Bird & Nature Blog

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Big change to DNR/Conservation Congress hearings

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One of the venerable traditions in Wisconsin's conservation activity is the spring hearing conducted in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties by the DNR and the Conservation Congress. Its agenda includes in-person discussions and votes on changes to DNR's fishing, hunting, and trapping regulations and environmental policy and the election of county delegates to the Conservation Congress.

But COVID-19 has brought a huge change to the hearing. In the announcement you see here, the DNR has suspended the in-person portion of the hearings. They will be conducted entirely online. The announcement instructs how each of us can participate.

Photo courtesy of Forest Historical Society, FCC

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Resolve to be more nature-minded in 2020

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Resolve to be more nature-minded in 2020

Happy 2020! It’s a brand new year, a brand new decade. Full of promise, hope, anticipation, perhaps a little anxiety, or a whole lot of ambivalence. Maybe you’ve made some new year/new decade resolutions. Maybe you’re still looking for inspiration. Well, you’re in luck: read on!

The suggestions below are based around the goals of getting yourself more into the outdoors (literally and figuratively!) and being a more mindful steward of the natural world around you. Pick one, pick multiple, or let your imagination go crazy and do something more!

Photo by Jeff McDonald

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Goose Pond - Mallard Pond - Swan Pond

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On December 1st, Mark Martin and JD Arnston counted 12,500 mallards, 3,800 Canada geese, and 23 tundra swans at Madison Audubon's Goose Pond. The previous high mallard count was 5,000 mallards by John Romano on November 11, 2010. On December 2nd, Graham Steinhauer and Mark counted 1,149 tundra swans at Goose Pond breaking Carl Schwartz's record of 1,100 set on November 9, 2017. In early afternoon, Mark found a picked cornfield with 1,560 swans about 2.5 miles southwest of Goose Pond. The swans were about .5 miles from Meek Road and Highway I in the middle of about 600 acres of picked corn. Mark returned to Goose Pond and counted 1,050 swans on the pond. Graham watched the swans from the cornfield return to Goose Pond near dusk. The afternoon all time high record was 2,610 tundra swans!

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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Wisconsin's Birds in a Changing Climate

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Three birds, similar stories. We are in a climate crisis, and a bird emergency. Higher temperatures, more storms, changes in food supply, and more make the future for many of the world’s — and our state’s — birds look pretty grim. These three examples shed some light on the problem, and most importantly, the real, impactful things we all can do to help.

Bobolinks, scarlet tanagers, and Wisconsin’s woodpeckers need you.

Photo by Rick Kelly

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Finding New Life

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Dead things are some of my favorite teaching tools. Whether you call them study skins, specimens, or mounts, kids find them fascinating. Usually when I bring specimens into a classroom I'm met with questions. First: "is that REAL?" Then, "what IS that?!" Followed quickly by "did it used to be alive?" and "how did it die?" As I've mentioned before, I love questions like this. It’s one way I know that kids are actively engaged and learning.

Madison Audubon photo