Start off the New Year with the Boreal Songbird Initiative!

Go to: http://www.borealbirds.org/ to learn more!

Our Mission

"As the voice for boreal birds, the Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) is committed to protecting the Canadian Boreal Forest—the largest intact forest on Earth—on behalf of the billions of migratory birds that rely on it. Get to know BSI » "

see SONGBIRD SOS

Check into a new web resource, Songbird SOS, at: http://songbirdsos.com/

 "The film follows songbirds on a visually sumptuous yet perilous journey through our changing world. We touch down in the dense metropolis of New York City, the forsaken suburbs, northern forests, the tropics of Central America, Turkeys far-east, Germany’s night clubs, and across the freeways of the Netherlands. Wherever we go the viewer discovers, in mysterious and controversial ways, that songbirds are disappearing."

Bird Protection Fund

Learn more about the Bird Protection Fund - find a unique way of your own to support the Fund this year: http://www.wisconservation.org/how-we-work/bird-protection-fund/

Read last year's report: http://www.wisconservation.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Birdathon-Report-FINAL-singles.pdf

I am a bit biased, of course -- I hope you will support the 2015 Long Walk for Birds -- but there are many other ways to provide support for conservation of Wisconsin's birds. I hope you'll get involved!

Here are some of the projects the Fund provides money for: http://www.wisconservation.org/NovemberThemeChange/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/BPF-priorities-2014.pdf

misconceptions about the WI breeding bird atlas (WBBAII), and how to learn more

I've heard that some folks think they "don't know enough" about birds to participate in the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas (WBBAII - the 2nd atlas - starting in late winter of 2015). There are some misconceptions about "skill" that pertain here. Do you need to be an expert at bird song to participate? NO. Instead, your careful efforts at observation will make you more effective. Learn to slow down, and watch what birds are actually doing.

Let's say you're out birding on June 5th, and you see a Gray Catbird. During a regular day of birding, maybe in the past you noted that individual, and recorded it. But now, go several extra steps: what is the bird doing? Is it carrying food, or carrying nesting material, or carrying a fecal sac? Maybe you never really have carefully watched a catbird up until now. Can you see if it goes to a nest? If it does, can you see if there are eggs or young in the nest?

You can start with what you already know. Atlasing will, in fact, make you a better birder.

Learn more, at a series of Atlas presentations/workshops. And be sure to attend the Atlas Kickoff meeting, Feb. 27-March 1: http://wsobirds.org/atlas-kickoff-meeting  

The list of presentations/workshops is growing, but right now these are existing dates:

 B.F. Goss Bird Club, Waukesha 7:00 pm Jan 25
Winnebago Audubon, Oshkosh 7:00 pm Feb 5
St Croix Valley Bird Club - River Falls Pub Library 100 pm Feb 7
Schlitz Audubon, Milwaukee, 630pm, Feb 11
Friends of Black River State Forest, Black Riv Falls, Jackson County Bank, 630pm, Feb 18
Urban Ecology Center - Riverside Park, Milwaukee - 530pm Feb 23
Mosquito Hill Nature Center, New London, 1000 am, March 7
Coulee Audubon, LaCrosse, Myrick / Hixon Ecopark, 7:00pm, March 18

understanding the ecology of climate change

Some good review documents about climate change - if you would like to learn more:

NOAA's "Ecological Effects of Climate Change", from a great source:
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/pd/climate/teachingclimate/ecological_impacts_of_climate_change.pdf

Birds and Climate Change - Ecological Disruption in Motion:
http://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/documents/bacc-ecologicaldisruptioninmotion_feb2009.pdf


Audubon Birds and Climate Change Report: http://climate.audubon.org/

The Effects of Climate Change on Terrestrial Birds of North America: http://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/wildlife/birds

ready for 2015 - join the Atlas!

Get ready for participating in WBBAII in 2015!

Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II – Kickoff Meeting

11 December 2014

Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II – Kickoff Meeting February 27 – March 1, 2015 Stoney Creek Hotel, Rotschild, WI

In 1995, the first Atlas was started. This project involved over 1,600 observers, who amassed more than 170,000 observations of 237 species. Twenty years later, it’s time to do it again in order to ensure we have the information necessary to conserve our breeding birds, an integral part of Wisconsin. Meeting Highlights: Field Trips Atlas training WBBA I History Data-entry instruction Info on climate change and atlases Keynote speaker: eBird’s Chris Wood Schedule Friday evening: Birds and Beers!! Saturday: Morning field trip with Chris Wood, Presentations from 10:00 to 5:00. Sunday: Morning bird walk with Chris Wood, Presentations 8:30 to noon. Who should attend? Wisconsin bird lovers, including but not limited to: Prospective Atlasers Users of Atlas data Agency staff Atlas County Coordinators For more information: http://wsobirds.org/atlas

educating yourself on these critical issues this year

I challenge all to take responsibility for educating ourselves on these critical issues this year:

http://ontothepath.blogspot.com/2015/01/behavioral-response-to-climate-change.html

and

http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-climate-crusade/

A quote from Moyers' last and final show: " So instead I recommend to them the example of Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, another of my heroes from the past. He battled the excesses of the first Gilded Age a century ago so boldly and proudly that he went down in history as “Fighting Bob.” He told us, '…democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle.' I keep asking myself, what if that struggle is the palpable reality without which this world would be truly barren?"