http://ebird.org/content/wi daily 1 2008-03-13T17:30:02Z http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/wisconsin-society-for-ornithologys-2012-convention-in-madison The WSO Annual Convention is one of the premier events in Wisconsin birding each year. This year's convention will be held May 10-13 near Madison and promises to be another fun-filled weekend of field trips, camaraderie, and all things birds. No publisher ryanbrady 2012-02-08T17:23:24Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/the-winter-of-the-snowy-owl Back in late November, eBird reviewer Sam Galick got us ready for the Snowy Owl invasion of 2011-2012. For three months now eBirders across the US and Canada have been reveling in these striking tundra emissaries, which have appeared from coast to coast, many well south of their normal range. eBirders Jesse Ellis and Skye Haas have mined the email reports and listservs to ensure that no Snowy Owl report has escaped eBird's net. Thanks to their efforts, and submissions from thousands of eBirders worldwide, this surely has been the best documented Snowy Owl invasion in the history of ornithology. With three months of data under our belts, and 2-3 months left to enjoy these majestic raptors before they head north, this is a great time to compare this winter's irruption to years past. By any metric, this is one of the larger invasions, but how big is it? What do the geographical patterns tell us? Below we explore this winter's Snowy Owl invasion within a historical context. But first, here's a quick quiz: how many US states have never recorded a Snowy Owl? Which ones? No publisher odboyle 2012-02-07T22:20:23Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/visit-an-underbirded-county-1 While it's fun for Dane County birders to compete with Milwaukee County birders for number of checklists and number of species in eBird, a look across the state shows significant gaps in eBird coverage. No publisher nicka8 2012-01-19T01:25:59Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/poygan Another month — another county! This month Andy Paulios and Paul Samerdyke (WI DNR Biologist) profile the Poygan State Wildlife Area located on the southwest shores of Lake Poygan in eastern Waushara County. Much like December’s article, this hotspot lies in an under-eBirded county. Waushara County contains diverse grasslands, wetlands, forests, savannas and large bodies of open water however; the latest eBird species bar chart shows only 222 species reported for the county and a few weeks of the year completely lacking checklists! With that in mind we hope to turn you on to a great wildlife area for birds and birders and encourage you to enter checklists in 2012! No publisher nicka8 2012-01-11T03:11:40Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/theimportanceofcomments Wisconsin eBird has among the best eBird participation rates of any state — that’s great news, but results in a lot of flagged records heading into review. In fact, even though eBird reviewers work most days to clear records, we still currently have a backlog of nearly 600 records in review, many without comments, which take much longer to process. Read on to discover the importance of including comments for flagged species to make sure your observations are getting quickly processed and added to the eBird database. No publisher nicka8 2012-01-02T03:38:22Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/ebird-rare-bird-alerts-are-here After releasing Year Alerts last week, we are happy to announce another exciting Alert option -- the eBird Rare Bird Alert. This alert basically takes the eBird Notable Birds Google Gadget and moves it into an eBird Alert environment, meaning that you can now receive hourly or daily email summaries, or just go view rare birds on the web at our eBird alerts page. One key update is the addition of counties to the available alert regions, meaning you can customize your rare bird alert experience more than ever. The new Rare Bird Alert notifies you about any unusual bird that has been reported in your region of interest, and provides a link to the location and to the checklist so you can get more information about the sighting, and make the critical call as to whether it's worth calling in sick to work! No publisher odboyle 2011-12-20T17:36:44Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/hotspot-of-the-month-reclaimed-flambeau-mine-nature-trails We spun the wheel this month and landed in underbirded Rusk County. Wisconsin eBirder Rory Cameron agreed to profile a Rusk County hotspot (the only Rusk County hotspot at the moment): the Reclaimed Flambeau Mine Nature Trails near Ladysmith. Reclamation began in 1997 and the site now features woodlands, wetlands, grasslands. (Disclaimer: profiling a reclaimed mine does not imply endorsement of other, larger, potentially more-destructive mines!) No publisher nicka8 2011-12-18T03:41:00Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/photo-quiz-13 Another photo quiz is upon us. This one is seasonally appropriate and all three birds were photographed in Wisconsin. FIRST person to send correct species identifications for all three birds to wiebird@gmail.com wins a free eBird bumper sticker! No publisher ryanbrady 2011-12-22T19:53:33Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/ebirding-your-christmas-bird-counts-1 