GAYLORD NELSON
AUDUBON SOCIETY
Earth Day, Every Day
Gaylord Nelson Audubon Society
PO Box 1
St. Croix Falls, WI 54024
Annual Summit To Be Held AtUW Stout - Menomonie!
Sunday, February 22, 2015, 1-3:30 pm
UW Stout - Menomonie
MemorialStudentCenter
Cedar-Maple Room 136
302 10th Avenue East
MenomonieWI54751
Campus parking lots are free and open on weekends
1:00 Speaker - Brian Collins with special guest(!?!)
2:15Break/Social
2:30 Announcements, Business, Elections for President & Treasurer
2015 Events
Annual Summit
February 22, 2015
Bird Hike at InterstateState Park
May, 2015 - check website for date
Welcome Back Bird Day
May 13 or 20, 2015 - check website
Birds Bugs and Blooms Bash
June 5 - 7, 2015
Luck Christmas Bird Count
December 20, 2015
RiceLake Christmas Bird Count
January 3, 2016
Send your email address to
and receive updated event information.
GNASTerritory Expands:
A Warm Welcome
This year, we welcomed some new zip codes into our GNAS territory. Some birders in the ChippewaValley were considering starting a new Audubon chapter, but after some discussion with GNAS, we decided that it would make a lot more sense, and be a lot more fun, to merge. This addition will serve some larger population centers to the southeast of our former boundary, including Eau Claire and captures all of the Lower Chippewa River Important Bird Area.
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Birds, Bugs and Blooms Bash
NEW EVENT:
The Birds, Bugs and Blooms Bash is ChippewaValley's first nature festival. Mark your calendars for June 5 - 7,2015. Enjoy keynote speakers both Friday and Saturday nights at UW Stout's MemorialStudentCenter in Menomonie. There will be many field trips to choose from during the day on both Saturday and Sunday. The field trips will be held throughout the ChippewaValley and cover topics like bird-banding, wolf ecology, snakes, kayaking, wildflowers and nature photography. Besides the field trips there will also be many opportunities to learn from the sessions and workshops during the day. For a full list of keynote speakers, session/workshops, and field trips, watch for the Birds, Bugs and Blooms Bash website in mid-February.
GNAS Hosts WBCI Annual Meeting in Chippewa Falls
Great Opportunity: Making Our Private Lands Count for Birds
This year the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative will be holding its annual meeting in ChippewaFallsMarch 19 - 21.Privateland is a critical resource for birds and other wildlife, so the meeting will focus on the importance of private land for bird conservation. Open to private landowners, bird enthusiasts, and professionals, there will be a workshop, fieldtrips, socializing, and sessions on forest, grasslands, wetlands, and backyard habitats. For more information, a link to the WBCI meeting announcement will be posted on our website.
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Gaylord Nelson Audubon On The Internet!
Be sure to check us out on the web at to find the dates and locations for fun events, including Christmas Bird Counts, Earth Day Celebrations, Welcome Back Bird Days, Birds Bugs & Blooms in June, Swifts Night Out, Monarch Festivals, and AutumnFest activities!Please visit our Facebook page at
Proof of Toucans:
A Wisconsin Christmas Bird Count Moment
By Brian Collins
The Luck Christmas Bird Count has provided its share of surprises to me in recent years. As a dynamic duo covering a small section of the count circle, Tyler Bublitz and I have ferreted out our fair share of rare and document-worthy species from a frozen DecemberPolkCounty landscape. One year, we found an apparently healthy Turkey Vulture overwintering near a sheep pasture, passing up tropical climates for a bleak and frozen snowscape. Another year, we located two Tufted Titmice in the town of Luck. We pursued them relentlessly under the mistaken impression that their atypical calls, nothing I had ever heard from a titmouse, were those of the more-likely Golden-crowned Kinglets. When the southerly birds emerged and gave us a look, we scrambled for our cameras. I have found huge flocks of Snow Buntings, lone sentinel Northern Shrikes, and luxuriously feathered Northern Rough-legged Hawks, all birds of the boreal and tundra. But last year, at ten below zero, I found proof of toucans.
I was driving south of EastBalsamLake, scouring the back roads for birds. I glanced up at the van's console occasionally to read the outside air temperature, and it continued to bounce along between -10 and -12 Fahrenheit. Bitterly cold. My road came to an intersection, and, as I looked wide to see if anyone was heading my way around the billowing snow drifts, I noticed something above me in the boughs of a lone and leafless maple. I came to a complete stop and marveled for a moment at the sight. It was an old Baltimore Oriole nest hanging out above the road with a single misplaced fiber blowing around ever so slightly in the near still, frozen air.
