2012 Big Sit - Forest Beach Migratory Preserve

solutions to prevent bird-window collisions

More emerging solutions to prevent the collisions of birds with window glass are becoming available.

We outfitted first-floor windows on the building where the W. Gr. Lakes Bird & Bat Observatory has its office (at the Forest Beach Migratory Preserve, owned and managed by the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust) today, using anti-reflective tape -- see before and after photos below - that we obtained through the Wisconsin Humane Society's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. We believe this will be an excellent solution, and it is easy to apply. If you're interested in this product, contact Scott Diehl at WI Humane. Scott can help with many solutions to prevent bird/window collisions. Call Scott at 414-264-6257.

Before applying anti-reflective tape

After applying tape

rare Eurasian (or Western?) shorebirds this summer/early fall

Little Stint - Ph : Wikimedia Commons

A number of very unusual and rare vagrant shorebirds are showing up across North America this summer. Read more about this news at this link. The recent Wandering Tattler is just one example, so look carefully at birds you see that don't match the usual field marks...

the genus Liatris

Blazing stars are just...well, amazing. The genus Liatris - attractive to butterflies...is a wonderful genus of prairie wildflowers. More info on this genus from the USDA PLANTS Profile database, here  - and a very informative link at IL Wildflowers regarding the tall species Liatris pycnostachya -see it here.

Chimney Swift watches

swifts entering roost; Wikim. Commons - ph. by Kat & Sam

As we approach late summer, you may wish to join one or more of a number of existing chimney swift watches (for example, mentioned earlier today in regard to those held in Green Bay). If you'd like to start a new one, please contact us at the Wisconsin Chimney Swift Working Group (wpmueller1947@gmail.com). We're hopeful that some who may be reading this may be interested in doing that. It's a great way to get new birders involved; easy, not strenuous at all (!), and it can be a lot of fun.  To learn more, see examples at:

http://mn.audubon.org/chimney-swift-sit

http://www.chimneyswifts.org/page7.html

http://mrvac.org/2012/07/01/4th-annual-chimney-swift-sit/

important pollinators

Ph. by Kabir Bakie - Wikim. Commons

Learn about conservation of critical pollinators - bees - at this link.

some of the awesome people

Jenn

Anne (on the left)

Tim

Of the many people I work with in conservation biology, ornithology, and environmental education, these partners from the Urban Ecology Center are truly great. See some of them  pictured here  -- Tim Vargo, Jenn Callaghan, and Anne Reis. These folks are dedicated, devoted to the natural world and to the many people they teach and interact with at the Center. Ladies and gentleman, you are (to use an overused word once again) truly awesome.