Introduced Birds of Illinois

Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) are all native to Illinois, but native populations have been supplemented to a greater or lesser extent by introductions or reintroductions, as described here (excerpts):

• Ruffed Grouse in NW Illinois may represent a remnant native population or wild dispersals from Wisconsin or Iowa. A very small population in Pope County may be the result of late 1950’s or early 1960’s releases of wild-trapped birds. All other populations in Union and Alexander county or extreme western Jo Daviess County are the results of wild-trapped birds released during the period 1982-94 and are not considered established.
  
  
• During the summers of 1991-98 Greater Prairie-Chickens from out-of-state were introduced into Illinois’ only remaining populations in Jasper and Marion counties.
  
  
• The native Wild Turkey population in Illinois was extirpated in the early 1900’s. Turkeys were first reintroduced in the Shawnee Forest in 1959 from out-of-state stock. Once established there, Illinois birds have been and continue to be introduced to unpopulated locations throughout the state.
  
  
• Peregrine Falcon was extirpated as a breeding species; the current breeding population is reintroduced.

Nine other species are known from established in Illinois solely as a result of human introductions: Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix), Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), European Starling (Sturnus vulgarus), House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), and House Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

Source:
Illinois Ornithological Society. No date. Birds of Illinois.
http://www.illinoisbirds.org/illinois_list.html

Pheasant Eggs Hatched by Bobwhite

The Ring-necked Pheasant has long been known to occasionally parasitize the nests of native North American birds, including those of the Northern Bobwhite. Westemeier and Esker (1989) described (.pdf) the first known instance of a bobwhite nest apparently parasitized by pheasant(s) in which the pheasant eggs hatched at the expanse of the bobwhite eggs.

Of 281 bobwhite nests examined from 1970-1988 on a study site in Jasper County, Illinois, only one was known to have been parasitized by pheasants. In that nest, four pheasant eggs hatched from a bobwhite nest containing 15 intact bobwhite eggs and seven pheasant eggs.

Citation:
Westemeir, Ronald L., and Terry L. Esker. 1989. An unsuccessful clutch of Northern Bobwhites with hatched pheasant eggs. Wilson Bulletin 101: 640-642.

Aldo Leopold and Ring-necked Pheasants in Illinois

This story by Joe McFarland is from the December 2002 issue of Outdoor Illinois. Excerpts:

In Illinois, the first recognized successful release of pheasants came when a pair was released in the spring of 1890 near Macomb in west-central Illinois. A flock of nearly full-grown young pheasants was observed in the fall, and that success was all the evidence needed to convince sportsmen that pheasants were the game of the future.

In 1904, Illinois became the first state in the nation to open a state-operated game farm. Eggs and chicks were distributed to landowners, with some 36,723 pheasants having been released by the time Leopold began his 1929 study.

Citation:

McFarland, Joe. 2002 (December). The pheasant century. Outdoor Illinois 10(12): 6-8.