Upcoming Programs / Field Trips
 

PROGRAM: Thursday, February 2
Gardening for Hummingbirds
Kenosha Northside Library
1500 27th Avenue, Kenosha
7:00 P.M.

   Michael and Kathi Rock offer extensive experience in educating the community about how to garden for hummingbirds. While they are not professional ornithologists or botanists, they have been studying hummingbird behavior and gardening for hummingbirds for over 10 years. Their hummingbird garden in Madison, Wisconsin contains 100+ varieties of annual and perennial plants that attract hummingbirds and they maintain 20+ hummingbird feeders. They have traveled to southeastern Arizona, Texas, Louisiana and many other locations throughout the Midwestern United States to learn about hummingbirds and have consulted with and studied with many experts and hummingbird bird banders including Nancy Newfield, Sheri Williamson and Tom Wood, Bob and Martha Sargent, Lanny Chambers, Mark Klymm, and Brent Ortego.

   They publish a newsletter about hummingbird gardening in the Northern U.S., The Hummingbird Nectar News, and offer a website: http://mywebspace.wisc.edu/mjrock/web. They have published articles about hummingbird gardening for Northscaping.com, Netlines, the newsletter of The Hummer/Bird Study Group, and The Hummingbird Connection, a quarterly publication of The Hummingbird Society. They also actively participate in the HUMNET listserve and The Hummingbird Forum. They have educated many local gardening and birding groups, senior citizen, and service groups throughout their local community and beyond and present their program at the Dane County Garden Expo every year in Madison, Wisconsin. Every September, they conduct a public tour of their hummingbird garden.

   In September 2007, The Wisconsin State Journal published an article and photos highlighting Michael and Kathi Rock’s hummingbird garden and their community service efforts. In July/August 2008, Midwest Living Magazine featured an article about their garden and experiences with hummingbirds. Their annual garden tour was featured in the June/July 2010 issue of Birds and Blooms Magazine. Their garden will also be featured on an upcoming episode of The Wisconsin Gardener program on Wisconsin Public Television.

   Michael and Kathi Rock’s educational program is an interactive PowerPoint presentation that integrates video clips into a series of photos of hummingbirds at flowers and feeders in the Rocks’ own garden. The goal of the program is to help people learn how to most effectively attract hummingbirds to their property, regardless of location (the Rocks live in an urban location in a small Midwestern city.) The program opens with basic information such as how to identify a hummingbird, the life and behavior of the Ruby-throated hummingbird, migration patterns, the best feeders for hummingbirds and how to maintain them, and reproduction and nesting. The second half of the program identifies the best annual and perennial plants to include in your garden for hummingbirds and how to most effectively design a garden to attract hummingbirds. Program participants will receive printed material about hummingbird gardening for future reference as well as free flower bulbs and seeds for a few of the greatest plants for hummingbirds. Michael and Kathi’s passion for and interest in this topic are infectious and will create excitement about hummingbirds and gardening for them in people from a wide variety of backgrounds and interest areas.

Great Backyard Bird Count
Saturday, February 17-20

   Make sure your local birds are represented in the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count—they won’t count unless YOU do!  The 15th annual GBBC takes place February 17-20. Everything you need to know to participate is on the website at www.birdcount.org

Saturday, February 25
PROGRAM: Beginning Birding Class
Salem Community Library
24615 89th Street, Salem, WI 53168
262.843.3348
10:00 A.M. - 11:30 A.M.

   Rick Fare and Helen Pugh will cover bird identification, selection and use of binoculars, suggested birding references, and best locations to bird in Kenosha and Racine Counties.
Reservations recommended but not required; please contact the library at 262.843.3348.

Saturday, February 25 - 9:00 A.M.
FIELD TRIP: Gulls and Waterfowl - Racine Lakefront

   We'll begin at Samuel Myers Park (11th Street & Pershing Park) and make our way northward to the Racine Harbor.

