Members urged to nominate for Passenger Pigeon Awards
Wendy Schultz chairs the WSO Awards Committee and has been on a mission to personally present the Passenger Pigeon Awards that normally would have been handed out during the annual conventions that were cancelled due to COVID.
WSO is accepting nominations through Dec. 31 for its annual Passenger Pigeon Awards. A nomination form can be completed and submitted online at...
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Harrington Beach Hawk Watch 2022
Our WSO group gathered at the lower beach parking lot at Harrington Beach State Park at 8:00 AM. It was a chilly morning – starting at about 34 degrees – but the sky was clear. The wind was out of the west at about 10-15 mph, so we were optimistic about seeing a hawk migration – although this was now the 3rd day since the cold front first passed through Wisconsin, with...
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Court upholds Madison’s bird-friendly building ordinance
Photo by Maria Parrott-Ryan for Madison Audubon An Indigo Bunting died after crashing into a window in the Madison area
American Bird Conservancy
A Dane County Circuit Court judge has ruled in favor of birds, upholding Madison’s bird-friendly building ordinance, the first ever adopted in the state.
The ordinance, which went into effect in 2020 and...
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Join WSO flock for Birds in Art event - RSVP by Oct 10
Join your fellow bird lovers on Tuesday night Oct. 18 as WSO flocks togethers with the Wausau Bird Club at the Birds in Art 2022 exhibit in Wausau at the Woodson Art Museum. The 47th annual, internationally renowned exhibition features bird paintings, sculptures and graphics by 118 artists.
The donations-optional event will start with a guided tour of part of the exhibit at 5 p.m. and include a...
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August-September Rare Birds: Limpkins reach state as rarity parade continues
John Dixon photographed this Limpkin in August in Racine County.
By Mark Korducki
An amazing run of rarities continued into the late summer and early fall.
Formerly a south Florida specialty, Limpkins have become more common in Florida and have spread throughout the Southeast as they follow the spread of an invasive apple snail. Snails are a primary food source for...
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2023 WSO CONVENTION
Yes, we are going to have a convention in 2023! The WSO Convention Committee (co-chairs Lynn Barber and Christine Reel) and the Benjamin F. Goss Bird Club have joined forces to plan a weekend of great birding and fun in and around Waukesha County during spring migration.
The dates: Friday, May 19 to Sunday, May 21, 2023The venue: The Ingleside Hotel in PewaukeeField trips and keynoter:...
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Sign the guest book when you visit Honey Creek
Ed Peartree on some of his many birding banding outings
By Rebecca Gilman
WSO Board Secretary
Fall is here and it’s a perfect time to visit our Honey Creek Preserve in Sauk County. The leaves are turning as our summer birds depart. Migrants drop down to refuel and rest before taking to the wing once again and our winter visitors – like the Dark-eyed...
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Jaegerfest 2022 - 24 years!
Sunrise Birding Sept 23, 2022 Photo: Tom Schultz
By Tom Schultz WSO Field Trips Committee
This was another “unofficial” Jaegerfest weekend for WSO, but many members attended – as we have annually since we started this field trip to Wisconsin Point in 1999 – so this was the event’s 24th year!
This report begins on Thursday Sept. 22, since that day provided...
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Bay Beach Field Trip 2022 – Sept. 10
Attendees arrived at Bay Beach wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay under cloudy skies, with a cold front just arriving. Rain heading our way from the northwest, but fortunately the morning remained dry. The temperature was in the mid-60s, and the wind was from the north about 5-10 mph.
7:00 AM was our meeting time, and we gathered along one of the lagoons not far from the parking...
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Visual concert in the night sky to happen soon
Wisconsin Chimney Swift Working Group You are invited to a free evening concert in nature. The performers are the Chimney Swifts, and they will be chittering and twittering above chimneys in the evening sky before they roost for the night this fall. These birds are getting ready to migrate south, all the way to the Amazon, and when they do they become communal. This is where the show begins. Some...
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Big Birding Bash was a big success
By Jennifer Lazewski WSO Executive Director The first Big Birding Bash was a resounding success as a spring migration bird counting effort with fun local gatherings of birders. On May 21-22, over 300 participants in 59 counties observed 244 bird species. This effort included birders through the state with eBird checklists done that weekend. We asked that everyone share their checklists with...
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