The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology is a volunteer, non-profit organization. Thanks to the efforts of our dedicated volunteers, WSO has celebrated many accomplishments during our 80-year history, including coordinating the first and second Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlases, preserving and managing critical bird habitat on our Honey Creek Preserve and inspiring generations of people to study, enjoy and conserve Wisconsin’s birds.
WSO is experiencing an exciting period of new growth, and we are seeking volunteers to help us as we transform into a more effective advocate for bird conservation. We invite you to join us, lend your talents to our cause, and learn about Wisconsin’s birds and their conservation!
The following volunteer opportunities are currently open:
Editor – The Badger Birder
We are seeking an experienced editor to succeed the current editor of The Badger Birder, an 11-issue per year newsletter that covers WSO events and activities, conservation issues and other bird-related news. Features may include conservation topics, committee reports, identification and birding tips, interesting bird sightings and new-member profiles.
The Birder welcomes articles from members, non-members and partnering organizations. A primary responsibility of a volunteer editor will be soliciting and editing articles from contributors, as well as writing updates on WSO’s ongoing activities and conservation campaigns.
The volunteer editor needs to be an engaged member of the state’s birding community and a member of WSO. They must be comfortable working on a deadline, communicating with a variety of constituents and making editorial decisions concerning content and layout.
The current editor and designer both plan to retire in June of 2022 and would work with their successors to achieve a successful and seamless transition.
Newsletter Design and Layout – The Badger Birder
We are seeking someone with experience using Adobe InDesign to handle the design and layout of our monthly newsletter, The Badger Birder, beginning in June 2022.
The designer will work closely with the editor of The Birder to create a 20-24 page monthly newsletter. The designer will need to be comfortable working on a deadline to implement the layout of the newsletter for digital and print distribution.
It is conceivable that a single person might feel capable of handling both the editing and layout jobs but would need to be aware that this is a significant volunteer commitment, but a very satisfying one.
Peer-Review Editors – The Passenger Pigeon
The Passenger Pigeon, WSO’s flagship publication, is a quarterly journal featuring a wide range of articles on Wisconsin birds, seasonal field sightings and scientific research reports.
The Pigeon welcomes and will publish original research that advances the scientific understanding and conservation of Wisconsin birds and their habitats. The Pigeon is especially interested in submissions from undergraduate and graduate students from Wisconsin institutions and from citizen scientists in the categories of Research Papers, Review Articles and Commentaries/Rebuttals.
WSO is seeking volunteers with a background in ornithology, biology, wildlife conservation or a related field to serve on a roster of Peer-Review Editors. Those serving in this volunteer position will determine a manuscript’s appropriateness for publication in The Passenger Pigeon.
Peer-Review Editors will be responsible for forwarding appropriate articles to independent reviewers with expertise in the manuscript’s topic area to examine the manuscript. They will then decide on accepting or rejecting the manuscript based on the reviewers’ comments. They will be responsible for all communication with the manuscript’s author(s), including explaining why a particular manuscript was not accepted for publication.
Art/Photography Editor – The Passenger Pigeon
The Passenger Pigeon, WSO’s flagship publication, is a quarterly journal featuring a wide range of articles on Wisconsin birds, seasonal field sightings, and scientific research reports.
The journal features photographs, illustrations and artwork of birds seen in Wisconsin that are submitted by the birding community for possible inclusion in the publication.
We are seeking a volunteer with experience in photography, graphic design or the visual arts to work with our lead editor to solicit artwork and photographs from members and non-members alike, and to determine which submissions are appropriate for inclusion in the journal.
If you are interested in any of these volunteer opportunities, visit our website at https://wsobirds.org/volunteer
