It's All About Birds

• Winnebago County Bird Checklist
• Area Bird (Wildlife) Rehabilitators Contact Information
• Bird City Wisconsin
• Birds - Where to find them
• Field Observations by Michael Huebschen
• Project Feeder Watch
• Important Bird Areas (IBA)

Winnebago County Bird Checklist

• Winnebago Co Bird Checklist 1
• Winnebago Co Bird Checklist 2

Area Bird (Wildlife) Rehabilitators Contact Info

     Area Wildlife Rehabilitators  

BIRD CITY WISCONSIN

Wisconsin Audubon Council members at Goose Pond in October 2010 celebrate Bird City Wisconsin and TogetherGreen grant.  Winnebago Audubon members Carla Hansen and Zaiga Freivalds are on the left side of the banner.

    A coalition led by the Milwaukee Audubon Society, the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology wants to ensure that Wisconsin’s city folk maintain healthy populations of birds and grow an appreciation for them. They’re developing a new community recognition program: Bird City Wisconsin, which will be modeled on the successful nationwide program Tree City USA, a community improvement project sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation.

     Wisconsin communities that come together to help protect birds – choosing from an array of different bird conservation activities – can receive designation and public recognition as a Bird City Wisconsin.

With funding from TogetherGreen, an alliance between the National Audubon Society and Toyota, the program will address an increasing problem: the decline of urban bird populations. Chimney Swift populations in Wisconsin, for example, have declined by more than 2% annually for the last 28 years, while the Purple Martin – which nests in colonial boxes often near water – is declining at three times that rate.

    For more information about Bird City Wisconsin check out their website:

www.birdcitywisconsin.org

   Oshkosh becomes a Bird City!  Click to read Letter and Press Release:

Letter to City of Oshkosh      Bird City Wisconsin Press Release

BIRDS - Where to find them

     For those of you who are interested in knowing what birds are being found where and when, you can visit the website of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology at:  http://wsobirds.org/ and click on the Find Birds icon at the top of the home page.  This will take you to the reports that are being placed on the Wisbirdn listserve.  You will also find information about how to get on the Wisbirdn membership list and then you will get these sightings directly into your emails.

     If you enjoy listing the birds you find, you might also be interested in the Wisconsin ebird website:  http://ebird.org/content/wi/   Visit this site and found out more about great places to bird and then how to record your observations.

     Happy Birding and thanks for adding records to Wisconsin bird observations.- Bettie Harriman

Avian Sightings and Sidenotes on other Biotic Jewels of Wisconsin (2011) (Jan. 2012)

by Michael Huebschen

     As 2011 came to a close, the posts on "wisbirdn" were alive with evidence that the mild weather of November and December had brought us an abundance of late avian sightings by the average measure of migration chronology. The Christmas Bird Counters around the state had a very rich year. In terms of latest sightings of the year and numbers of individuals tallied for those species, many records may have been set.

     As for the wanderings of this aging adventurer in that portion of the biosphere that we have arbitrarily partitioned and labeled Wisconsin, I would pick up from my last website post, noting that I had a big time on two spectacular mornings (light frost, clear sky and low wind speed) in late April and early May stalking Greater Prairie Chickens from a blind at the Carl & Carol Flaig farm in southwest Portage county. (They ask for a donation of $25/day/person.) By virtue of selecting weekdays late in the season, I was able to have to myself, their oversize blind (wheelchair accessible) from which to practice my photographic apprenticeship. On both mornings I had a booming male performing his courtship ritual for about five minutes on the blind roof, about two feet from my head. I believe that there were hen visitations both mornings, although I only made visual confirmation on the second morning. On that second morning, the males (about fourteen total) stayed on the booming ground until about 9:45 A.M. and had their display cranked up to peak intensity late in the morning (hen present). I was rewarded on those two mornings with first of the year sightings of Savannah Sparrow and Bobolink. Sandhill Cranes were active at some distance. My trips home from those two encounters were accompanied by the digital gold of many memory card images, some of which are a great triumph over the attempts of many years previous when "primitive" equipment and weather were limiting. Sidenote: I finally found someone to recycle my used deep-frying oil. Carl and his son apparently have bio-diesel production connections and burn the stuff in their tractor(s).

