Dane and Columbia County Ponds 2025 Field Trip Report
Thirteen of us met at Goose Pond on Saturday, March 22 at 7 AM, and were greeted with a nice spectacle of waterfowl – including about 400 TUNDRA SWANS swimming about on the west pond! The morning was quite chilly, with a temperature of 26 degrees and a moderate north wind. The sky was clear, but the early morning sunshine was doing little to warm us up.
Field Trip Group...
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Sheboygan Lakefront Field Trip 2025 Report
On Saturday, March 8, at 7:00 AM, our group gathered in Sheboygan near the Broughton Drive jetties, along the Lake Michigan shore. The weather was not bad, with mostly clear skies and a starting temperature around 24 degrees.
The recent rising temperatures were resulting in increasing bird song, and we were serenaded by RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, AMERICAN ROBINS, HOUSE...
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2025 WSO Convention Registration is Open!
We hope you will join us in May for Birding the Bluffs!
By WSO Convention Organizers
The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology is pleased to present our 83rd annual convention May 15-18 in La Crosse-Onalaska at the Stoney Creek Hotel. It includes the features we have all come to love: field trips, first-day social gathering, our awards ceremony, important discussions, and a banquet followed by an...
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Announcement of the 2025 Passenger Pigeon Awards
By Wendy Schultz, WSO Awards Chair
SCIENCE has shown that being in nature (birdwatching) can help reduce anxiety and depression. If I could (and I just might) I would encourage the physicians I work with to regularly write prescriptions for their anxious patients, dosing them to a daily walk in the woods, or a date night with a bird club—just to connect them to the power of nature and...
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Buena Vista Grasslands Field Trip Report 2025
Just two days prior to this outing, the landscape had been fairly brown – with minimal snow cover – but the snowstorm from the day before brought about 6-7 inches. Unfortunately, the snow and slippery roads resulted in cancellations from a number of field trip registrants. Despite that, however, there were still seven of us who gathered on the morning of February 16, with three cars in...
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PSC Disappoints In Decision To Allow Solar Farm Construction Near Buena Vista Wildlife Area
By Jennifer Lazewski, WSO Executive Director
Although WSO and other bird advocates have done everything possible to protect Greater Prairie-chickens in Portage County, the large Vista Sands Solar facility has been approved to be constructed next to the Buena Vista Wildlife Area (BVWA). At the time this article was written, the Public Service Commission has reached its 3-0 decision to approve the...
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A SALUTE to the 2024 BIGBY Birding Champs…
By Wendy Schultz, WSO BIGBY Birding Coordinator
WSO would like to congratulate ALL the BIGBY birders of the state, for the many MILES they put on their bikes and their feet, and for the birds they found, photographed and e-Birded in 2024. They can be proud of their accomplishments as they continue to inspire the rest of us to get outside and take a hike or ride your bike. For the record, we now...
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Need a GREAT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION? Try BIGBY birding—it’s GOOD for you and ANYONE can do it!
By Wendy Schultz, WSO BIGBY Birding Coordinator
The Wisconsin Society of Ornithology is heading into its NINTH year of managing the Wisconsin Green Birding Challenge—better known as BIGBY birding. For those of you who need a refresher course on what BIGBY stands for, it means BIG GREEN BIRDING YEAR.
This more-than-exciting and HEART-HEALTHY form of competitive birding is carbon neutral...
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Milwaukee Lakefront Field Trip Report 2025
Our group of 24 gathered at the South Shore Yacht Club, with relatively mild temperatures (about 30 degrees) and light to moderate winds from the south and southwest – not too bad for this trip. Many warm greetings were exchanged among the participants.
Upon arrival, folks began scanning the waterbirds that were present near the marina, and a nice variety of ducks was present,...
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Harrington Beach Hawk Watch 2024 – Sunday, Oct. 6
The forecast was promising for our annual Hawk Watch at Harrington Beach State Park (Sunday, Oct. 6), with sunny skies and fairly strong west to northwest winds predicted. The temperature was also fairly mild as our group gathered at 8:00 AM – right about 58 degrees.
There seemed to be fewer songbirds present this year in the area around the parking lot, but we...
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Sandhill Crane Study Committee Update
By Jennifer Lazewski, WSO Executive Director
WSO spoke for our birds in a presentation before the Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes by Executive Director Jennifer Lazewski on October 1, 2024. To counter the characterization of hunters that opposition is based solely on emotion, WSO provided plenty of facts and figures to show that birders contribute to science, that hunt...
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