Southern Wisconsin is home to a wonderful diversity of habitats and birds, including in winter! The annual Christmas Bird Count is a great citizen science project that involves meeting other enthusiastic birders and helping collect important data about birds at the same time. Join the Poynette Christmas Bird Count and help count birds at Goose Pond Sanctuary!

Photo by Arlene Koziol

There is simply no better way to start the New Year. We will enjoy the pre-dawn light as we meander through the prairie, arriving at the Mackenzie Overlook to see the sun rise over the beautiful Faville Marsh. We will spend the early morning exploring the winter marsh and surrounding uplands.

Photo by Drew Harry

From 2021-2022, nine GPS transmitters were attached to wintering Rough-legged Hawks in Wisconsin, including two sponsored by Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (learn about them here: https://swibirds.org/fff/tag/rough-legged+hawk). Many of these transmitters are still functioning and have provided multiple years of full annual cycle movements. Come learn about the year-round movements of Rough-legged Hawks wintering in the great state of Wisconsin, and how these nine birds fit into the broader Rough-legged Hawk Project that has tracked nearly 200 hawks throughout North America.

Photo by Phil Brown

This field trip is full. Join the waiting list. Enjoy the nighttime woods on this evening Owl Prowl at Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Great Horned and Barred Owls are regularly seen in this area, and we may get lucky and find Screech Owls as well!

Cover photo by Arlene Koziol

Come enjoy Fair Meadows Sanctuary during the Birding Day! This 374 acre sanctuary and State Natural Area has many trails and habitats to explore. During this Birding Day, attendees can grab a map, wipe their boots, and hit the trails independently. No guided walks are provided.

Fair Meadows Birding Days are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, except in November.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

Citizen science is a wonderful way for community members to participate in important research studies, and the studies greatly benefit too! Through the Bald Eagle Nest Watch and Bird Collision Corps programs, volunteers with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance help study Bald Eagle populations and nesting success, as well as the dangers windows pose to birds. Learn how these programs work and the important information the volunteers have collected in this presentation.

Photo by Lisa Frank

This field trip is full. Join the waiting list. Enjoy the nighttime woods on this evening Owl Prowl at Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Great Horned and Barred Owls are regularly seen in this area, and we may get lucky and find Screech Owls as well!

Cover photo by Phil Brown

Join us as we explore our beautiful Fair Meadows Sanctuary and State Natural Area in mid-winter. We will look and listen for birds and mammals, and enjoy the vistas of the prairies and woodlands in the quiet of the season, hopefully covered in snow. Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Dark-eyed Juncos, and more are all expected to make an appearance. If we’re lucky, we might see otter slides and other mammal tracks!

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Join Davin Lopez, an endangered species biologist with the Department of Natural Resources since 2005, to learn what birds can teach us about the impacts of climate change. Davin will discuss overall climate change trends in Wisconsin, along with how these trends are impacting birds, ecosystems, and people.

This event is part of the Birds and Beyond series.

Come enjoy Fair Meadows Sanctuary during the Birding Day! This 374 acre sanctuary and State Natural Area has many trails and habitats to explore. During this Birding Day, attendees can grab a map, wipe their boots, and hit the trails independently. No guided walks are provided.

Fair Meadows Birding Days are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, except in November.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

Come enjoy Fair Meadows Sanctuary during the Birding Day! This 374 acre sanctuary and State Natural Area has many trails and habitats to explore. During this Birding Day, attendees can grab a map, wipe their boots, and hit the trails independently. No guided walks are provided.

Fair Meadows Birding Days are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, except in November.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

Come enjoy Fair Meadows Sanctuary during the Birding Day! This 374 acre sanctuary and State Natural Area has many trails and habitats to explore. During this Birding Day, attendees can grab a map, wipe their boots, and hit the trails independently. No guided walks are provided.

Fair Meadows Birding Days are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, except in November.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

This field trip is designed for folks new to birding, and is family-friendly! We will explore the wonderful Cherokee Marsh North Unit, enjoying the sights and sounds of winter. We will share bird ID and talk about how to tell that bird species apart from others. This is a low-key, slow paced, no-pressure outing for beginners.

Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS

After leading more hikes than she can count, Jane has accumulated a few ideas and tips on how to lead a hike and capture your audience. We'll cover what works as well as what might not work, how to start and finish, what to do in the middle, how to manage the group (without their knowing you're managing them), how to handle mixed groups of kids and adults, and how to answer difficult questions. 

Free to attend; in person and online options.

Photo by Kaitlin Svabek/Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance

Come enjoy Fair Meadows Sanctuary during the Birding Day! This 374 acre sanctuary and State Natural Area has many trails and habitats to explore. During this Birding Day, attendees can grab a map, wipe their boots, and hit the trails independently. No guided walks are provided.

Fair Meadows Birding Days are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, except in November.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

This spring, when you order native plants through our special Native Plant Sale with Johnson’s Nursery out of Menomonee Falls, you get native plants delivered to Middleton, WI in May AND 15% of the sale totals go to Holy Wisdom Monastery and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (split 50/50).

Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS

This training is designed for people with little to no prescribed fire training and experience who would like to volunteer on prescribed burns. It is also an opportunity to learn why fire is an integral part of Wisconsin’s natural communities.

Photo by Ralph Russo

Come enjoy Fair Meadows Sanctuary during the Birding Day! This 374 acre sanctuary and State Natural Area has many trails and habitats to explore. During this Birding Day, attendees can grab a map, wipe their boots, and hit the trails independently. No guided walks are provided.

Fair Meadows Birding Days are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, except in November.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

Are you curious about birds but not sure how to get started? Geared specifically towards people who newer to birding or venturing out for one of the first times, we’ll identify birds together at Nine Springs.

Photo via Pixabay

This spring, when you order native plants through our special Native Plant Sale with Johnson’s Nursery out of Menomonee Falls, you get native plants delivered to Middleton, WI in May AND 15% of the sale totals go to Holy Wisdom Monastery and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (split 50/50).

Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS

eBird is a community science platform where you can record bird observations. It keeps track of your life list, helps you discover new birding locations, and shows you what other birders in the community are finding. This online class will teach you the main functions and tools of the eBird mobile app for your smartphone, so you can be creating checklists on the go! Learn how to submit your observations, discover birding hotspots, and explore recent sightings all from your phone.

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

Meet at the kiosk along Prairie Lane for an evening spent enjoying the unique spring displays of woodcock and snipe. Be prepared to be fascinated by the woodcock’s acrobatic flight, and to learn about the natural history of one of Aldo Leopold’s favorite birds. Binoculars are recommended.

Photo by Arlene Koziol.

Experience restorations of various stages from recent plantings to a well-developed 29-year old prairie. Other habitat features of this landscape include: a shallow wetlands, open water marsh/tamarack-sphagnum bogs, woodlands, and a black oak savanna. Join us for an enjoyable hike as we discuss the site’s history, stages of restorations, bird and plant identification, and more.

Photo by Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) area in what is often called Wisconsin’s desert includes some of the state’s rarest plant communities in its sand and dry bluff prairies and black oak barrens. It hosts a diversity of unusual plants, insects, reptiles and birds. We should see cactus and, hopefully, Olympia Marble butterflies and Lark Sparrows. Co-hosted by Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance

Photo by Peter Gorman

Join us as we gather on Lake Mills State Wildlife Area- Zeloski Marsh with Wisconsin DNR’s Wildlife Management for a birding excursion. Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance and WDNR’s Wildlife Management have been longtime partners on this property, beginning with SoWBI’s purchase and donation of the property to the Department of Natural Resources in 2006. This contribution from SoWBA and the management by the WDNR have led to Zeloski Marsh becoming a major stopover for waterfowl, wading birds, and songbirds during spring migration.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

This spring, when you order native plants through our special Native Plant Sale with Johnson’s Nursery out of Menomonee Falls, you get native plants delivered to Middleton, WI in May AND 15% of the sale totals go to Holy Wisdom Monastery and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (split 50/50).

Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS

This morning trip is especially for backyard birders looking to grow their skills! Come to have your bird questions answered and get help identifying all of those small, streaky brown birds and distant ducks! We'll also be keeping our eyes out for any exciting spring migrants! The walk will be on even trails at a leisurely pace so bring the whole family! We will have binoculars for loan.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Fair Meadows Sanctuary and State Natural Area is full of vibrant bird life! Come explore this incredible sanctuary and learn about the birds that use the many habitats found here.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

Pleasant Valley Conservancy is a beautiful state natural area situated in the Driftless Area, with steep goat prairies, oak savanna, and a large, high quality marsh. We hope to see beautiful Baltimore Checkerspots and other wetland butterflies nectaring on wonderful native plants.

