The annual Great Wisconsin Birdathon is run by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin to raise funds for high-priority bird conservation projects across the state.
Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s team, the Flockadelics, participated on May 19. Our team included members of our office staff: education director Carolyn Byers, outreach director Brenna Marsicek, financial manager John Minnich, educator Mickenzee Okon, membership and development associate Liz Pelton, executive director Matt Reetz, communications director Kaitlin Svabek, advocacy intern Helena Bello and her parents, Maggie and Auggie. We searched for birds together at our new sanctuary, nearby state natural areas, and a favorite spot in Monona.
The first surprise of the day was how chilly it was for the latter half of May—temperatures hovered around the mid- to upper 40s most of the day, with low clouds and occasional blustery winds.
The Flockadelics team, from far left, clockwise: Matt, Liz, Carolyn, Auggie, Maggie, John, Helena, Mickenzee, Kaitlin, Brenna. Luckily, some of us had our fancy new beanies for the chilly temps! (photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA)
“I saw my first Bobolink! Perched on a grass stem in a sea of green, the black, white, and yellow feathers stood out beautifully. It was exciting to see such a rare bird at our newest sanctuary.”
Our team arrived at our newest sanctuary property in Dane County (read more about it in our spring newsletter) around 8:30AM. First, we stopped at a piece of the property that was planted with prairie in 2016 by the staff and volunteers of Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (then Madison Audubon). We started out with a lot of birding by ear—the bouncy song of a Field Sparrow, the chattering calls of a Pileated Woodpecker, the pee-a-WEEEE of (you guessed it!) an Eastern Wood-Pewee. Rounding a corner into a hayfield, we were delighted to see several Bobolinks, some perched and some flitting through the air, singing metallic songs.
Eight-spotted forester (photo by Carolyn Byers/SoWBA).
After moseying around the new sanctuary for a bit longer, we headed over to Smith-Reiner Drumlin Prairies State Natural Area (stewarded by the Empire-Sauk chapter of the Prairie Enthusiasts). An eagle-eyed member of the team spotted a Horned Lark foraging in a nearby field, most of us got a good look at a pair of Chipping Sparrows, and an Eastern Bluebird perched picturesquely on a fencepost. In addition to the birds (which included a noisy peacock calling), we spent time appreciating the amazing diversity of native prairie plants on the site, and even found an eight-spotted forester, “a moth with fancy knees.”
Our next stop was Red Cedar Lake State Natural Area, doing a bit of birding while we had lunch. We found our first Sandhill Crane of the day and some new warblers: a Northern Waterthrush and a Wilson’s Warbler. Nearer to the woods, we heard an abundance of beautiful and iconic bird songs as well, like an Indigo Bunting, a Scarlet Tanager, and a Veery.
“Spending some time at Red Cedar Lake SNA was really wonderful. We only went so far as the parking lot, but because it had a stream, wetland, and woods surrounding it, we heard and saw so many birds. We basically did a ‘sit’ while we ate lunch, enjoying the very cool song of the Veery and laughing at how the Sandhill Crane looked like it was swimming. It was a perfect, slow-birding lunchtime stop!”
Our last stop as a team was at Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Monona. It was a perfect spot to add a few species we had missed earlier in the day, like the Northern House Wren and Common Grackle. We also had a delightful view of a singing Baltimore Oriole, found an elusive Swainson’s Thrush, and heard a cheery Tennessee Warbler song before heading home.
Afterwards, a few members of the team did some birding in and around their neighborhoods, adding some great additional birds to our list, to name a few: Chimney Swift, Grasshopper Sparrow, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Purple Martin. Our grand total for the day was 75 species!
A great big thanks to everyone who participates in the Great Wisconsin Birdathon!
Compiled by Kaitlin Svabek, director of communications, with input from the Flockadelics team,
Cover image: A Red-winged Blackbird nest of has three eggs plus one Brown-headed Cowbird egg (photo by Kaitlin Svabek/SoWBA).
