"Making our communities healthy for
birds...and people"
International Migratory Bird DAYS
Are at Hand!
More
so than any other state in the nation, Wisconsin's eyes will be
fixed on the spectacle of migration during the month of May.
That's not just because birds hold a special fascination for
many of us but also because no less than five state conservation
projects are focusing on the most magnificent event in the life
of most birds: their annual voyage between summer and winter
homes. So join in the celebrations all over the state as
Wisconsin celebrates International Migratory Bird Day 2013.
There will be more celebrations per capita than anyplace else in
this hemisphere!
IMBD is not only a day to foster appreciation for wild birds
and to celebrate and support migratory bird conservation; it
also is a call to action. That's why Bird City Wisconsin has
made recognition of Bird Day a key part of its effort to
mobilize a statewide coalition of citizens and public
officials to build healthier communities for birds and
people. Read more in an op ed article in the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/protecting-migratory-birds-m19lgk3-205311361.html
And this year the focus will be on all aspects of a
migratory bird's life, from nesting and migration to
breeding and raising young. Most importantly, it addresses
the need for conservation throughout the life cycle. Check
out https://www.birdday.org/
for information on why migratory bird conservation requires
our participation every month of the year. Habitat
conditions in one season may affect the survival and nesting
success of birds in another. Winter habitats are just as
important as nesting sites, and their quality influences
nesting success. Stopover sites, the places where birds rest
and refuel during migration, are also critical. Sandy
beaches, forests, grasslands, and other habitats must be
present for birds flying long distances. Along every leg of
the journey and at non-breeding and breeding sites, birds
also face threats from free-roaming cats, tall buildings and
towers, chemicals, wind turbines, and more.
If you're interested in receiving regular updates about IMBD
2013, be sure to sign up for the monthly e-newsletter @
https://www.birdday.org/education/flyway-news and check
out "Environment for the Americas" on Facebook and Twitter,
or send an email to
bday@birdday.org
Nature lover Nancy Nabak, who was
instrumental in Green Bay getting its BirdCity Wisconsin
designation, is a champion for
Urban birds, who have a definite friend in Nabak — the wind
beneath their wings in many ways.
Green Bay being was one of the first 15 communities to receive
the Bird City Wisconsin for 2011. She’s the force behind the
local Swift Night Out campaigns, in which volunteers gather in
late summer to count the number of Chimney Swifts that descend
from the night skies into downtown chimneys to roost. The native
gardens popping up in city parks and schools to attract
beneficial insects and birds are her work as well.
Click here to link to story.
Great Wisconsin Birdathon: an
easy online fundraising and friend-raising tool for your Bird
City
As
spring returns to Wisconsin so do the state’s birds, and this
year it also means the return of the
Great Wisconsin
Birdathon!The
Great Wisconsin Birdathon is an all-out birding blitz where
teams raise money for bird conservation while attempting to find
as many bird species in Wisconsin as they can in a single
24-hour period in May.
Creating a team for your
Bird City could not be easier! Simply visit
wibirdathon.org and set up
your personalized team web page, collect pledges online (no
collecting checks!) and get out and do your birdathon! You will
need to designate an organization to receive and manage your
Bird City Team’s birdathon proceeds.
The 2012 Birdathon raised $21,000, and now it is bigger and
better, fully-automated, easy-to-use, and interactive and should
raise at least twice as much!
For additional information on how to start
a Bird City birdathon team contact BCW state coordinator Carl
Schwartz at
cschwartz3@wi.rr.com.For at least four communities -- on a
first-come-first-served basis for May 5, 11, 18 and 19 -- he
will be available to travel to your town and help personally to
conduct the count for your
Half of your Bird City Team proceeds
support your community conservation efforts and your celebration
of International Migratory Bird Day.The remaining proceeds will go to the
Bird Protection Fund
to fund bird conservation efforts around the state.
Don’t have the time to start a team?Go to
wibirdathon.org and donate to
the “celebrity team” of Hawkeye and the Ancient Murrelets (Carl
is one of the Ancients) and help to protect our state’s
birdlife!
The Village of Fontana is now flying both its Tree City
USA and Bird City Wisconsin flags. Click photo to enlarge.
Six more Wisconsin communities statewide are being saluted for
their long-term commitment to working with residents to make
their neighborhoods a better place for people, birds and other
wildlife. With this announcement, Bird City Wisconsin has now
recognized 66 cities, villages, towns and counties since its
launch in December 2010.
The newest group of communities
demonstrates the statewide reach, scope and diversity of this
partnership-based conservation undertaking.Spanning the state from the shores of Lake Superior to
Door County and the suburbs of Milwaukee, the list includes the
cities of Ashland, Sheboygan, Menomonie and
Fitchburg, along with the villages of
Shorewood and Egg Harbor
.
Modeled on the “Tree City USA” program, Bird City Wisconsin has
developed 22 conservation criteria across five categories. If a
community meets at least seven criteria, it becomes an official
Bird City. In its effort, Bird City has recruited both public
officials and interested citizens who belong to Audubon groups,
nature preserves, bird clubs, natural history museums,
conservation organizations and agencies, garden clubs,
eco-minded businesses, and chambers of commerce that can be
effective partners for developing and implementing Bird City
strategies.
