2009 RBG Bird-a-Thon Wrap Up

By Andrew Rothman, founder of Rainforest Biodiversity Group:

The 9th was a bit chilly, and when we started at 6 am the chill was accompanied by rain and high winds. Not good birding conditions. Luckily by 6:30 the rain had stopped and the wind had died down and Bill Volkert of the WI- DNR , Holly Robertson (president of RBG) and I were able to get up a few mist nets as part of the 12th Annual Horicon Marsh Bird Festival.

Although I love the opportunity to get some banding in, it actually hindered my ability to increase the number of birds on my list for the day. However, I was happy to walk away with a list of 80 species for the day. Some of the morning highlights included us catching a least flycatcher, a northern waterthrush, a few nashville warblers, a number of catbirds, a couple handfuls of yellow warblers, and as our friend Craig Thompson might say, more yellow-warblers and palm warblers than you could shake a stick at. Each time Holly and I returned to the nests to extract we'd say "holy crap" as we began to take out the 20 or so yellow-rumped warblers, and dozen or so palm warblers we had caught in just two nets!

The overcast weather actually kept the birds hopping for much of the day, however I was caught teaching a beginning birder class for two hours in the early afternoon as well. I dont think I added any new species for the day during the begining birder walk but we did get good chances to help our beginning birders see the difference between tree swallows, northern rough-wing swallows and barn swallows.

As soon as I got done with the class and finally got some food in me, it was off to the races (literally a race before sundown) to get as many birds as I could. Luckily I hadnt seen many ducks species yet, and here I was at Horicon Marsh. I knew I could get my numbers up. We hit some Horicon hot spots and quickly began to rack up our duck species, including large numbers of ruddy ducks, and fair number of redheads. We also had great looks at american bittern and black-crowned night heron.

As we drove up the eastern side of the marsh, we picked up northern harrier, a big group of turkeys, and bobolink. We crossed the north end of marsh, and picked up more ducks including ring-neck duck, and shovler. As night fell and we headed into the prison town of Waupun to get pizza at the Pizza Barn we picked up our last bird species, my 80th of the day. A sharp-shinned hawk flew right in front of us, hopefully after picking off a house sparrow or two from the feeders at the nearby houses.

Although not as productive as year's past it was great to get back to Horicon, and have some weather that didnt make me sweat. It also gave me a chance to reflect on and appreciate the birds of WI that I normally dont get to see down here in the rainforest. For instance the ducks, I left with a much greater appreciation for how cool ducks are. Additionally, it might be hard to believe, but I think I actually missed the constant honking of the Canada geese.

Thanks again for helping out with the Bird-A-thon. Checks can be made out to Rainforest Biodiversity Group and sent to 7 N. Pinckney St, Suite 220, Madison, WI 53703. Also make sure you SEND ME YOUR T-SHIRT SIZE, if you donated more than $50. Once I have that we can get the shirts made, and get them into the mail to you. That means I need your address as well.

Thanks for the support!

Monarch Butterflies

(Photo courtesy of journeynorth.org)

Birds aren't the only thing on the wing these days. The Monarch butterflies are making their annual journey north from Mexico. The following update is courtesy of Journey North:

An unusally warm air mass spread across the eastern half of the United States and southern Canada during the past week. Northern regions were even warmer than Texas!

Monarchs flew and blew northward with this warm air according to our observers. They entered four new states on that single day. People everywhere were surprised by the monarchs' early arrival and amazing ability to find milkweed:

* While students were outside during a fire drill at Washington School in Summit, New Jersey, they spotted a monarch laying eggs in the school butterfly garden!
* An astonishing 125 eggs were layed in a butterfly garden in Pennsylvania on milkweed that was only 3 inches tall.
* Students in Bridgewater and Somerville, New Jersey both saw their first monarchs this week. "This is so early for us and so exciting," said teacher Cathy Griffin.
* Add six news states to your list! Monarchs have moved into Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Predict: When will monarchs appear in the first Canadian Province?

The Whoopers

Not only are the songbirds heading north, but so are the Whooping Cranes! Since 1999, Wisconsin has played a major role in efforts to restore a migratory whooping crane population in eastern North America, with a core breeding area in Wisconsin. Prior to these restoration efforts, only one migratory population of whooping cranes existed in the wild, and any catastrophic event could completely eliminate the species. An additional independent population of birds needed to be established to reduce the risk of extinction of this endangered bird. Wisconsin DNR is a founding member of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, a large group of nine government and private sector organizations, with the mission of restoring a second self-sustaining migratory population.

Whooping Crane - Photo by Ryan Hagerty, USFWS

Two release methods are being used to rebuild the population. Initially, all captive-reared crane chicks were conditioned to follow an ultralight aircraft from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in central Wisconsin to Chassahowitzka NWR on the Gulf coast of Florida. These birds then make the return and subsequent migrations south unaided.