Perhaps slightly hypothermic, I was suddenly smitten by the novelty of an oriole nest hanging above such an icy world. Sure, the basic idea of long-distance Neotropical migrant birds having made their way against all odds to the insect and fruit-rich warmth of a green, blossoming Wisconsin in May was old news to me. These orioles had declared this spot as their own and, by mid to late June, had probably raised a few more orioles, heading south with stronger numbers when the summer days shortened. Lurking within that knowledge, though, was a new and inspired thought. There, just above me, in a world too cold for almost all
life, I could see evidence of toucans. With this crazy new thought, I could almost see the colorful toucans leaping from branch to branch, heavy bills brilliant among dense, tropical green foliage. Through the frosty windshield, I could almost see them, almost feel the humid tropical air.
The thought went sort of like this...
Toucans are tropical nest robbers. Their bills are superbly adapted to reaching deep into a nest and extracting the eggs. The bill is so well adapted to nest-robbing that its size almost prevents climbing flight. Toucans can fly well, but they often land low in the branches of a tree and bound from branch to branch until they reach the top. It is a fly down, climb up, fly down world--all of this to reach an egg. Perhaps in response to a long, probing, nest-robbing bill, the orioles build long, pouch-like nests. Compared to Wisconsin's two species of oriole (Baltimore Oriole and Orchard Oriole), the American tropics support dozens and dozens of orioles from at least three distinct phylogenies, including the mammoth nest-builders, the crow-sized orioles known as oropendolas that build drooping, sagging baskets more than a few feet long. These tropical residents are the ancestors of our orioles, the original master craftsmen.
From phylogenic branch of taxonomy to functional branch of forest tree, the oriole nest is an extended phenotype, a physical structure that reflects the genetic, deep-seeded instincts of the builder. Oriole nest building is not taught. It is born in oriole DNA. The only DNA that survives to build a nest is that DNA that escapes the bill of the toucan. The battle began in the tropics, a battle that stretched generation after generation of oriole nest against generation after generation of toucan beak. As the nests grew longer, so too did the toucan's egg-thieving tool. As some orioles left the tropics in favor of uncontested, wide-open ecological landscapes, they left behind the competition...and the toucans. Nonetheless, the evidence of toucans remains, hanging clearly in the leafless trees of a frozen December Wisconsin landscape.
Perhaps next year, I will pencil that toucan on the count sheet for just a moment before I erase the thought and submit only the birds I see. Good Birding!
Photo by Brian Collins
GNAS Sponsored Christmas Bird Counts
By Robin Maercklein
It was 4:40 a.m. December 23, 1977 and I found myself driving my old worn out 1968 Volkswagon on my first Christmas Bird Count. As there were only two participants in the Rice Lake Count, I covered half the territory alone: 88 square miles. Twelve hours and 52 miles later - eight miles on foot - I completed my half of the 15 mile diameter circle. I listed 26 species that day.
The RiceLake count was conducted from 1974 to 1978. This year the Gaylord Nelson Audubon Society (GNAS) has resurrected the Rice Lake Christmas Bird Count. Taking place on January 4th, 2015, this was a trial run before becoming official next year.
The 30th year of the Luck Count took place on December 14, 2014 - the first Sunday of the official count period. This count also was resurrected following a ten year lapse that ended in 2010. The 20 participants found 41 species of birds - the second highest in the counts' 30 year history. See the GNAS website for more details of this count.
The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count began in 1900 and is the longest-running citizen science wildlife survey in the world. Participating in a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is one of the easiest ways to contribute to science and our knowledge of birds. It can be as easy as keeping track of the birds at your feeder during the day of the count - provided you are within the count circle. Many folks take a more active role and join a team searching for birds in a set territory. For a complete list of CBC's in the GNAS territory, check out the Events tab on the Gaylord Nelson Audubon website.
Watch our website or Facebook page to see the results of the count. The 2012 and 2013 results can also be found there. Next year's Luck Christmas Bird Count will be on December 20, 2015. For more information or to participate, contact
President's message
Gaylord Nelson Audubon had another exciting year. A major achievement during this time was recognition as a 501(c)(3) organization of the Federal Tax Code. This is great news to all of our donors who will now receive a tax deduction for their generous contributions. This should enable us to provide additional educational and citizen science activities to further community based conservation, environmental awareness, and a healthier eco system which are core values of our organization.