     Late April/early May explorations of the Horicon NWR (particularly along Main Dike Road) graced me with the opportunity to observe a Short-eared Owl, at least three pairs of Black-necked Stilts (including courtship and mating), White-faced Ibis, Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitchers, Least Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Red-necked Phalaropes. Sandhill Cranes, American Bittern and Great Blue Heron were also present.

     A May trip to Vilas County brought me the company of many migratory passerines, including the closest look I've ever had at a male Scarlet Tanager near the north shore of Big Arbor Vitae Lake and some nice views of Osprey and Bald Eagle on the Willow Flowage.

     Early June brought me close visual contact with a Sandhill Crane pair at Horicon NWR. The two adults were foraging not far south of Main Dike Road, while tutoring two of the smallest colts I've ever seen in the wild. Cattail cover was just sparse enough to manage a few decent frames of the family members.

     My early summer visits to Horicon NWR (especially Main Dike Rd.) were graced by ample viewing and memory card capture of Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Double-crested Cormorant, Common Gallinule, Redhead Ducks, Blue-winged Teal and Peregrine Falcon.

     I had fair luck with Whooping Cranes and Red-headed Woodpeckers in late spring and summer at Necedah NWR, while never being telephoto close. I also lucked onto a couple locales where Pink Lady's Slipper and Calopogon (Grass Pink Orchid) were common and photographable. The Culicid vampires in those locales were much more abundant than the flora of my quest, especially during the late afternoon photo-shoots. They severely tested my ability to recite flawlessly the "King's English" without variance. Any and all manner of course incantation varying from said propriety had no sway with their single-minded probosces. My reward for serenading them thusly was a well tattooed epidermis on hands, neck and upper back. (Better that than wasting away in front of the creeping kinescope in the homey confines of the great indoors. I did however, during my drive home, entertain the question what one would devise for a survival strategy if stranded in the interior of such an area. At such times one is grateful to have been there for such discoveries, and equally grateful for vehicular transport, and the homey confines of the great indoors waiting at journey's end. So it is with the great paradox of seeking spiritual meaning and renewal in wild areas where serenity can give way to mild to severe hostility, sometimes on very short notice.)

     Late spring and summer also brought me the close company of numerous dragonflies at Necedah NWR.  I was able to add Common Baskettail, Frosted Whiteface, and Dusky Clubtail to my photographic inventory. An abundance of Common Green & other Darners and various Meadowhawks were enjoyed during those visits. As a group, the Darners are air-born almost all the time on warm days, and are hence, difficult to approach with photo gear.

     Three Whooping Cranes were noted at the Mead Wildlife Area's South Rice Lake in August.

     In late summer, a serene afternoon tour of the Sandhill Wildlife Area chanced onto a Trumpeter Swan pair (14Y & unmarked) with two late Cygnets from a renest.

     I enjoyed my best-ever late-summer shore-birding (August) at Horicon NWR and the Mack State Wildlife Area. My oculars and digital memory card gobbled up the visual elegance of Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin, Killdeer, and Wilson's Snipe. Some nice frames of a juvenile Black-crowned Nightheron were also added to the pixel stash.

     While seeking elk in the Clam Lake area of Ashland County in mid-September, I encountered many Wild Turkeys, including a number of hens with quite small poults (barely larger than Ruffed Grouse). There must have been a fair number of late renests there this year. Cooper's, Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks were noted along with a number of Bald Eagles. Thanks to some solid where-to-look info. from Diane Stowell at Flambeau River State Forest headquarters, early and late searches in the Clam Lake area produced my first-ever sightings of Wisconsin elk . I was fortunate to hear one bull bugle and get some decent frames of a heavy-bodied 6X6 bull. On one morning, a very prime looking Gray Wolf was observed along Hwy. 77 west of Clam Lake.

     During our annual late-September/early October vacation to Vilas County, Cindy and I were treated to numerous Bald Eagles, Common Loons, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, and Horned Grebes while fishing on some of the lakes. Late one afternoon, we watched the antics of two Gray Jays as we headed east from the Big Lake boat landing. On a cold Friday, my wife Cindy got to see her first elk ever in the Clam Lake area. We saw a bull in the headlight illuminated shoulder along Hwy. 77 in the pre-sunrise darkness, and two big spike bulls a bit after sunrise. As we headed east toward Vilas County around sunset, we rolled past a big bull (5X5 or "better") that was grazing right on the highway shoulder 3 miles east of Clam Lake. By the time that we got turned around, and returned for a better look, the light was too dim for a decent photo, but we sure got a great view of the magnificent essence of Wapiti.

