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Promoting the enjoyment, study, and conservation of Wisconsin's birds.

Harrington Beach 2025 Field Trip Report

On Sunday, October 5, the weather was sunny and unseasonably mild (68 degrees), with a moderate to strong wind out of the SSW. These conditions (especially after several similar days in a row) seemed more conducive to warblers than hawks—and that certainly turned out to be the case! Our group met at 8:00 AM in the lower parking lot at Harrington Beach State Park, and we soon started to see... Read More   

Jaegerfest 2025 Field Trip Report

Birders gather on a beach. Photo by Tom Schultz.
Once again, the big Jaegerfest weekend on Wisconsin Point has come and gone—with this being our 27th year. The term “Jaegerfest” started out as a tongue-in-cheek, joking reference to the frequency of jaeger experiences at this event. Prior to this field trip (which started in 1999), jaegers were thought of as being fairly rare in Wisconsin, but we were finding that we were seeing them... Read More   

News Release: Wisconsin Society for Ornithology seeks nominations for 2026 Passenger Pigeon Awards

                      Alicia Frances King 907-268-0124 executive.director@wsobirds.org https://wsobirds.org Wisconsin Society for Ornithology seeks nominations for 2026 Passenger Pigeon Awards Madison, Sept. 18, 2025 — The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology Passenger Pigeon Award nomination period is open, and... Read More   

Bay Beach 2025 Field Trip Report

Our group of 24 gathered at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 7:00 AM.  We had partly cloudy skies and cool temperatures (48 degrees at the start) and a light to moderate wind from the west. Initially, on and near the lagoons, we spotted a GREAT BLUE HERON, GREEN HERON and a fairly cooperative BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON that landed in a nearby... Read More   

Join Our Team

Join Our Team - for the love of birds The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology seeks an administrative assistant to join the organization’s staff to assist with communications, publication distribution, membership, and business transactions. The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology is a nonprofit organization whose mission is promoting the enjoyment, study, and conservation of Wisconsin’s birds.... Read More   

2025 Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern Unit Field Trip

On Saturday, June 7, at 6:00 AM, 16 people met at the Zillmer Trail parking lot for the WSO’s Kettle Moraine State Forest – Northern Unit field trip. The weather was good, with partly cloudy skies, very light wind, and temperatures in the mid-60s. Our route for the day included: Auburn Lake Road, Jersey Flats Prairie Restoration Area, Haushalter Lane, Haskell Noyes Memorial... Read More   

White River Marsh Field Trip Report 2025

Our group of 18 met in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, May 3rd – along White River Road in White River State Wildlife Area.  The temperature was 42, the winds were light from the NE, and the skies were nearly entirely cloudy. We soon started to hear a few birds starting to call in the dim light of early morning, including CANADA GOOSE, SANDHILL CRANE, BARRED OWL,... Read More   

WSO Mead Wildlife Area Field Trip Report

By Myles Hurlburt, WSO field trip committee This year’s outing was held, Saturday, April 19, 2025. The weather was a cool 37 degrees partly cloudy.  By the time we were done it reached 45 degrees. We had a total of 10 attendees from across the state.  The water levels were a little high on Smokey Hill Rd and Rangeline Rd. For some, this was their first visit to the Mead Wildlife... Read More   

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... Read More   

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... Read More   

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... Read More   
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