According to Journey North, the first EIGHT ultralight-led whooping cranes from the Class of 2008 arrived back in Wisconsin April 16! Back home are #804, #814 and #818; and the St. Marks cranes #805, #812, #828, #829 and #830 (minus 826 and 813). Juveniles 803, 824, and 827 were still in Georgia (presumably together), where flooding has created good crane habitat.

On April 14 Wisconsin teacher/craniac Darlene Lambert saw four whooping cranes at Necedah Wildlife Refuge.

Spring 2009 Newsletter

The Spring 2009 Newsletter of Rainforest Biodiversity Group is now available online: http://www.rainforestbiodiversity.org/newsletters/Spring_2009.pdf.

Migration Update

We're still keeping a close watch on the northward migration of songbirds and here is the latest update, courtesy of Journey North (http://www.journeynorth.org/):

A couple of back-to-back storm systems produced more fallouts over the past week, especially over Easter weekend. Bird watchers along the Texas coast went out immediately after storms passed by on April 12th. The storms hit right around the time many migrants were arriving from the tropics, so the people were rewarded with many migrants that were forced to land. Cerulean Warblers, Indigo Buntings, and Painted Buntings were particularly numerous. The hawk watching station in Corpus Christi I mentioned last week reported 11,000 Broad-winged Hawks, 1,000 Turkey Vultures, and 1,000 Mississippi Kites! Hawk watchers reported that the day was long, but fun.

Cerulean Warbler - dsc.discovery.com/

Numbers were good elsewhere along the Gulf Coast. One person spent an entire day walking a 7-mile trail in Louisiana and counted 290 White-eyed Vireos, 280 Prothonotary Warblers, 250 Red-eyed Vireos, 250 Common Yellowthroats, and 170 Hooded Warblers!!! Birders along the Alabama coast reported hundreds of Scarlet Tanagers, and 21 species of warblers.There was enough of a break between storm systems to allow migrants to make some progress north before being grounded again. Washington, DC reported Northern Parulas, Black-and-white Warblers, Ovenbirds, Common Yellowthroats, and Louisiana Waterthrushes.

Pennsylvania recorded its first Blue-headed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Yellow-throated Warblers of the season.By the beginning of this week, the Easter system had moved far enough east to allow birds to move. People in Missouri reported their first White-eyed Vireos and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Iowa had Yellow-throated Warblers and Black-and-white Warblers, and the swallows have made it to Minnesota.Like the previous week, the western states have had a consistent movement of birds through the region. The most numerous species reported was Orange-crowned Warbler, but New Mexico, Arizona, and California all reported decent numbers of Western Kingbirds, Lucy's Warblers, and Wilson's Warblers. Black-headed Grosbeaks have also started showing up in California.

Third Annual RBG Bird-a-Thon

What better way to celebrate the birds returning, and the weather getting warm, than by having a big day of birding! Rainforest Biodiversity Group is holding its 3rd Annual Bird-a-Thon fundraiser.

How does the Bird-a-Thon work? Birders volunteer on May 9 to identify (see or hear) as many species of birds during that day as possible. Each birder secures pledges for their individual birding effort. Donors can either pledge a certain amount per bird species seen or heard, or they can simply make a flat donation to support their birder. By donating $0.10/0.25/0.50 (or more!) a bird species, we will be well on our way!

Any donor who contributes a minimum of $50.00 will receive the Bird-a-Thon t-shirt! Each participating birder will also get this free t-shirt!

To participate in this event, as either a birder or a sponsor, please contact Holly Robertson at holly@rainforestbiodiversity.org

Funds raised will go to supporting the Costa Rican Bird Route project. The Costa Rican Bird Route is an eco-tourism initiative designed to give local landowners an incentive to use their land sustainably. Funds raised from the Bird-a-Thon will be used to continue our monitoring and education efforts within the communities of the Bird Route. It is important to be staying in contact with our landowners, providing them support, information, and resources, helping them to better understand what sustainability means for them and the environment.

Tracking the MIgration

Spring is an exciting time, as we watch and listen for all those familiar birds to return from their winter stay in the tropics. Here in Madison, we have American Robins in the trees and Common Loons on the lake, the first arrivals of the spring. But soon they will be joined by lots of other songbirds, journeying, even as I type, across the gulf and northward.

The biggest fallout occurred along the Alabama coast. A bird bander working down there banded 1,000 birds over the weekend! Yesterday on the Texas coast, birders reported large numbers of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, White-eyed Vireos, Common Yellowthroats, Gray Catbirds, and Orchard Orioles, and smaller numbers of Hooded Warblers, Black-throated-green Warblers, Nashville Warblers, and many other species.

Species that had arrived previously took advantage of the good weather to continue their journey, with hundreds to thousands of Tree Swallows reported in Delaware, New York, and Ohio, and the first arrivals of Yellow-throated Warblers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in Illinois and Missouri.

Out west, migration was slow but steady. There were no big fallouts, but there was a steady stream of flycatchers, warblers, vireos, and orioles in New Mexico, 4 species of warblers, especially Orange-crowned Warblers, in California, and Arizona saw its first Lazuli Bunting of the season.