Great Wisconsin Birdathon takes flight during Year of the Bird
Nora Simmons said she can probably identify only a handful of birds, but that won't stop her from getting outside this spring to see — and hear — as many as she can during the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin's Great Wisconsin Birdathon.
"It's fun to see what's out there, and to start to notice and hear a difference," said Simmons, who is the communications director for the foundation. "It's a super accessible way to spend time outside and to have a reason to get outside."
The Birdathon, which runs April 15 through June 15, is a good excuse to get outside for a good cause. The walkathon-style fundraiser raises money for the foundation's Bird Protection Fund. Teams raise money and then go out and try to spot as many unique species as they can in a 24-hour period.
In 2017 the Birdathon raised more than $91,000 for bird conservation efforts in Wisconsin; it's raised more than $300,000 since it began in 2012. Anywhere from 30 to 40 teams participate every year.
Some teams, like Cutright's Old Coots, raise money based on pledges, with people donating a certain amount per species spotted. In 2017, that was 153 species for that team, which raised a total of $10,350 — the most of any team.
But you don't have to be an avid birder to join the event.
"We welcome beginning birders," said Diane Packett, the Birdathon coordinator. "Everyone knows at least a few birds — everyone knows the robin, the hummingbird, the mallard duck. I tell people even kids can distinguish bird species by just their color."
A kindergarten class at Woodside Elementary School in Sussex will be among the youngest participants this year. Their teacher, Peter Dargatz, is taking them outside a few times before they officially do their count to learn about nature, conservation and birds.
For other beginners who aren't sure where to start, Packett said there's no right or wrong way to participate. You could just sit in your backyard and observe, or walk around your neighborhood with your dog, like Simmons is planning on doing.
In 2017, teams like the River Raptors kayaked Wisconsin rivers while counting. The Goss Hawks, from the Benjamin F. Goss Bird Club in Waukesha, "Walked the Wauk," hiking 38 miles of the Ice Age Trail in Waukesha County.
"A lot of people when I first mention the Birdathon, they'll say, I don’t know enough birds, or I can't get a team together, it's too hard, but we encourage all kinds of Birdathons," Packett said, noting that people who are interested should visit the event's website at wibirdathon.org.
Some local conservation organizations assemble teams, and half of the money they raise goes back to the organization.
Local Audubon societies and birding clubs are good places to find groups. Facebook groups like Birding Wisconsin are also good resources.
"The main thing is to ask around, because the thing is, everyone loves birds," Packett said.
The Natural Resources Foundation is also hosting a handful of birding field trips this spring, including a Horicon Marsh Birding Blitz May 6, Bogeys and Birdies along Lake Michigan in Ozaukee County May 10 and Catching the Peak: Migratory Bird Banding in Waupaca County May 12 and 19. The trips are only open to foundation members; register at wisconservation.org.
This year the foundation has set a goal of raising $100,000 in honor of the Year of the Bird, a celebration coordinated by the National Audubon Society, National Geographic and others for the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The landmark law protects 800 species of birds and helped save some that were on the verge of being hunted to extinction, including the wood duck and the sandhill crane — now a common sight in Wisconsin.
The law was too late to save some species, though, including the passenger pigeon. The bird once blanketed the skies of Wisconsin, but it was hunted to extinction in 1914. A monument at Wyalusing State Park in western Wisconsin commemorates the bird — the last Wisconsin passenger pigeon was shot in Babcock in 1899.
Efforts like the Great Wisconsin Birdathon and the Year of the Bird are working to make sure those extinctions are a thing of the past. Money raised
from the 2017 Birdathon went to programs including the Department of Natural Resources' efforts to reintroduce the Kirtland's warbler, a federally endangered species whose numbers in Wisconsin have grown from 11 birds in 2007 to 53 in 2017. The little yellowbreasted bird, which weighs less than half an ounce, migrates between the Great Lakes and the Bahamas and as of 1995 was only found in Michigan's lower peninsula.
You probably won't spot the rare songbird — it almost exclusively nests in pine barrens on private land in Adams County.
Here are five more common birds you should be able to spot:
Sandhill crane
Sandhill cranes are one of the earliest return migrants and have been spotted in Wisconsin since February this year. The gray-brown birds have distinctive red crowns, long necks and can stand up to 4 feet tall. Their loud bugle calls can be heard from up to 2.5 miles away. They are found in a variety of habitats, from open prairies to wetlands.
American robin
The Wisconsin state bird has an orange-red breast, yellow beak and cheerful song. Many spend all winter in their breeding grounds in southern Wisconsin, while some migrate and return in April. These birds like feeders and are one of the most common summer birds in the state.
Common loon
The Ojibwe called them the mang, the most handsome of birds. Loons are indeed an elegant species, with black caps, red eyes and black-and-white checkerboard bodies. They live on northern Wisconsin lakes in the summer, diving underwater and bobbing along its surface, their brown-black chicks riding on their backs. Their haunting wail is a hallmark of the Northwoods.
You'll probably hear the telltale rat-atat-tat of this bird before you see it. The state's largest woodpecker, the bird bores 3- to 4-inch holes in the trunks of dead trees. It has a black body and a Woody Woodpecker-style crest of red feathers. Its numbers were in jeopardy at the turn of the 20th century due to habitat loss, but the birds have recovered in Wisconsin as its forests have.
Great blue heron
This large, blue-gray bird is sometimes mistaken for a crane in flight, with its long neck and large wingspan. But these birds fly with their necks tucked closer to their body, while sandhill cranes fly with their necks outstretched. Great blue herons live in wetlands and are expert fishers. They nest in large groups known as rookeries, which can have more than 100 nests.