It's officially crunch time! The 2nd Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas has until about mid-August to complete all remaining blocks in the fifth and final season, and your help is needed. Here are the keys to a successful finish: -- Enter all outstanding data immediately. Atlas coordinators will be scrutinizing every open block at that point to determine where to focus efforts to finish. -- Only...
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Passenger Pigeon Will Be Late
Due to unforeseen problems in the transition to a new editor, publication of both the Spring and Summer issues of The Passenger Pigeon has fallen behind schedule. WSO apologizes to its members for this delay.
We anticipate that the Spring issue will reach members in August and the Summer issue a month or so later. It is likely that the Fall issue also will be delayed as the WSO Board searches...
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Late Migration Brought Great and Abundant Rarities
It was a cold and wet month that triggered a late migration. The first big warbler waves were behind schedule this May with many areas not seeing a good flight until May 15. Once the dam finally burst there was a steady stream of migrants through the Memorial Day weekend. Some great rarities were reported and some species were seen in unprecedented numbers.
The state's second Hooded Oriole was...
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WSO Members Flock to 80th Convention
The 80th annual WSO convention over the Memorial Day weekend in Altoona was a collection of events, ranging from the kickoff picnic at the River Prairie Center’s riverfront pavilion to its annual Passenger Pigeon Awards Ceremony, to a special appearance by one of WSO’s historic figures, 99-year-old Dr. Charles Kemper, of Chippewa Falls (former editor of The Passenger Pigeon), to a collection...
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2019 WSO Field Trip to the Kettle Moraine State Forest
-Jeff Baughman, WSO Field Trip Co-Chair-
On Saturday, June 8, at 6:00 AM, 11 people gathered at Mauthe Lake Recreation Area for the WSO’s Kettle Moraine State Forest-Northern Unit field trip. This particular outing was a redo of the June 1 trip that got cut short because of the weather. At that trip, I told participants I would re-run this field trip the following week if anyone was...
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Ways to Help Complete Atlas’ Final Year
-By Nick Anich and Carrie Becker-
2019 is slated to be the final year of field work for the 2nd Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, and the Atlas team needs all hands on deck this year to complete this monumental effort by mid-August. Here are the best ways to jump in:
++ Check the map of blocks left to be complete at http://wiatri.net/projects/WBBA/WBBAmap.cfm - Click the box to...
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Wisconsin’s Peregrine Falcons: A Spring Update
-By Greg Septon-
Many Peregrine Falcons in Wisconsin overwinter and those that do generally get a head start on the nesting season. Such was the case again this year with the first eggs of the season laid on March 26 and continuing on a regular basis through April 16. Of the 30 or so nest sites I monitor, there were a total of 80 eggs under incubation at 21 sites by mid April with...
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Lots of Work Remain for the Atlas
-By Carrie Becker, Atlas Communications Chair-
The leadership team for the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II has extended a hearty “thank you” to all who attended the Final Season Kickoff in Stevens Point during the first weekend in April. Attendance exceeded expectations with nearly 150 atlasers attending.
Perhaps most significantly, thanks to a workshop led by the 50 county...
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White River Marsh Field Trip Report – 2019
It was a chilly but nice morning on May 4 at the White River Marsh, as birders began gathering prior to 5:00 AM. The temperature was about 38 degrees, but the winds were light and from the south – under partly cloudy skies. Jupiter and Saturn were on full display in the still-dim southern sky, and a number of us enjoyed views of both of them through a scope.
All around us, the dawning marsh...
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Looking Back 80 Years to When WSO Was Born
-By Michael John Jaeger, Editor, The Passenger Pigeon-
I was looking back into Volume 1 of The Passenger Pigeon to see what I might find about the beginnings of WSO. One curious thing was that four monthly issues of the Pigeon were published before WSO’s formal start in May 1939. In the January issue, it was noted that the Madison Bird Club had in mind a statewide bird club.
The...
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George W. Mead State Wildlife Area Field Trip Report
-By Myles Hurlburt, WSO President-
This year’s WSO field trip to the George W. Mead State Wildlife Area was held on Saturday April 13. Of course we had just received 13+ inches of snow on the Thursday before. I did not move the date as I did last year. With the cold and snow hanging on so late, I was concerned what the weather might be like, but overall it ended up being an okay day...
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