Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
Monarch on goldenrod; Photo by Arlene Koziol
Good news from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation today: The study looking into how the DOT might expand Interstate-39/90/94 outside of Madison has ended, with the elimination of the "East Reliever" interstate options. That means Goose Pond will remain unaffected and safe from this threat!
Thank you for all of our members who voiced your concerns to the DOT and made our priorities known!
Jill's Prairie at Madison Audubon's Goose Pond Sanctuary
In 1989, the Wisconsin Legislature created the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, to be administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The program facilitates the preservation of valuable natural areas and wildlife habitat, protection of water quality and fisheries, and expansion of opportunities for outdoor recreation. To do this, they provide grants for land acquisition and property development.
If you have been to either of our sanctuaries, you'll see the Stewardship Program at work. Madison Audubon Society received the first ever Stewardship grant for a nonprofit conservation organization for a land purchase at Goose Pond Sanctuary. Since then, the Stewardship program has been vital to completing many other acquisition projects that have contributed to the size, diversity, and beauty of our sanctuaries and now provide habitat for wildlife, recreation opportunities for citizens, and educational resources for local kids.
The Program is at risk now, due to proposed changes that severely limit the types of land proposed for Stewardship Program funding - and severely limiting Madison Audubon's ability to acquire land that will ultimately benefit Wisconsin's birds. Madison Audubon has submitted a formal letter to the Stewardship Program coordinator urging reconsideration of the proposed changes.
You can help prevent damaging changes to the Stewardship Program from happening too. The DNR is now soliciting public input on revisions to ranking/scoring criteria for nonprofit Stewardship grant proposals. Draft revisions, explanations of the goals of the revisions, and how to submit your comments are on the DNR's program guidance web page. You can also send thoughts on the proposed changes to members of the DNR Natural Resource's Board. Addresses for the members are available in our letter or online here.
Comments are being accepted through March 3. Make your voice heard!
>> Read Madison Audubon's letter to Robert Knorr, DOT project manager <<
Scroll down to learn how you can help!
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is currently studying ways to relieve congestion in the I-39/90/94 corridor east and north of Madison. Three of the five options under
consideration would severely affect Goose Pond Sanctuary.
A shooting star at Goose Pond Sanctuary
The most destructive options involve construction of a new section of interstate highway running east of DeForest and Arlington, through Goose Pond Sanctuary at Ankenbrandt Prairie, and rejoining the existing interstate corridor near the Wisconsin River. In addition to destroying and fragmenting prairie habitat, including habitat for the endangered silphium borer moth and other threatened grassland species, the new highway would bring noise, light, air, and water pollution to the sanctuary, and would severely detract from public enjoyment of one of our area’s premier birding hotspots.
While construction won’t begin until 2025 or later, a decision on a preferred option is expected by this summer. We are hopeful, for a variety of economic, social, and environmental reasons, that DOT will elect to confine any capacity expansion to the existing interstate corridor rather than create a new roadway. Nonetheless, to assure this outcome, it is crucial that everyone who loves Goose Pond let DOT know that any new route through or near Goose Pond Sanctuary will pass through a minefield of public opposition.
UPDATE (Feb. 28, 2017): Good news! The Department of Transportation has eliminated the "East Reliever" interstate options, thereby removing the threat to Goose Pond Sanctuary! Thank you for your great help in making these concerns heard!
Pardeeville Christmas Bird Counters Jane Considine (left) and Maddie Dumas (right) bundle up during their 2016 count.
For 117 years, birders have banded together to brave the cold, escape from the holiday madness, and count as many birds as possible in a day. Christmas Bird Count is a wrap for 2016, with 12 groups and 411 birders within Madison Audubon’s chapter lines reporting data on nearly 100,000 individual birds in a two-week time frame! Congratulations CBC coordinators and volunteers, for a great year!
Baraboo (coordinated by Scott Swengel) – Dec. 27 – 63 counters – 8,976 birds – 60 species. Rare finds: Wood duck, hooded merganser, golden eagle, eastern phoebe, Townsend’s solitaires, field sparrow. Download data here.
Clyde (coord: Steven Greb) – Dec. 28 – 14 counters – 4,268 birds – 54 species. Rare finds: Goldeneye, grackle, goshawk. Download data here.
