Need a GREAT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION? Try BIGBY birding!
By Wendy Schultz, WSO BIGBY Birding Coordinator
The Wisconsin Society of Ornithology is heading into its EIGHTH 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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Book hotel rooms today for WSO Convention May 17-19 in Two Rivers
Are you joining us at our convention in Two Rivers, May 17 -19? We hope so! Make your hotel reservations asap to take advantage of special rates. We currently have blocks of rooms reserved at The Lighthouse Inn (convention headquarters), as well as at the Village Inn on the Lake, and the Inn on Maritime Bay in Manitowoc.
Call and ask for the WSO Convention Rate. Once these blocks fill, rates...
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Join WSO at the 2024 Garden and Landscape Expo!
Join fellow nature lovers at PBS Wisconsin’s annual Garden & Landscape Expo in Madison from Feb. 9-11. The annual event will take place Friday through Sunday, at the Alliant Energy Center.
Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about gardening for birds using native plants and environmentally sustainable practices.
Jennifer Lazewski's very bird-friendly yard!
WSO's...
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WSO convention to be held in Two Rivers
American Avocet by Rebecca Jabs
Great Birding on a Great Lake!
Come join fellow WSO members in Two Rivers at the Lighthouse Inn and Conference Center on the Lake Michigan shore for our 82nd Annual Convention (May 17-19). Convention registration will run from March 1 to April 15.
The Lake Michigan shoreline in Two Rivers
Check-in will begin at 3 pm on Friday, May 17, followed by...
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Milwaukee Lakefront 2024 Field Trip Report
SOUTH SHORE YACHT CLUB - PHOTO BY TOM SCHULTZ
It’s been a strange winter to this point, with mild temperatures and little snow, and our field trip on Sunday, Jan. 7 was no exception. As our group gathered around 8:00 AM at South Shore Yacht Club, the temperature was right around 32 degrees, with a gentle wind from the WNW.
The mild temps left the marina waters totally open, and the...
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Try birding a little closer to home
By Rebecca Minardi
Reprinted from American Birding Association book and media reviews
“Travel is inherently harmful,” he declared. It was 2017, and I was sitting in a lively graduate class in the Community Sustainability program at Michigan State when a classmate made this wild statement. The rest of us were flabbergasted. “What about our research trips?” my friend retorted....
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Bird enthustiasts recommend their favorite bird books
At our first-ever Unconvention in November, we included an open-mic session in which attendees could recommend their favorite bird books. Here are their recommendations - just in time for holiday giving!
Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson
Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder by Julia Zarankin
Sibley Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley
The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by...
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WSO celebrates National Cat Day? Here's why.
by Rebecca Gilman
WSO Secretary and Conservation Committee Co-chair
Unless you’re a cat lover you may not know that October 29th is National Cat Day. Established in 2005, the day celebrates cats and promotes their adoption from shelters and Humane Societies. Birdwatchers are not usually counted among the ranks of cat lovers, so it may come as a surprise that the Wisconsin Society...
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Latest Conservation News: A Big Win for the Birds!
Happy October! It’s been an eventful month so far, with both big wins and some new challenges for the birds. Let’s start with the big win!
Photo by Shan Arora
In 2022, Madison’s Bird-Safe Glass Ordinance – which requires buildings that are more than 10,000 square feet to incorporate a pattern, such as dots or lines, to prevent birds from colliding with the glass – was...
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Join us November 11 at our first-ever Unconvention!
Native Plant Garden at UW-Madison Arboretum
By Lynn Barber, WSO Vice President
Announcing the first WSO UNCONVENTION: PEOPLE IN WISCONSIN TALKING ABOUT BIRD STUFF!
When and where is this birdy event?
Saturday, November 11th, 9 am to 4:30 pm, at the UW-Madison Arboretum Visitor Center in Madison (1207 Seminole Hwy). Lunch is included. The program schedule can be found here.
What “Bird...
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Harrington Beach Hawk Watch 2023
BROAD-WINGED HAWK (IMMATURE) - PHOTO BY TOM SCHULTZ
The date we selected for this year’s WSO Hawk Watch was Saturday, October 7th, and it turned out that our timing was fortuitous. We had been watching the forecast during the days leading up to this year’s event, and with strong northwest winds predicted, we were optimistic that we’d have a good hawk flight!
The group...
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