citizen science

2024 Great Backyard Bird Count

2024 Great Backyard Bird Count

We’ve been observing the changing winter residents at Goose Pond Sanctuary and Mark and Sue’s cabin in Rio (Wildland LLC) for 23 years. We can expect to find a few familiar faces each year; however, the numbers of those expected winter residents may change, and we also may get a few surprises.

Photo by Eric Begin

The inaugural Fair Meadows CBC

The inaugural Fair Meadows CBC

This year we prepared for the first-ever Christmas Bird Count (CBC) at Fair Meadows Sanctuary, after we recently learned that we were not part of any of the official National Audubon CBC circles.

Photo by Gary Shackelford

2023 Madison-area CBC results

Each December, birders come together for the longest-running citizen science project in the US: the Christmas Bird Count. In the Madison-area, the count is coordinated by our organization, and put on with help from around 200 volunteers each year.

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Chimney Swifts: the experts of movement

Chimney Swifts: the experts of movement

What draws most people’s attention to Chimney Swifts in the fall is their incredible roosting behavior. Chimney Swifts spend 90% of their lives flying—only pausing their lives on-the-wing to roost and to nest. They eat, sleep, mate, and bathe while flying. In migration, flocks of Chimney Swifts roost in—you guessed it—chimneys, clinging with their feet to the walls while they sleep.

Photo by Steve Benoit FCC