Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
Yesterday the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) voted to reauthorize the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program for four years at $32 million per year. Please see this link for another thorough report from Gathering Waters, which led the well-conceived and well-executed plan for reauthorization.
Before I descend into editorial comment, some prognostication. This may well be the decisive action regarding Stewardship in this budget.
Photo by Joshua Mayer
Please see this link to the latest news on the Stewardship program. Besides the political news as to the schedule and significance of votes in Joint Finance, the Gathering Waters report also links you to:
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau issue paper which describes Stewardship funding and duration options in detail.
Information on how to contact legislators.
With the fate of Stewardship to be decided in the next few days (please use this link to read the latest detailed report), we can learn from the birds and use higher ground to our advantage. When humans are encouraged to take the higher ground or the higher road, we face a moral responsibility; to deal with folks fairly and honestly. That's our task with specific Republican legislators who will have a lot of influence on the fate of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program.
Photo by Drew Harry
#BlackBirdersWeek2021 wraps up today, and Saturday’s theme is #BirdsOfAFeather! Black birders all over the world are invited to go birding and submit eBird checklists of the birds they see. Scroll down for virtual events.
If you’re looking for some great local places to explore, check out these favorite birding spots preferred by our friends Dexter Patterson (@wiscobirder on Instagram, he’s awesome) and Jeff Galligan (educator, photographer, naturalist, one of our amazing board members).
Photo by Dexter Patterson
In 2017, I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time in northern New Mexico. While there, I worked closely with a group of other BIPOC students and instructors, workshopping field research skills and techniques. That afternoon, we had pulled over on the side of a forested road and split into small groups. Today, we learned, my small group would be birding. Before this moment, birds were creatures that I admired from afar. I never dedicated myself to seeking them out. I had an image of my mind of what a birder looked like, and I didn't fit it. With doubts, my teammates and I slung binoculars around our necks, grabbed our guides, and headed into the woods.
Photo by Milcah Rimmer