Another achievement during this year was establishing alliances and partnerships with several local organizations that share our vision for the environmental landscape of Northwestern Wisconsin.
Once again, we want to thank our donors and chapter membership for your support and extend an invitation to everyone to join us at our annual summit on Sunday, February 22ndat UW Stout - Menomonie.
And don’t forget to visit our website at follow us on Facebook, or contact us directly at .
Kathy & Paul Fredrickson, President, GNAS
Purple Martins are declining at an annual rate of 6%. Do you manage a colony or know of one near you? GNAS is collecting data on every colony in our 14 county region. Would you be willing to provide some information about your colony? It is exciting to see that you are providing housing for the martins. We'd love to hear from you! (See data entry form below).
What is the name of the colony, what should we call it? ______
(note: many just use their name)
Physical address:
Street Number: ______
City: ______Zip code: ______
Type of Housing:
Artificial gourds ______(number)
Natural gourds ______(number)
Houses/Apartments ______(number of compartments available)
Total holes available ______
How long has this colony been in existence? ______(Best estimate if unsure)
2014 Statistics:
Number of successful nesting pairs: ______Number of young fledged: ______
Number of adult/subadult birds not nesting:
Would you be willing to provide a phone number, e-mail for follow up next year?
Name: ______
Phone Number:______
e-mail: ______
Notes: How is the colony doing? Any other interesting facts, details, data on the colony?
(Use the back of this form to provide more information if you wish.)
Please return form to:Steve Betchkal
715-832-7359 / Person leaving you this form. Please contact if you have any questions.
Toni Dougherty
715-637-5011
Gaylord Nelson Audubon Society
Local Membership & Donation Form
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Member Information
___New Member___Renewal___Donation
Name(s) ______
Address ______
City______State ______Zip Code ______
Telephone ______Email(s) ______
Membership Level1 Year2 Year5 Year
(please circle one)Individual$12$20$48
Family$18$28$64
Donation $ ______
Total Due (Membership + Donation) $______
Cut------Cut
Send check (Payable to GNAS) along with the top of this form to:
Gaylord Nelson Audubon Society
PO Box 1
St. Croix Falls, WI54024
By filling out this form you are subscribing to a local membership with Gaylord Nelson Audubon Society (GNAS). Local members are not members of the National Audubon Society. To become a member of National Audubon visit and you will automatically become a member of the Audubon Society that serves your zip code area. Record GNAS code C1ZZ22 0Z in the space allotted to guarantee your membership in GNAS.
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•100% of your membership stays local•10% of your membership stays local
with GNASwith GNAS
•Receive email updates and annual•Receive email updates and annual
newsletter from GNASnewsletter from GNAS
•GNAS will not share your personal•Receive the National Audubon magazine
information with any individuals
or organizations
The only reminder to renew local membership will be in the form of an email.
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Annual Summit To Be Held At UW Stout - Menomonie!
Sunday, February 22, 2015, 1-3:30 pm
UW Stout - Menomonie - MemorialStudentCenter - Cedar-Maple Room 136
302 10th Avenue East, MenomonieWI54751
Campus parking lots are free and open on weekends
1:00 Keynote Speaker - Brian Collins with special guest(!?!)
2:15Break/Social
2:30 Announcements, Business, Elections for President & Treasurer
Birds of Wisconsin's Public Wild Lands
Brian M. Collins
Brian M. Collins is a contract ornithologist, contributing to a variety of bird community studies for the Wisconsin DNR's Natural Heritage Inventory and for various lake associations and land trust acquisitions. In the last seven field seasons he has walked over 800 miles of untrailed backcountry in pursuit of bird community data within Wisconsin's vast and wild tracts of public land. In more than 1,400 surveys, he has collected data on more than 35,000 individual birds and more than 170 bird species. Point count work is full of unexpected surprises and exciting discoveries and presents a unique and rugged lifestyle far removed from the routines scripted by research protocol. Brian almost always has a camera in hand, so his adventures are well documented! Be sure to attend the annual meeting to catch his colorful and bird-rich presentation -- and the possibility of a surprise guest!
Gaylord Nelson Audubon Society's Map as of 2015