December 14 will begin the 112th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season, and the first big weekend of counts will be 17-18 December. The Christmas Count is the largest and longest-running ornithological citizen science project. Its data are a great complement to what we are collecting in eBird, and indeed the CBC has paved the way for eBird in many respects. It is not a problem to enter data in eBird and then submit it for the CBC too, since the two projects are collecting data in similar ways, but at different scales. eBird can be a great way to store your sector-level data and compare it from year to year. No publisher odboyle 2011-12-13T19:11:15Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/year-alerts-now-available We are excited to announce the latest expansion of our Alerts functionality -- the long-awaited Year Alerts. eBird Alerts compare incoming eBird reports to your past submissions to notify you of birds that would be new for you. Alerts can be viewed online or set to send hourly or once-a-day emails. One of the most frequent requests from our users has been the ability to use eBird Alerts to track a year list. We listened and you can now sign up for Year Alerts. With the year drawing to a close, this is the perfect time to see if you can pick up a few new birds for your year list. No publisher odboyle 2011-12-08T19:43:44Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/ebird-update-now-embed-photos-in-your-checklists We are excited to report that it is now possible to embed photos within checklists! This not only makes the checklists look more attractive, but also makes it easier for reviewers to review and confirm your rare sightings. These images will be viewable in eBird checklists (accessed via My eBird and point maps), in eBird Alerts online, and will be accessible to eBird reviewers, making their job much easier. For example, the Lark Sparrow pictured here will be easy to confirm, and so will the other rarities seen on this day, including a mega-vagrant House Sparrow! View checklist. No publisher odboyle 2011-11-29T15:38:16Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/hotspot-of-the-month-beaver-creek-reserve Our random county for November was Eau Claire, so we recruited local eBirder Steve Betchkal to write a profile about Beaver Creek Reserve. With 440 acres along the Eau Claire River, there are a lot of different habitats to explore. Check it out! No publisher nicka8 2011-11-22T05:11:10Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/ebirders-provide-vital-information-for-state-land-managers In order to make crucial decisions about what, where, and how much of our natural resources can and should be conserved, we must first know what remains, where it is, and whether or not something threatens its continued existence in the state. The Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) program, established in 1985 by the Wisconsin Legislature, is maintained by the DNR Bureau of Endangered Resources and is one of the critical tools in making these decisions. The NHI program is responsible for maintaining the central repository on the locations and status of rare species, natural communities, and natural features in Wisconsin. NHI uses the checklists that you submit to WI eBird from your birding forays on state lands to build a more complete picture of how birds use state lands and to make recommendations on how those lands will be managed to conserve birds and the entire suite of species native to Wisconsin. No publisher odboyle 2011-11-17T22:41:57Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/western-rarity-parade-hits-wisconsin UPDATED 11/14/2011 Even though many areas in the state saw their first snow of the season last week, the parade of western vagrants into Wisconsin and nearby states that started in late October continues. October and November are a classic time for vagrants to show up in the midwest but this fall has produced many more rarities than normal. In fact, it is already the best fall in the past decade and one of the best in recorded history. Considering how many rarities have been seen so far, there is no doubt that many more are currently in our state undetected. Read below to find out what has been seen in the state so far and what has a good chance of showing up, why these birds might be showing up, as well as where you may have the best chance to find a very rare bird. No publisher tprestby 2011-11-14T17:34:53Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/what-is-palm-warbler-western-a-bit-about-ebird-taxonomy-1 You have likely noticed (especially if you have the “Show Subspecies” box checked), that there is more than one way to report a bird in eBird. Most of the entries on the checklist are full species, but entries like Palm Warbler (Western) denote that you identified a bird to subspecies. In Wisconsin, Palm Warbler (Western) is the expected subspecies, and if you got a good enough look at to see it wasn’t a Palm Warbler (Yellow), you could report it as Palm Warbler (Western) instead of just Palm Warbler. Always report as either the subspecies or the full species; you should never double-count a single bird as both the species and the subspecies. No publisher nicka8 2011-11-14T05:49:57Z Feature