-By Mary Korkor (WSO President)-
The WSO Board of Directors spent much of 2020 exploring what it would take to make the organization more impactful and efficient and how to create a sustainable future. Our primary responsibilities and objectives? Protecting birds, providing opportunities for birders, expanding the community of citizens who are informed and concerned about birds, and becoming an...
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2022 WSO Convention in Two Rivers!
The COVID-19 pandemic will force a two-year delay, but WSO members can still plan on getting ready for Great Birding on a Great Lake! Two Rivers, located on the breezy shores of Lake Michigan, will be hosting the 81st WSO convention, originally scheduled for 2020. The next WSO convention now is scheduled for May 19-22, 2022. Attendees will enjoy a wonderful weekend full of field trips, social...
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Milwaukee Lakefront Field Trip 2021 - Jan. 17
-Written by Tom Schultz, former Field Trips co-chair-
Our group met at South Shore Yacht Club around 7:30 AM on Sunday, January 17. Light flurries were falling from time to time, but the temperature was pretty mild for mid January – right around 30 degrees – and the NW wind was fairly light. The 19 attendees had all pre-registered via the WSO website, and the group was led by Tom...
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Update on WSO Field Trips 2020
You may have noticed that the December issue of The Badger Birder did not include its usual four-page schedule of field trips for the coming year. The continuing COVID-19 pandemic makes it impossible to plan a regular field trip schedule, so WSO's Field Trip Committee will be scheduling events on an as-possible basis and will continue to use the COVID-19 protocols it implemented for two...
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Superheroes of Science Olympiad’s Avian Challenge
Jenna Castillo and Grace Hasse, juniors at Menomonie High School in Dunn County, with the Silver Medals they earned in the ornithology event of a nationwide scholastic competition called Science Olympiad.
-By Steve Betchkal-
Grace Hasse and Jenna Castillo are Super Heroes. They can’t sing like a thrush, cross the Gulf of Mexico by flapping their arms, or even fly. But they can tell you how a...
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Winter Finch Irruption Makes ‘Home for the Holidays’ Easier
Evening Grosbeaks can be attracted with black oil sunflower seeds presented on a platform feeder. Photo taken by Ryan Brady.
The pandemic may be dictating that this is the winter for the state’s birders to play it safe, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy one of our favorite pastimes.
Yes, most birders are staying at home, or close to home, in their birding activities, especially...
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Leaders Ask Skyscraper Owner to Remedy Bird Collisions
Photo by Brad Bumgardner. Virginia Rails are low altitude migrants and thus vulnerable to collisions with the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons.
On. Oct. 15, a coalition of the state’s leading bird conservation leaders – led by WSO and Bird City Wisconsin -- sent a letter to Northwestern Mutual executives...
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WSO Seeks to Hire Editor for eHaunts
In September, WSO announced that it was making the 5th Edition of Wisconsin’s Favorite Bird Haunts available to members on our members-only website at https://wso.wildapricot.org/haunts. We did so with the knowledge that Haunts was last updated in 2009. Over the last 11 years a lot has changed in terms of bird population distribution, relevance of birding sites and accessibility of some...
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Reopened WSO Bookstore Features New ABA State Guide
Reopened WSO Bookstore features new ABA state guide
With appropriate pandemic precautions now in place, WSO has officially reopened its newly-remodeled Bookstore.
Orders can be placed from the WSO website at https://wsobirds.org/wso-store or by mail using the updated order form that appears on Page 14 of this issue of The Badger Birder.
The online storefront is all new and...
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1 Million eBird Checklists & Counting: New Milestone
By Ryan Brady (WDNR Conservation Biologist)
Wisconsin has a strong tradition of bird monitoring, conservation, and citizen science. We can now add another feather to our cap — more than one million checklists submitted to eBird, the popular online platform for reporting bird observations. Only one state with a smaller population (Oregon) has reached the feat.
“This milestone is a testament...
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New Benefit for WSO Members... and Win A Free Book!
WSO members can now enjoy a 30% discount off all bird-related books and products from Princeton University Press, one of the country’s leading publishers of high quality, authoritative bird guides and books.
Princeton's list includes Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle's The Warbler Guide; The Crossley ID Guide series; Brian Wheeler's Birds of Prey series; authoritative field guides to the birds...
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