Advocacy

,

Harvesting the Goodness

,

So you've voted or made plans to do so; you've reached out to a few friends or relatives to remind them to do and offer to help. As a modest thank you from Madison Audubon, how about some good news? As far as I'm concerned good news these days has the status of cold water in the midst of a desert hike. And the news concerns a righteous Madison Audubon act this summer.

As summer approached Madison Audubon had to decide if we were going to employ ecological restoration interns at our Goose Pond and Faville Grove Sanctuaries, as we have each year for many years. COVID presented challenges in ensuring that our interns and sanctuary staff had safe working conditions.

Photo by Drew Harry

,

Begging, pleading, cajoling, and back to begging: Please Vote!

,

If you have to choose between donating to MAS and voting, VOTE.

If you have to choose between seeding collecting at one of our sanctuaries and voting, VOTE.

If you have to choose between birding for the rest of the fall migration and voting, VOTE.

Of course, you don't have to make those choices, but, in my opinion, you do have to VOTE.

Graphic provided by National Audubon

,

How and Why to Help Birds: Plants, Bugs, Food, and Money

,

The Natural Heritage Conservation wing of the DNR just published a report on the state of Wisconsin birds with a combination of bad news, good news, and ideas for creating more good news for birds and those of us who cherish them. Please use this link to read the full report: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/wnrmag/2020/Fall/Bird

Photo by Patrick Ready

,

Nicotine bad for bugs and birds?

,

Neonicotinoids are a type of pesticide used on a wide variety of crops in this and other countries. They can be long-lasting, effective against many insects, can be applied via seed coatings, and are less toxic to mammals than other pesticides. Those first three attributes are why they have raised many concerns among conservationists and environmentalists. Lots of insects are beneficial to us and even those that are bothersome can be important food for other creatures, especially birds. Birds eat seeds as well as bugs.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

,

Citizen Science and the Prettiest Little Falcon in the World

,

Brand Smith, former MAS President, super volunteer, wonderful birder, and all-round nice guy, has led Madison Audubon's kestrel nest box monitoring program for several years. Many volunteers in turn have helped build and install the boxes and monitor them throughout the season. Madison Audubon has long documented the outstanding success of these nest boxes in helping kestrels produce healthy youngsters. In and of itself, that's invaluable because kestrels are on the sad list of bird species which are declining.

Photo by Jim Stewart