Bird & Nature Blog

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The Quest for Milkweed Seeds!

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Milkweeds are the host plant for monarch caterpillars, making them essential for healthy monarch populations. This fall, Madison Audubon and in particular our staff at Goose Pond Sanctuary have established a goal for volunteers to collect 50 pounds of milkweed seed for the butterflies, and we need your help!

The primary focus is on common milkweed since it is indeed common and found in old fields, along roadsides, and possibly in your yard. We also would like people to collect butterfly, whorled, and swamp (red) milkweed seed as they are highly desirable species that are not easy to locate in large numbers.

Madison Audubon photo

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Nicotine bad for bugs and birds?

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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

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How to Count Birds

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It sounds simple, doesn’t it? You know how to count, so just … well … count them! But as I’m sure any birder—new or experienced—knows, counting birds can be deceptively hard. Not only might you encounter birds in large numbers that may feel overwhelming to parse, but the conditions that you’re viewing birds in are always changing.

With practice and the help of some useful estimation methods, counting birds gets easier in time. This week’s Entryway to Birding blog brings you some tips and advice for navigating some of those more challenging, less straightforward counting situations, so you can spend more time enjoying the birds and less time stressing about getting “exact” counts for your checklist.

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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Citizen Science and the Prettiest Little Falcon in the World

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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

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A Beginner's Guide to Fall Warblers

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We’re moving into September and fall migration continues to pick up. Unlike spring migration, which sometimes feels like it’s gone in a flash, fall migration is more of a slow burn—which is good news for you and me! It means we have more time to enjoy and seek out the wide variety of migrating birds that are passing through on their long, arduous journey south for the winter.

This past week has seen a surge in passerine migration—songbirds like thrushes, vireos, flycatchers, and, oh yes, warblers are all here and fueling up for their migration south.

Warblers. A fan favorite. They’re fast. They’re small. They’re infuriatingly high up in the trees and obscured by leaves. But oh, we love them so.

If you’re a new birder, you’ve maybe heard tell that fall warblers are “confusing.” Why is that? How are they different from spring warblers? What is it that you’re up against? This week’s Entryway to Birding blog brings you a guide to finding and identifying fall warblers with confidence.

 
 
 
 
 
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