Photo by Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance

Odonates are a fierce group of insects with highly variable coloration and habitat preferences. Dragonfly expert Bob Honig will discuss the life history and ecological importance of dragonflies and damselflies. Then we’ll explore Goose Pond’s prairies and identify as many species as we are able!

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Together, these properties provide beautiful and high quality habitats for wetland, grassland, and savanna wildlife. We'll walk though Erstad Prairie on mowed trails and then shift over to Schoeneberg Marsh which has a parking lot a half mile away. The WPA has accessible hiking (paved path and boardwalk) which terminates at an overlook with a great view of the marsh.

Join us for this mostly sitting tour of Goose Pond Sanctuary's restored mesic prairies. Tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world with less than 3% of the original area remaining. We will have a touring wagon ready to explore our trails, and there will be frequent stops to allow folks to get out and explore.

Photo by SoWBA

Join us as we leisurely explore the gardens and landscape at and around the Lussier Family Heritage Center. Anything and everything is fair game on this trip: plants, birds, insects and whatever else catches our attention.

Photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Monarchs make a huge migration each year, from Wisconsin (and even further north) all the way down to their winter grounds in Mexico. It is an incredible journey, and one that scientists are still studying. This monarch tagging event, one of the most celebrated activities Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance hosts, will teach you about the amazing monarch life history, migration, and conservation needs. We will teach you how to safely catch, handle, tag, and release a monarch, all in the name of science and love of nature.

Photo by Michael Anderson

Monarchs make a huge migration each year, from Wisconsin (and even further north) all the way down to their winter grounds in Mexico. It is an incredible journey, and one that scientists are still studying. This monarch tagging event, one of the most celebrated activities Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance hosts, will teach you about the amazing monarch life history, migration, and conservation needs. We will teach you how to safely catch, handle, tag, and release a monarch, all in the name of science and love of nature.

Photo by Kaitlin Svabek/SoWBA

Monarchs make a huge migration each year, from Wisconsin (and even further north) all the way down to their winter grounds in Mexico. It is an incredible journey, and one that scientists are still studying. This monarch tagging event, one of the most celebrated activities Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance hosts, will teach you about the amazing monarch life history, migration, and conservation needs. We will teach you how to safely catch, handle, tag, and release a monarch, all in the name of science and love of nature.

Photo by Kaitlin Svabek / SoWBA

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Prairies in fall can be spectacularly beautiful.  On this trip you will immerse yourself in the textures, colors, sounds, and smells of fall at Faville Grove. We will meet by the Kiosk at W7480 Prairie Lane, Lake Mills, and then tour the Prairie Lane restorations and take in the fall landscape with its autumn colors including late blooming wildflowers (such as gentians, asters, and goldenrods), talk about the role of seed collecting in our restorations, and more.

Photo by Jeff Pieterick

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

This morning trip is especially for backyard birders looking to grow their skills! Come to have your bird questions answered and get help identifying all of those small, streaky brown birds! We'll also be keeping our eyes out for any exciting migrants and recently fledged birds! The walk will be on even trails at a leisurely pace so bring the whole family! We will have binoculars for loan.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Goose Pond is a mecca for migrating waterfowl. Catch a glimpse of this incredible phenomenon as swans, geese, and ducks of all sorts pack into this prairie pothole by the hundreds or even thousands. Now, you can join Goose Pond Sanctuary staff and volunteers to learn more about them!

Photo by SoWBA

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers

Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has some of the largest restored prairies in Wisconsin. Our Goose Pond Sanctuary, located near Arlington, is a major part of SoWBA's restoration efforts... but our restoration work is only possible with the help of volunteers!

Seed collecting occurs almost every Saturday, 9:30-12:00 from Aug. 23 - Nov. 8.

The meeting location varies each week. RSVP to Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond Land Steward, at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org or 608-333-2947, to get involved.

Photo by Carolyn Byers