     In mid and late October, I was treated to the avian array of the Big Eau Pleine County Park while camped there. Red-tailed hawks were quite common. (Gray & Fox Squirrels, Eastern Chipmunks, and Red Squirrels are numerous, and might have been a big attaraction. Abundant Red Oak and Bitternut Hickory mast might have spurred diurnal activity in other small mammals as well.Black Squirrel variants are very common.) Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers were very common. Pileated, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers were seen and /or heard repeatedly.White & Red-Breasted Nuthatches and Chickadees were common. Many of the days that I might have spent duck hunting at the Mead Wildlife Area were consumed seeking birdlife and deer with binoculars and camera. What Cindy and I believed to be the boss buck in the park this year was seen and photographed on several occasions. I had the shocking privilege of watching him (large, massive 5X4)  in an all-out battle with his nearest "beta"challenger one morning. Their initial head on charge sounded like two baseball bats colliding in full swing as their antlers crashed together. The furious scrap lasted for all of twelve minutes. It was anything but gracious. While watching in amazement, I photographed still frames hoping that neither individual would be seriously injured. The challenger being a longer, heavier bodied individual had the better of the initial shoving forrays. In time, the reigning monarch's stamina and superior neck and front shoulder strength took charge. By the time that he had pinned the challenger's head against the base of a tree for the third time, Mr. Beta had been defeated. On the third release, the challenger fled to the south with the winner in hot pursuit to emphasize his point. On one hike through that area, Cindy and I noted what we believed to be his territorial declarations on the bole of an Eastern Hemlock that probably is 10" in diameter at eye level. It is the largest whitetail deer buckrub that I've ever seen anywhere. The park is a great place to see deer, especially during the rut.

     Late November brought Snowy Owls to the upper midwest in possible record numbers. I ad much amusement observing them and approaching with camera at Horicon NWR (Main Dike Rd.), Oconto Harbor, and the Buena Vista Marsh. My wife Cindy got to see her first ever Snowy at the Buena Vista.

     My late autumn pilgrimages to the Upper Mississippi River NWR were the best ever, if for no other reason than that I discovered the excellent viewing area between Brownsville and Reno, Minnesota. (Thanks to Chris West and others for posting that on wisbirdn.) Between the highway 35 overlooks on the Wisconsin side and the viewing opportunities, the viewing memory centers tallied (at least temporarily), roosts of thousands of Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, Mallards, Greenwinged Teal, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Gadwalls, Scaups,and Canvasbacks. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service surveys during the respective peak migration stopovers in that Pool 8 Closed Area tallied 24,000+ Tundra Swans, 139,000+ Canvasbacks, and 104,000 Scaups. I saw smaller numbers of Black Ducks in that area quite late in the season. On the Minnesota side, I noted Wood Ducks and Pintails present as late as 2 December 2011. On more than one occasion, I counted more than 50 Bald eagles between Brownsville and Reno. I have one decent photo of a bird that looks suggestive of Golden Eagle, but have no certain verification of that ID.

     At Oconto Harbor, a large raft of diving ducks was present quite late, including Common Goldeneyes, Common Mergansers, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Hooded Mergansers. n 4 January 2012, I was lucky to see my first-ever Harlequin Duck feeding near the end of the breakwall with a group of Common and Hooded Mergansers. The mergansers were having exceptional luck catching Yellow Perch. At one point, I photographed a Herring Gull working on a large perch (9"-10") that it probably heisted from a Common Merganser. It eventually downed the thing whole.

     What the dynamics of nature often lack in elegance, they sometimes parallel in the surprise of something never before witnessed. The movement of energy through the biosphere is often anything but aesthetically sugar-coated. Beyond the intrigue and amazement that it provides to those of us who choose to be observers, perhaps it should emind us all of the privileged opportunity that we have as potential stewards of the planet earth to develop and refine a fluid model (through time) of excellent stewardship, and act on that model with education, hard work, and a certain amount of unselfish sacrifice. If the land-man/woman community does not flourish harmoniously, the people-people community will be all the more hamstrung and vexed in resolving its collective body of conflict.

