We did it! Atlas data vetting is complete!
It's taken several years, but we are finally finished with the data checking. We checked 244 species for issues with breeding code, time of year, location in the state, overly long lists, and other errors. With 2.8 million records from 3,500 observers in the atlas portal, it was a monumental task! Read more about the process here.
What's next for us? Onward towards the final products!
We've got lots to do on this front, including finalizing analyses like the abundance maps and the change maps, preparing species accounts for nearly 250 species, and of course investigating the big-picture trends to see what all this means for the populations of our birds! We have heard from many of you who are anxiously awaiting the final products, and so are we — we're getting there — thanks for your continued interest and patience with the process.
New paper uses atlas data to show spread of European Goldfinch Did you know Wisconsin is on the front lines of an invasion? European Goldfinches escaped or were released from the pet trade near Chicago, and they have persisted and been successfully nesting between Chicago and Milwaukee since 2003. Your atlas data were a major source of information used to quantify what we know about this developing situation. See our brief summary or read the full paper. You can also see the map below as an animation.
SOS (Save Our Songbirds) Campaign Launches
At the recent Bringing Birds Back conference in Oshkosh, a new initiative was announced: The Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership and Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin are spearheading an effort to raise awareness of declines in songbird population and encourage needed actions. These include simple actions you can take locally such as planting native vegetation in your yard, protecting birds from windowstrikes, and buying bird-friendly coffee. Check out their website or facebook page or read this article about it in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Wisconsin Birdathon Registration Opens It's spring, and a great time to pull together some friends and get outside to count birds for a good cause. Whether it's your first year, you're doing a Green Big Day, or you're trying to beat your team's longstanding record, there are lots of ways to get involved. Check out details on this year's event here.
It's Spring! (at least technically?) We hope you can find some time to get outside and enjoy nature!
