illustration showing four birds on branches

By the Way-Side

Newsletter of the Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan Audubon Societies, 1898-1914

Black and white photograph of three men sitting at a campsite

Alfred O. Gross and colleagues

Photo taken May 1908, published in "Half a Century Census" INHS Reports no. 14

Black and white photograph of a prairie chicken walking in the grass

The Passing of Our Game Birds

by Isaac E. Hess, in Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science vol. 3, 1910.

musical score

Bird Songs

Musical scores for ten Illinois bird species by Anne Wakely Jackson, from Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science, vol. 12 (1919).

black and white photograph depicting a woman at left taking noes and wearing binoculars, and a man at right looking through binoculars

Jean W. and Richard Graber

Photographed August 1963 by INHS photographer Wilmer D. Zehr, published in Illinois Wildlife vol. 18(4), p. 15.

Journal cover, featuring a bird with its mouth open while sitting on a branch

Meadowlark: A Journal of Illinois Birds

Published 1992 to date.  Online in the Biodiversity Heritage Library through 2014, later volumes available at Funk ACES Library

Book cover featuring a bird with black wings and a yellow belly on a branch

The Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas

INHS Special Publication no. 26 (2004)

Book cover, featuring a bird with speckled gray feathers and a bright yellow and black underbelly on a post.

Illinois Birds: A Century of Change

Illinois Natural History Survey Special Publication no. 31 (2010)

Screenshot of the Kingfisher LibGuide

Kingfisher

A digital exhibit and guide

logo for MOON, which features an owl and a nightjar in front of a crescent moon

Monitoring of Owls and Nightjars in Illinois

An Illinois Natural History Survey volunteer-based program for statewide monitoring

About this guide

This guide includes

  • Finding aids for full text of key ornithological work by researchers at the Illinois Natural History Survey and its predecessors. 
  • Links to related archival materials.
  • Links to Illinois Bird Counts and Inventories
  • Suggested field guides and sample searches to find more field guides in our library or yours
  • Recommendations for finding literature on Illinois ornithology