In 1995 a group of dedicated volunteers and bird lovers created the first Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, a landmark tool that continues to guide species conservation and land management planning today. But a lot has changed in the last two decades. Some species have declined, others have prospered, ranges have shifted and habitats have come and gone. All of that has been accompanied by an increased awareness among many people of the importance of the natural world and our place in it.
With that in mind, a new team led by the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology (WSO), the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory and the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative has been assembled to undertake a second Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, WBBA II.
A task of this size will need to involve hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of time. "It's not a job just for professional ornithologists and biologists," said Nick Anich, atlas coordinator for the DNR and chair of the WBBA II Steering Committee. "This is going to be the largest citizen science project ever in the State of Wisconsin," Anich said, and success is only possible through the efforts of a cadre of volunteers statewide. Some 1,600 volunteers participated in the first atlas between 1995 and 2000.
If birding with a purpose sounds exciting, or if you simply want to be part of a project that will guide species and land management for years to come, now is the time, Anich said. Anyone with an interest in birds, birding and the Wisconsin environment is encouraged to attend, learn more and join the volunteer force at the WBBA II Kickoff Meeting Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center in Rothschild, Wis., just outside Wausau.
The kickoff meeting will include field trips, atlas training, a WBBA I history lesson, data-entry instruction, a chance to meet county coordinators, the Atlas planning team, and other Atlasers.
Who should attend? Wisconsin bird lovers, including but not limited to prospective atlasers, users of atlas data, agency staff, bird researchers and other academics.
To learn more about WBBA II, see the agenda for the kickoff meeting and a registration form, go to http://wsobirds.org/atlas-kickoff-meeting
The second atlas will take advantage of technological advances over the past two decades. The field work of Chris Wood, now eBird leader with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, was instrumental in Wisconsin's first atlas. His eBird team has created a software application that will make data collection for the WBBA II easier and more efficient than ever. His keynote speech at the kickoff will outline some of the exciting changes coming to the new atlas.
Wisconsin's unique location — where the deciduous forests of the east and the coniferous forests of the north meet at the edge of the western grasslands — combined with the watersheds of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River — yields the state a rich population of at least 226 confirmed breeding species.
In an interview [NMA1] with Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, Wood said the Cornell Lab had been looking for ways to harness eBird to be used for specific projects, and Wisconsin's atlas proved to be a great candidate.
"There is just such a strong team and tradition with such greats as Aldo Leopold, Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom, Sam Robbins, Noel Cutright. Wisconsin is at the leading edge of bird conservation," Wood said. The state has "exceptional bird diversity. Wisconsin is a transition zone where you find all of these species. There's really no state that's better to appreciate warbler migration."
Wood knows, having gone to Ripon College in the 1990s and being involved in the original atlas as one of its core paid surveyors. He recorded more than 150 breeding bird species in his surveys of blocks in Adams and Grant counties and in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
Now, eBird allows people to record the species they see year-round, regardless of where the birds are and what they're doing. The customized eBird portal for WBBA II will be tailored to specific information atlasers will be collecting: the highest level of breeding behavior, location, habitat type and more.
The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology is funding development of this customized portal, which will be accessed through WSO's recently upgraded website. All of the atlasing materials, guidelines, project updates and more will be found at wsobirds.org/atlas[NMA2]
With 3,500 Wisconsin birders submitting their checklists on eBird last year, WBBA II organizers are hoping to at least double the number of people helping with the atlas this time around.
Volunteers do not need to be bird experts to participate. If you have the patience to sit (or stand) and watch birds as they go about their daily chores, paying particular attention to breeding behavior, then you are ready to volunteer. See a male singing, drumming, or displaying? Record it. Are your local birds carrying bits of twigs, grass, or feathers in their bills? Those are signs of nesting — record it. How about flying with bugs or seeds in their beaks or, even better, stuffing food into a nestling's waiting maw? It's hard to get better proof of nesting than that! All of these behaviors provide information about the timing of territory establishment, courting, nest building, brooding and fledging.
It is birding with a purpose!
- Rick Burkman and Lisa Gaumnitz