Bird City uses this web site to guide birding enthusiasts,
natural landscapers, foresters, parks directors, city planners
and others through the process. Project coordinator Carl
Schwartz urges interested residents to contact local officials
to encourage them to seek Bird City recognition and then work
with them to make it happen. Questions? Contact Carl at
414-416-3272 or cschwartz3@wi.rr.com
--
To see our news release announcing the recognition of six
more communities and for more details on our program click here --
For a look at what each community is doing to benefit birds,
click here
--
Bird City is now accepting a new round of applications through
July
1. For more details and to see the Basic Application,
click here
Outdoors TV show focuses on a Bird City
Bird City Wisconsin was the focus of a Sept. 7 segment on
“Northland Adventures,” a widely syndicated TV show that tells
“unique stories about the people, places and issues of our great
outdoors.”The 7-minute
segment explains the goals of the program by focusing on how
Stevens Point became a Bird City.
And to read more of the powerful story behind Bird City
Wisconsin, go to the June issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources
magazine.
6-page Bird City brochure
now available
Use this informative tool to help make your
community a Bird City.
Click here
to download it for reproduction.
Or: Packages of 25 brochures also are available by mailto groups seeking to organize an application for
recognition;simply e-mail your request and address to:
As many as one billion birds die each year by flying into window
glass because they simply cannot see it. An amazing new product
called BirdTape helps the birds to see the window while still
allowing you to look out from the inside. The price for this
tape ranges from $10.95 to $14.95 per roll; a small price to pay
to save the lives of the birds in your neighborhood. You can
find this life-saving tape through the American Bird Conservancy
at
abcbirdtape.org.
They provide you with instructions and application patterns so
you can get the best results from the tape. For an overview on
Birds and Collisions, go to
Outdoor Cats: Single Greatest Source of Human-Caused Mortality
for Birds and Mammals, New Study Says
Cat with American Coot - Photo by Debi Shearwater
A new peer-reviewed study authored by scientists from two of the
world’s leading science and wildlife organizations – the
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) – has found that bird and mammal
mortality caused by outdoor cats is much higher than has been
widely reported, with annual bird mortality now estimated to be
1.4 to 3.7 billion and mammal mortality likely 6.9 – 20.7
billion individuals.
The study, which offers the most
comprehensive analysis of information on the issue of outdoor
cat predation, was published in the online research journal
Nature Communications and is based on a review of more than 90
previous studies. The study was authored by Dr. Peter Marra and
Scott Loss, research scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute and by Tom Will from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service’s Division of Migratory Birds.
For more
discussion of this study and related information, click here
To read the entire study click logo
below:
Giving Birds What They Need, Where They Need It
Douglas W. Tallamy,
author of "Bringing Nature Home - How You Can Sustain Wildlife
with Native Plants," has a message that was fundamental to the
creation of Bird City Wisconsin. In an article prepared for
Bird City, Dr. Tallamy writes:
90% of the insects that eat plants (this is the caterpillar
stage of the Polyphemus moth) are only able to eat the plants
for which they have specialized adaptations.
Birds, such as this Common Yellowthroat, provide critical insect
control, because they eat them every single day.
"There is nothing
inevitable about the demise of our birds. Their decline is not
mysterious.... We know exactly why there are fewer birds each
year. Our birds are in trouble because we have not shared our
human-dominated spaces with them: the places in which we live,
work, and farm....
What we haven’t thought much about was our ever-expanding human
footprint. Suddenly, we are living, working, farming and mining
just about everywhere....Birds are superb
indicator species of ecosystem health. Most are predators, and
some are top predators that cannot exist unless a complex food
web that creates their food also exists.... If we have disrupted
ecosystem function to the point where our birds disappear, we
have also threatened our own life support systems."
Too see how you can be
part of the solution, read Dr. Tallamy's entire report in the
"Best Practices" section of our site (click here).
20 WAYS YOU CAN HELP BIRD
CONSERVATION! It's easy to get involved in bird
conservation, and like anything, some of your most helpful actions begin
at home. In celebration of International Migratory Bird Day's 20th
Anniversary, here are 20 issues and simple solutions. Imagine how many
birds you can help finish their migratory journey, have a successful
nesting season, raise young, survive the winter, if you just…
Click poster above to see
International Migratory Bird Day events for 2013
1.
Prevent Bird Collisions with Your Windows
2. Protect Birds From Pets
3. Clean Your Bird Feeders
4. Don’t Buy Illegally-Caged Birds
5. Use Cloth Grocery Bags and Reusable Bottles
6. Recycle
7. Restore Natural Habitat in Your Community
8. Keep Your Distance
9. Leave Fledglings Where You Find Them
10. Slow Down When Driving
11. Buy Bird Friendly Products
12. Plant Native
13. Teach Others About Birds
14. Get Outdoors and Enjoy Nature
15. Take a Friend Bird Watching
16. Support Conservation
17. Be a Citizen Scientist
18. Reduce Energy Use
19. Avoid Chemicals
20. Learn the Hunting Laws
Bird City Wisconsin - 1111 E. Brown Deer Road -
Bayside, WI 53217 - Phone (414) 416-3272 -Email Us
