January Bird Club

January Bird club kicked off with a viewing of a video from the Great Lakes Eagle Project, part of a UW Wisconsin Sea Grant program. A trained team tags, assesses and collects biological samples from eaglets at 5 to 9 weeks of age. The study is monitoring levels of heavy metals, chemicals and PFAS as eagles can be used as an indicator species for environmental contamination. https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/our-work/focus-areas/emerging-contaminants/per-and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas/great-lakes-eagle-health-project/

Nancy emphasized the importance of advocacy to maintain and support funding and legislation for programs and projects important to us. She shared publications from nature advocacy organizations such as WSO, Audubon, Sierra club, The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation and more.

Lastly, we took a deep dive into the results of the Collins Christmas bird count. Marked changes in bird populations over the years have been supported by eBird submissions. The Christmas bird count is an especially useful to to monitor Southern birds expanding into our Northern range. _Collins CBC 2025 Forty species were reported by 10 birders and 7 feeder watchers.