Horicon Marsh (coord: Jeff Bahls) – Dec. 19 – 13 counters – 3,699 birds – 35 species.
Madison (coord: Aaron Stutz) – Dec. 17 – 120 counters – 26,000+ birds – 89 species. Rare finds: Pine warblers, summer tanager. Noteable misses: Ring-necked pheasant. Download data here.
Mount Horeb (coord: Kerry Beheler) – Jan. 1 – 55 counters – 8,019 birds – 54 species. Rare finds: sharp-shinned hawk, northern saw-whet owl, long-eared owl, fox sparrow, chipping sparrow. Noteable misses: Red-headed woodpeckers. Download data here.
Pardeeville (coord: Paul and Glenna Schwalbe) – Dec. 15 – 27 counters – 9,953 birds – 56 species. Rare finds: Gadwall, long-eared owl, white-crowned sparrow, ruffed grouse, ravens.
A pair of bald eagles spotted on the Poynette Christmas Bird Count. Photo by Maddie Dumas
Poynette (coord: Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin) – Dec. 31 – 47 counters – 8.743 birds – 59 species. Rare finds: peregrine falcon, northern pintails, great blue heron, sharp-shinned hawk, belted kingfisher. Download summary here.
Randolph (coord: Jeff Bahls) – Dec. 21 – 9 counters -- 11,023 birds -- 31 species. Rare species: Brown thrasher, Eurasian collared dove. Download data here.
Richland Center (coord: Robert Hirschy) – Dec. 18 – 30 counters – 7,209 birds – 34 species. Rare finds: American pipit, Carolina wren, white-crowned sparrow, Lapland longspurs. Download data here.
Waterloo (coord: Karen Etter Hale) – Dec. 19 – 33 counters – 8,878 birds – 49 species. Rare finds: Wood duck, short-eared owl. Download summary here.
Columbus and Sauk City data not available
Fall migration and the start of the school year are behind us, and we’re beginning to gear up
for spring migration and end-of-school-year field trips.
Students identify ducks during fall migration.
Last fall Madison Audubon provided after school programming at two different community centers: Vera Court, and Salvation Army. Through these programs we helped underserved city kids learn about themselves through nature exploration. We watched them build their self-confidence with each lesson; a trait that carries over into every aspect of their lives. Our after school kids explored prairies, examined old birds’ nests, called for owls in a dusky woodlot, and used our microscope to get a closer look at water critters.
We provided free field trips to local natural areas for more than 300 middle school students. These trips allowed Glacial Drumlin to bring their entire 7th grade to visit the school forest. While there, kids identified and collected prairie seeds, which they will use to restore wildlife habitat on their school grounds.
Cold weather and snow don't slow these kids down from learning animal tracks.
This winter we have been visiting several schools in the city of Madison, including Muir and Wingra Elementary, and have strengthened our partnership with Lincoln Elementary. More than half of the kids at Lincoln Elementary come from low-income families, and the freeprogramming you help us to provide really goes a long way! This year we have met with Ms. Guiney’s 4th grade classroom each week for Outdoor Wednesday. The students have been observing and recording phenology around their schoolyard and at nearby Wingra creek. They have tried their hand a tracking animals, snowshoeing, and learning common winter birdcalls. In February, they being a month-long “build a bird” project: each student will create their own imaginary bird, giving it adaptations necessary for its survival in a particular habitat.
This spring we are looking forward to taking several different school groups out on field trips to local natural areas. Transportation costs are one of the biggest hurdles for teachers taking kids on field trips. Because of you, we are able to provide free bussing to kids who really deserve it. We will focus primarily on middle and high school groups from underserved schools. These are the groups with the least opportunity to get out and explore nature.
We have two new education interns this spring! Abe Lenoch will be creating a new partnership with Bayview Community Center’s elementary school kids. Olivia Sanderfoot will continue our partnership at Vera Court. Both will to provide more outstanding afterschool programming for kids. They will focus on exploring different types of natural habitats and the animals that call those places home.
Plants offer a new look and feel during the winter months.
This work was made possible by you! Thank you for helping Madison Audubon Society connect kids with nature!