PROGRAM: Thursday, March 1
Butterflies of the American Prairie
Kenosha Northside Public Library
1500 27th Avenue, Kenosha, WI 53140
7:00 P.M.

Speaker: Doug Taron, Curator of Biology at the Chicago Academy of Sciences Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum; Director of the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network

Doug Taron has been at the Curator of Biology at Chicago Academy of Sciences' Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum since the museum's opening in 1999. Taron has been responsible for all living material in and on the grounds of the Museum—from the snakes that slither in the Istock Family Look-in Lab to the grass that grows in the prairie just outside its front door. He manages the 2,700 square-foot Judy Istock Butterfly Haven, the only permanent year-round exhibit of live butterflies in Illinois, and its 1,000 butterflies.    Taron has a particular fascination with butterflies, which started at age 6 when he received his first butterfly net in his home state of Massachusetts. When he migrated to Chicago in the early 1980's for graduate school, he began helping to restore Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin as part of the Nature Conservancy's Volunteer Stewardship Network. There, he shared leadership in managing a 95-acre Illinois State Nature Preserve in Cook County, Illinois, participating all aspects of land management including brush control, prescribed burning, seed collection, and exotic species control.

   In 1989, Taron became Director of the Butterfly Monitoring Network, a volunteer-based organization monitoring the health of butterfly populations in nature preserves throughout Illinois. Under his leadership, the program grew from seven to 150 sites. He developed volunteer training, recruitment, and a database to support the program, which has been a model for similar projects in Ohio, Florida, and Iowa.

Saturday, March 3
1:30 - 3:00 P.M.
Landscaping for Birds
Kenosha Public Museum
5500 First Avenue, Kenosha, WI
262.653.4140

   Cost: $23 general public, $18 Friends of the Museum.
   Please register at least one week before the class.

   Learn how to increase the number and variety of birds in your yard by growing native plants offering natural habitat and a year-long smorgasbord of berries, nuts, and seeds. Gardeners can play a vital role by restoring and preserving native plant communities which support not only birds but other wildlife including butterflies, bees, and bats.

   Mariette Nowak, author of Birdscaping in the Midwest, is a Wisconsin Society of Ornithology board member and is past director of Milwaukee’s Wehr Nature Center.

Monday, March 5
6:30 P.M.
Bringing Nature Home
The Golden Rondelle Theater
1525 Howe Street, Racine
Reservation Required

   Dr. Doug Tallamy, whose book Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants has topped every nature-lover’s must-read list.

   A vibrant and captivating speaker, Doug Tallamy reminds us that 54% of the United States is suburban/urban and 40% is in agriculture. This leaves precious little habitat for wildlife, including the 127 species of migrating birds that are in decline. While parks and preserves are important, he asserts, they just aren’t big enough to ensure the biodiversity needed for our wildlife’s – and our own – well-being.

   The good news, however, is that the 128 million houses in the United States offer 128 million opportunities to put the right plants back in our landscape, plants that will support the insects that support birds and other wildlife. Insects are highly selective in what plants they will eat, and since 96% of birds in North America raise their young on insects, the relationship is clear: no bugs, no birds.

   Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, Dr. Doug Tallamy speaks to our times and offers workable solutions that each of us can contribute to.

   The Golden Rondelle Theater is located at 1525 Howe St. in Racine. Seating is free but limited, and reservations are required. Call 262-260-2154.

Saturday, March 24 - TENTATIVE DATE
 FIELD TRIP
Waterfowl and more at Nicholson Wildlife Refuge
and Area Hotspots (Racine Co.)

   We'll Meet at 8:00 A.M. at the Nicholson Wildlife Refuge parking area (south side of 5 Mile Rd, between H and Nicholson Rd).  We'll walk the trail south. 
   NOTE: Knee high boots are highly recommended as the trail may likely be flooded for the first hundred feet or more.

Saturday, March 31
FIELD TRIP:  Waterfowl Trip - Eagle Lake and area (Racine Co.)

