Bird & Nature Blog

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Birding by Ear: Sounds of the Winter Woods

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Winter bird activity certainly isn't as hustlin' and bustlin' as it is during spring migration, but it has its own special joys. It also has some unexpected benefits. You'll likely see and hear fewer species on your outings in winter than in any other season, but that's not a bad thing. It's a hidden opportunity. If the woods are mostly quiet, it gives you more opportunity to really learn and recognize the birds you do hear. Many newer birders struggle with birding by ear (I know I sure do!) but winter is a great time to improve this skill.

Birding by ear is hard, but this week's Entryway to Birding blog brings you some pointers and mnemonics to help you sort out who's-who on your winter outings.

Photo by Nick Busse

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Work Parties and Redheads at Otsego Marsh

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Work Parties and Redheads at Otsego Marsh

On Wednesday afternoon, I found myself with a dozen other volunteers, properly masked and distanced, at Otsego Marsh facing the top of the new property. About 5 or 6 acres are covered with trees. Of those acres, the bottom half has the remains of an oak savanna; a pine plantation, mostly red pine, covers the upper half. Our mission was to continue our just-started revitalization of the oaks.

Photo by Mark Martin / Madison Audubon

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Let the Scraping Begin!

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Let the Scraping Begin!

In June 2020, Madison Audubon purchased a 36 acre parcel across the road from our Otsego Marsh property. The new parcel didn’t come pre-loaded with increidble diversity and beautiful vistas. It was mostly soybean fields, a woodlot chocked full of big oaks and invasive underbrush, and a small wetland with great potential. One needed a creative imagination to envision what it could be — and fortunately our visionary staff, board members, volunteers, and donors had a vision!

The resident managers and land steward at Goose Pond Sanctuary coordinate the restoration work at Otsego Marsh, and began getting the new parcel into shape by removing a bunch of the brushy, invasive buckthorn in the woodlot’s understory that was choking out the good native species. And beginning on January 6, 2021, we began installing wetland scrapes!

Photo by Brenna Marsicek / Madison Audubon

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A Winter Walk Through Cherokee North

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Do you remember back in May when we went on a virtual field trip to the north unit of Cherokee Marsh? The marsh and woods were warm and green, warblers and flycatchers were picking bugs from the trees, sedge wrens were popping up from dense thickets to scold us as we went by, and virginia rails were grunting along the marsh boardwalk's edge.

It's January now and the marsh has a different look, a different tune—perhaps a quieter, softer one, but one full of just as much life. This week's Entryway to Birding blog takes us back to Cherokee North with another birding field trip to see how things have changed with the seasons. Read on for tips on what birds you might expect to find at different locations throughout the marsh in winter.

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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A Beginner's Guide to "Big Day" Birding

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2021 starts a new year. And with it, a new year list. If you haven’t picked up on it by now, birders love keeping lists. A life list, year lists, county lists, patch lists, yard lists, and more. But on January 1 … many of those checklists roll back to zero and the bird sightings begin anew.

In birding culture, there’s something of a tradition of doing a “Big Day” in early January to see how many species you can find in one day. It's a fun and rewarding challenge—it tests your birding skills and knowledge of local habitat and gets you outside for a fun winter adventure. If you've ever been curious about challenging yourself to a Big Day, this week's Entryway to Birding blog is for you. Read on for tips to make your outing a successful one.