WAC for the Birds: 3 Important Things You Can Do
On March 19th Green-Rock Audubon hosted the Wisconsin Audubon Council (WAC) quarterly meeting at Welty Environmental Center in Beloit, WI. About twelve people attended the event, and shared a pancake lunch thanks to Welty’s Maple Syrup Festival! Carl Schwartz gave an informative presentation about several important things going on in Wisconsin right now. WAC generously voted to support a project tracking golden winged warblers and the Bird City project. But there’s more to be done. Here’s the 3 important things you can do to help birds in Wisconsin:
1. Get Sponsored to Do the Great Wisconsin Birdathon!
A lot of people already watch birds. Imagine the power of turning something you would do anyway into a way of raising money to support bird conservation. Whether you’re sitting at your feeder for an hour, or going out for an eight-hour wilderness adventure – your contribution matters. Here’show it works:
Make a team. You can do this individually or with your friends.
Set a date, time, and location any time before June 15th! It’s an event. You can spend an hour in a highly frequented spot, or make a day of it. Either way the birds you count will help scientist better understand how birds are doing in Wisconsin.
Power in Numbers: Ask for sponsorships for your birding event. Think about it: If you got four friends to donate $25 to sponsor your Birdathon event, you’ve just raised $100! Imagine how much you could do if you had 3 teammates, and each of you had 10 friends and co-workers donate $10 to a three-hour hiking excursion. You’ve just raised $400! You can do it!
Go count birds! You’ll be doing something you love, and making a difference at the same time. Your donations will go to The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin.
If you’re new at this, but want to try it, go ahead and sign up! The Audubon has awesome resources for bird identification that will help, such as the Free Bird Guide app for your smart phone!
2. Use Your Smart Phone To Track Breeding Birds
TheWisconsin Breeding Bird Atlasis an on-going project in its second iteration. The goal is to use the skills of birders all over Wisconsin to spot and record the locations of bird nesting sites by looking for proof of birds breeding. This project also sports a great app calledebirdto help capture data when you make an observation.
You can download ebird and record casually or sign up to keep tabs on a specific parcel of land.
As a beginner, my first question was, “How do I know if a bird is nesting if it’s not in its nest.” Turns out there are all kinds ofbird behaviorsthat point to nesting, and the Breeding Bird Atlas has listed them all.
I was wondering if I’d be able to spot a breeding bird when I saw one, then a pair of Morning Doves tried to build a nest on my car while I was in it! Here’s the video.
3. Find out if your city is a Bird City
ABird City Wisconsindesignation means that a municipality has implemented best practices for protecting birds such as enhancing bird friendly environments and public education among other things.
The Bird City website is full of resources on how to affordably make your home a safer stop for birds, as well as best practices and suggestions on how to help your community make a conscious effort for the birds!
Find out About More Resources in the Green – Rock Area
Join us for Guided Hikes Every 2ndSaturday
Learn About Fighting Conservation Threats in Green County
