two excellent bird conferences in WI this fall

It's not too soon to start planning. We sincerely hope you will strongly consider attending both of these excellent conferences this fall:

2016 State of Stopover Symposium - A Great Lakes-wide Symposium on Migratory Bird Stopover Ecology and Conservation of Stopover Habitats

https://stopover2016.wordpress.com/

This is the first region-wide conference on the stopover ecology of migratory birds.

WGLBBO and Dr. Amber Roth, coordinator of the Midwest Landbird Migration Monitoring Network, will host one of the three workshop tracks at the State of Stopover Symposium. We hope you will join us. 

2016 WBCI Annual Conference – October 27-29, 2016 (Protecting birds through action & art)

http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/annualmeeting2016.htm 

This combined WBCI and BCW conference is shaping up to be one of the most unique bird conservation meetings in years. 

These meetings will provide great opportunities for learning the latest information on bird conservation, migration ecology, and connecting with colleagues from both the Midwestern United States and Canada, and from across the country.

a new partnership between 2 conservation heavyweights

The Habitat Network is a new partnership between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and The Nature Conservancy: http://content.yardmap.org/learn/habitat-network-intro/


Learn how it will help birds at: http://content.yardmap.org/learn/category/birds/

how citizens - and birders - can use the 2016 State of the Birds report, and take action

Many people think bird conservation actions are beyond their ability - that those actions can only be taken by agencies, non-governmental organizations, or other large entities. But here is a list of actions any individual can take: http://www.stateofthebirds.org/2016/resources/change/#citizens

Businesses can also play a role:  http://www.stateofthebirds.org/2016/resources/change/#business

With one-third of our birds needing conservation action, we need everyone to get involved on some level. Learn about what you can do to help protect our birds!

grassland birds in northeast more affected by climate change

A new paper published in the journal Landscape Ecology looks at how birds in various habitats may respond to the effects of climate change. The authors (M.A. Jarzyna of Yale, B. Zuckerberg of UW-Madison, and A.O. Finley of Michigan State University, and W.F. Porter) conclude that birds in forest habitats may be somewhat "buffered" from climate-related effects, but that species found in open habitats, especially those that are fragmented may experience more severe effects.
The paper is published in the journal's June 2016 online edition, with the title:
Synergistic effects of climate and land cover: grassland birds are more vulnerable to climate change

The State of North America's Birds - new report

Read a great summary of the new "State of North America's Birds" at http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/sonab2016/

One third of North American birds are in need of conservation action. 

Read the full report at http://www.stateofthebirds.org/2016/

more on controversial cormorant control efforts

The controversy over killing thousands of cormorants continues.

The following articles provide some background information.

Much more to be learned...

http://audubonportland.org/issues/habitat/sand-island

http://www.audubon.org/news/the-corps-cormorants-and-cull

http://www.animals24-7.org/2016/04/13/cormorant-killers-shoot-the-bird-to-d-c-judicial-ruling/

http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/features/19298/to-kill-a-cormorant

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/double-crested-cormorant-08-12-2015.html

cormorant control in the Pacific Northwest

Read about a recent cormorant colony failure at: http://audubonportland.org/pressroom/press-releases/cormorant-nesting-colony-targeted-by-federal-agencies-suffers-complete-failure