To read more from Michael Huebschen, click on these links:

March 27-28 2010

April & May, 2010

Autumn 2010

Dec. 2010-Feb. 2011

Spring 2011

Help Project FeederWatch Track Backyard Birds
Bird watchers needed to help scientists discover changes in bird populations

     Ithaca, NY—What happens in the backyard should not stay in the backyard—at least when it comes to bird feeders. By sharing information about which birds visit their feeders between November and April, backyard bird watchers can help scientists track changes in bird numbers and movements from year to year, through Project FeederWatch, a citizen-science program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.

IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM              

What is an Important Bird Area?

   Important Bird Areas, or IBAs, are sites that provide essential habitat for one or more species of bird.  IBAs include sites for breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds.  IBAs may be a few acres or thousands of acres, but usually they are discrete sites that stand out from the surrounding landscape.  IBAs may include public or private lands, or both, and they may be protected or unprotected.

   To qualify as an IBA, sites must satisfy at least one of the following criteria. The site must support:

• Species of conservation concern (e.g. threatened and endangered species)
• Restricted-ranges species (species vulnerable because they are not widely distributed)
• Species that are vulnerable because their populations are concentrated in one general habitat type or biome
• Species, or groups of similar species (such as waterfowl or shorebirds), that are vulnerable because they occur at high densities due to their congregatory behavior

   Identification of a site as an IBA indicates it’s unique importance for birds. Nonetheless, some IBAs are of greater significance than others. A site may be important at the global, continental, or state level. The IBA identification process provides a date-driven means for cataloging the most important sites for birds throughout the country and the world. The use of a hierarchical classification system further helps to establish priorities for conservation efforts.

   Throughout the IBA process, the status of sites are characterized by the following terms: Potential, Nominated, Identified, Recognized, Pending, Rejected, Delisted, Merged.

What is the Status of the IBA Program?

   BirdLife International is a global coalition of more than 100 country partner organizations. The IBA program was initiated by BirdLife International in Europe in the 1980’s. Since then, over 8,000 sites in 178 countries have been identified as Important Bird Areas, with many national and regional IBA inventories published in 19 languages. Hundreds of these sites and millions of acres have received better protection as a result of the IBA Program.

   As the United States Partner of BirdLife International, the National Audubon Society administers the IBA Program in the U.S.  Audubon launched its IBA initiative in 1995, establishing programs state by state. State-based IBA programs provide conservation leaders with the flexibility to tailor the program to their individual state needs, and they also give Audubon members and local volunteers the greatest opportunities to protect sites in their communities.

How will IBAs help birds?

   The IBA Program helps birds by setting science-based priorities for habitat conservation and promoting positive action to safeguard vital bird habitats.

What You Can Do

   Read more about IBAs and what you can do to help identify, monitor, and conserve Important Bird Areas.   www.audubon.org/bird/iba/you_do.html

Wisconsin’s Important Bird Areas Program

   In May, 2001 partners in Wisconsin launched the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative (WBCI). Modeled after the North American Conservation Initiative (NABCI), this historic partnership is dedicated to delivering “the full spectrum of bird conservation emphasizing voluntary stewardship”. WBCI currently has over 150 endorsing partners and is engaged in wide variety of bird conservation activities throughout Wisconsin, ranging from conservation planning, to monitoring, to outreach and education. It is the first statewide all-bird conservation initiative of its kind in the United States.

   One of the major projects that WBCI undertook from its inception was the Important Bird Areas program.  Read more at www.iba.audubon.org/iba/viewState.do?state=US_WI

Official IBAs in our area:        Horicon Marsh (Dodge/Fond du Lac Co.)                                                              Woodland Dunes Nature Preserve (Manitowoc Co.)

Approved IBAs in our area:   North Kettle Moraine (Fond du Lac/Sheboygan Co.)

                                                White River Marsh (Green Lake Co.)

Nominated IBAs in our area:  Rat River State Wildlife Area (Winnebago Co.)

                                                 Rush Lake (Winnebago/Fond du Lac Co.)

For a complete list and map see www.wisconsinbirds.org/iba/sitelist.htm