Spring Event Planning and more…

Event planning took up much of the March 11th CEI Bird club meetings’ agenda. Members reviewed the steps to register and participate in the Annual Midwest Crane count on April 12th. Our club covers many of the blocks on the western edge of Manitowoc County. There’s something magical about experiencing the sunrise with the sights and sounds of our sandhill crane residents. Learn more about this International Crane Foundation sponsored activity….https://savingcranes.org/annual-midwest-crane-count/

Saturday April 26th was selected for our spring Adopt-A-Highway trash pickup. This also coincides with our Earth Day celebration. CEI Birders clean a 4.2 mile stretch of Hwy JJ from County W to Marken Road….both sides of the road! We’ll get the word out so everyone knows they are invited to meet at 9:00 a.m. at The Neustadter Nature Center. All the necessary safety vets and equipment will be provided as well as light snacks. 

Lastly, we discussed the influx of migrating geese and ducks into the area plus took a peek at some new technology. The ice is still covering most of the marsh but that does not deter our feathered friends. We took a peek at what a new piece of technology recently installed by our Naturalists was detecting. The BirdWeather PUC (Portable Universal Codec) is an AI powered bird listening device with a global library of over 6,000 bird vocalizations. On March 11th, our meeting date, the Collins Marsh PUC-12069 detected over 40 species of birds, the highest detections being Canada Goose, Red-Winged Blackbird and Common Grackle, with lower confidence in some of the rarer, less frequent detections. Approximately 50 sites in Wisconsin are sharing their their data currently. Another tool in the Birder’s tool chest! To check out this new technology arrival see https://birdweather.com