WSO is pleased to offer you the ability to renew your annual membership safely and securely online. Just go to wsobirds.org/members and click on the RENEW tab.
Please review your member profile and verify that your contact information is correct.
To make membership even easier, WSO has recently implemented a new auto-renew feature. When you renew you can update your profile and membership...
Read More
2020 WSO Convention: ‘Great Birding on a Great Lake’
“Great Birding on a Great Lake” is the 2020 WSO Convention theme, and the convention planning committee is planning an active and educational conference in Two Rivers.
“We’re going to offer a few new options for next year’s convention and take advantage of the fact that we’re on Lake Michigan,” said Nancy Nabak, convention chair. Field trips, the hallmark of a WSO convention, will...
Read More
5 Years of Atlas Data Yields 226 Species: 13 New Since 2000
-By Carrie Becker (WBBA II Communications Chair)-
Madison – Volunteers and organizers wrapped up Wisconsin’s 5-year statewide breeding bird survey with an exciting photo finish: volunteer Aaron Haycraft sighted a Glossy Ibis pair and their young at Horicon Marsh, the first time this Atlantic Coast bird has been documented nesting in Wisconsin.
The Glossy Ibis discovery in August brought to...
Read More
Harrington Beach State Park: Hawk Watch 2019
-Written by Tom Schultz-
Birders began arriving well before our 8:00 AM start time, under sunny skies and with the temperature around 50 degrees. We gathered on a grassy area near the lower parking lot at Harrington Beach State Park and started watching the bird activity in the nearby trees and bushes. It turned out that we had a fantastic attendance of birders, with about 45 showing...
Read More
U.S. & Canada Lose More than 1 in 4 Birds in Last 50 Years
-This article was compiled from reports by The Atlantic and American Bird Conservancy-
In the early afternoon of Sept. 1, 1914, Martha the Passenger Pigeon, the last of her kind in the world, passed away, and her entire species disappeared with her. But before that instant of extinction, there had been decades of decline, as hunters killed what was once the most common bird in the world....
Read More
Jaegerfest Report 2019: Sep. 20-22
-Tom Schultz, WSO Field Trips Co-Chair-
Day One: Friday, September 20 brought fog to Wisconsin Point and the surrounding area, as birders began arriving around 6:30 AM. It wasn’t quite pea-soup, but it did limit visibility over Lake Superior to about 50-200 yards, making it very difficult to find anything but the RING-BILLED and HERRING GULLS that usually come in while we’re present,...
Read More
Funds Let You Target Your Support for WSO Work
The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology (WSO) is grateful for the outstanding support it receives each year from its members and encourages donations from all individuals and organizations interested in the study, enjoyment and protection of Wisconsin’s birds.
Year after year, WSO members have gone beyond the basics of renewing their annual membership–- which in itself helps support our key...
Read More
Climate Change Keynote Speaker for 2020 WSO Convention
The 2020 WSO Convention will be held from Thursday through Sunday May 14-17 in Two Rivers. Among the convention partners are the Woodland Dunes Nature Center and the Lighthouse Inn and Conference Center on the shore of Lake Michigan.
“Our convention committee is excited to bring a meaningful and unforgettable experience to the bird-loving attendees of this conference,” said Nancy Nabak,...
Read More
Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary 2019 – Sept. 7
-Tom Schultz (Field Trips Co-Chair)-
The day started off with great expectations, following light to moderate north and northwest winds overnight, so we hoped for a decent migration. By dawn, however, the breeze had shifted to the southwest and the weather was dry, under cloudy to partly cloudy skies. Birders began arriving at Bay Beach a little after 6:30, and by the time we reached 7:00...
Read More
Atlas Field Work Finishes on Schedule
-By Nick Anich (WBBA II Coordinator)-
It would have been big news simply to be able to announce that all 1,283 priority and specialty blocks for the 2nd Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas had been marked complete. After all, there were nearly 500 blocks left to finish at the start of the fifth season, but with a phenomenal effort involving more than 2,000 people it got done.
But the fifth season...
Read More
Honey Creek Camp Out 2019
-Written by Tom Schultz-
August 23-25. We couldn’t have asked for better weather for this event! It was sunny or partly cloudy for most of the weekend, with mild daytime temperatures in the mid-70s, and comfortable nights in the 50s. On top of all that, there was little or no wind for most of the time. Jeff Baughman, Wendy and I showed up at Cox Nature Center at Honey Creek right around 5:30...
Read More