This has been a very strange spring, with mild weather arriving already in late February – bringing big flocks of waterfowl to Wisconsin much earlier than normal. As this late-March field trip approached, we wondered how many ducks and geese would still be around. In addition, the recent precipitation has been well below normal, so fewer fields have been flooded this...
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Sheboygan Lakefront – 9 March 2024
The field trip participants gathered at 8:00 AM in Kohler-Andrae State Park at the Sanderling Nature Center parking lot. The skies were clear and sunny and the temperature at 33 degrees, but with a chilly wind blowing out of the northwest. This field trip was following on the heels of a mild winter and early spring, so our expectations were not high. After taking...
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WSO Convention Registration Open
We hope you’ll join us in May for Great Birding on A Great Lake!
By WSO Convention Organizers
Come join us for WSO’s annual convention on May 17-19 in Two Rivers at the Lighthouse Inn and Conference Center right on Lake Michigan. Convention registration will run from March 1 to April 25. More information is...
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Announcement of the 2024 WSO Passenger Pigeon Awards
Announcement of the 2024 WSO Passenger Pigeon Awards
By Wendy Schultz, WSO Awards Coordinator
With so much political turmoil in the world, it is comforting to know the positive impact birds and nature can have on us when we immerse ourselves in it. A simple walk in the woods will tamp down anxiety, bringing us that famous “peaceful, easy feeling” that connects us to the natural world....
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Buena Vista Grasslands 2024
– Field Trip Report
The morning was cloudy as we gathered in Bancroft, and the temperature was 26 degrees – relatively balmy compared to many previous years that were closer to zero! Unfortunately, the wind was fairly stiff out of the northwest, which definite kept things chilly in this open landscape. The recent mild temperatures had melted nearly all of the snow cover,...
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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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