     Meet at the Park & Ride at Hwy 20/I94 by 8:00 A.M.  Prior to birding at Eagle Lake, we'll check the wetlands west and north of the intersection of Hwy 11 & 75.   We'll then meet at Eagle Lake Park (north side of lake, south of Church Rd) between 8:45-9:00 A.M.  Contact Jenny via cell at 262.488.8077 that morning if you are looking for the group.

April 4 through April 11
 FIELD TRIP: Loon and Waterfowl Watch at Lake Andrea
Prairie Springs Park (Kenosha Co.)

   Contact Stan Rosenstiel at 262.694.2206 to arrange times & for directions.

FIELD TRIP: Evening Woodcock Walks at Cliffside Park
(northeast Racine Co.)
Wednesday, April 11 and April 18
Meet at 7:00 P.M. (or 5:30 P.M.)

Listen to the peents and see the aerial dances of the twittering “Timberdoodle” at twilight.   

   Cliffside Park is located on the lakefront in northeast Racine County, north of 6 Mile Road and east off of Michna Road. 
   Meet by 5:30 P.M. at Picnic Area #2 (near the yellow gate).  While there is daylight, we’ll bird along the main trail north of the yellow gate for spring migrants and may go as far north as the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan to view waterfowl.
   Or, meet by 7:00 P.M. at Picnic Area #2 (near the yellow gate). We'll walk the trail to the north and await the display of the American Woodcock.

    The American Woodcock may begin call around 7:30 or 8:00 P.M.  (depending if skies are overcast or clear) and will conclude after 8:30 P.M.  Some of the trails may be wet from recent rainfall, so it is advised to wear waterproof footwear.  A warm jacket and gloves are suggested.

FIELD TRIP: Evening Woodcock Walks at Chiwaukee Prairie
(southeast Kenosha Co.)
Wednesday, April 18 and Wednesday, May 2.  
RSVP with Stan Rosenstiel in advance to sign up (262.694.2206)

Online Resources From The January 5 Program
Conservation Birding in Costa Rica

Two of our Hoy Audubon members, Eric Howe and Jennifer Wenzel, participated in a conservation birding trip last winter to the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. They shared their experiences and the important conservation value of the area.

More information at:
Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative
http://www.wisconsinbirds.org

Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative - International Committee
http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/International

Osa Conservation
www.osaconservation.org

Yaguará 
www.yaguara.org 

Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation / "Bird Protection Fund”
www.wisconservation.org

WISCONSIN SOCIETY FOR ORNITHOLOGY

   The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology (WSO) sponsored field trips are open for anyone to attend. 
For a listing of 2012 Field Trips, click here.

   Bring a bag lunch or cooler. For the WSO field trips, severe weather conditions may cancel the trip. In the event of cancellation, every attempt to notify participants via the WSO Hotline (call 262.784.4032 for recording) and WisBirdNet (recent postings at http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/WISC.html )

Photos from the International Migratory Bird Day Celebration
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Root River Environmental Education Community Center (REC)
Click Here To View

Hoy Audubon Society Chapter Membership
2011/2012

Annual renewals for Hoy Audubon Society “Chapter Supporter” memberships are due on July 1 of each calendar year.

Please make check payable to "Hoy Audubon Society" and send to:
Hoy Audubon Society
P. O. Box 044626
Racine, WI 53404

Chapter Supporter Dues: $12       Total amount enclosed: __________
Receive chapter newsletter by email only?
Yes, my email is: _________________________________
Name____________________________
Address__________________________
City_____________ State__________ZIP________
Phone_______________

Purchase a gift membership in Hoy Audubon

Enroll a friend or relative as a member of Hoy Audubon Society. Gift memberships are a wonderful way to help our club grow.  Plus, they introduce others to the benefits of belonging to Hoy, such as field trips-both local and distant, informative programs at the monthly meetings, and social events, including the annual picnic and Holiday party.

Wisconsin Bird Checklist 

Last updated - 01/21/2012