View the latest updates and recaps on our special “bird” program for the Tales from Planet Earth film festival. We’ll be posting news, photos, and multimedia here on our highlighted films, events, and community partner, the International Crane Foundation.
Our morning bird walks for the weekend were a wonderful success - great weather, great turnout, tasty bagels, and wonderful guides! The mornings were sunny and unseasonably warm, and we managed to see about 30 species both days, including a new state record for the latest Brown Thrasher of the season on Saturday. All in all, 44 people turned out over the course of two days, including the directors of Ghost Bird and Wild New York - Scott Crocker and Adam Welz - on Sunday. Reps from both the International Crane Foundation and Friends of Muraviovka Park were on hand as well to answer questions.
Special thanks to Einstein’s, again, for the bagels. But my greatest thanks goes to our bird guides - Eric Wood, Adrian Lesak, Fred Beaudry, James Burnham, and Jesse Ellis - and our community partner reps - Barb Thompson, Francine, Kim Ness, and James Burnham. You guys rock!
Photos from Saturday below.
Guide Eric Wood (holding scope) starts the walk
Guides Fred Beaudry (foreground) and Adrian Lesak (background) train their scopes on some horned grebes!
Birders look out on Lake Mendota, including Barb Thompson (foreground) and James Burnham (cap and blue jacket) from our partner community organizations.
A house sparrow… common, but beautiful!
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Here’s a secret that every veteran birder knows: no matter where you go in the world, if you’re carrying binoculars, you will find friends. There’s just something about the passion for all things avian - their beauty, diversity, and grace - that brings people of every background together. Birds don’t care about city, state, national, or even continental boundaries as they migrate through them every year, and saving them brings people together as a result.
Friends of Muraviovka Park epitomizes this principle. An offspring organization of ICF, FoMP has built a devoted following to support educational and scientific exchange between Wisconsin and Russia’s only private wildlife refuge, founded by the great Russian ornithologist Dr. Sergei Smirenski. The park, officially called “Muraviovka Park of Sustainable Land Use in Far Eastern Russia”, provides safe haven for six species of cranes, the Oriental White Stork and over 20 other rare and endangered species of birds.
FoMP founder Barb Thompson has had her life changed by connecting to the people and animals in this remote corner of the world, and today trains American teachers who travel every summer to Russia to work with local teachers in providing environmental and science education to rural students who would not otherwise have this opportunity. You’ll be able to meet Barb at the film festival this weekend, particularly between 10:30am and 4pm Saturday at the UW Cinematheque. The films Wild New York, Milking the Rhino, and Ghost Bird play then.
See you there!
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Join our morning bird walks with local wildlife experts this weekend! We’ll meet at the parking lot at the entrance to Picnic Point (in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on the UW campus) at 7:30am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Bring binoculars if you have them!
Click here for a map. Directions start from the intersection of North Park St. and University Avenue.
- From N. Park Street, go west on University Ave - go 0.6 mi
- Continue onto Campus Dr - go 0.7 mi
- Take the Highland Ave exit toward Uw.VA Hospitals - go 0.1 mi
- Turn right at Highland Ave - go 0.4 mi
- Take the 3rd right toward Walnut St - go 82 ft
- Turn right at Walnut St - go 0.1 mi
- Turn left to stay on Walnut St - go 0.1 mi
- Continue onto University Bay Dr - go 0.2 mi
- Arriving at University Bay Dr, Parking Lot 130
Total: 2.4 mi - about 7 mins
Scott Crocker, the Director of Ghost Bird, will be on hand at the 2pm Saturday screening to answer questions. Bird researchers, conservationists, and educators from ICF and Friends of Muraviovka Park will also be there. With any luck, Scott will also be at our morning Bagels with Birder walk on Sunday! (Meet 7:30am at Picnic Point entrance on the UW Madison campus).
Can’t wait! Check out film details below.
Ghost Bird (2009)
Scott Crocker (85 min., color, BetaSP, US)
Saturday, November 7, 2:00 pm
For decades, the citizens of Brinkley, Arkansas have believed that the giant ivory-billed woodpecker still exists in their neighboring swamps, despite no official sightings of the bird anywhere in 60 years. When scientists recently announced that the bird had been found, the news was celebrated around the world as the rediscovery of a lifetime. Since then, however, no one has replicated the new official sighting, despite millions of dollars in federal funds being diverted from other endangered species projects to focus on this elusive (maybe illusive?) species. What explains the draw of this bird? What can efforts to save it tell us about how we commidify and view endangered species as a resource over which to battle? Ghost Bird, a spirited look at all these issues, was an official selection of the 2009 Hot Docs Film Festival.
Photo: All the remains of the Giant Ivory Bill
One of the International Crane Foundation’s primary missions is to promote conservation research for cranes and their habitat. This includes a number of student researchers who find internships, work, and financial assistance with ICF.
Name: James Burnham
Occupation: Ph.D. student and ICF researcher
What got you involved with ICF?
I graduated with a B.A. in Biology and a Minor in Chinese without much of idea on how to combine the two. I knew I wanted to do applied ecology and conservation work, and I knew I wanted to work with birds. Eventually, I came across the story of the Siberian Crane and felt that a lot of the questions about the ecology of the species and conservation concerns at its wintering grounds in China overlapped with my interests. I contacted the International Crane Foundation and started an internship with them in the fall of 2003. I’ve been with them ever since.
What do you work on with ICF now?
I study the ecological relationships that influence how Siberian Cranes and other waterbirds select their feeding areas during the winter months at Poyang Lake in south-eastern China. I then work with others at ICF to apply this knowledge to inform local and national policy makers and shape efforts aimed at conserving the ecology of Poyang Lake, one of the most important areas in Asia for migratory waterbirds.
What’s your favorite memory with cranes/ICF work?
Definitely the first time I went to Poyang Lake in 2003. By that time, I had been reading about Siberian Cranes for three years, and I was really anticipating seeing Siberian Cranes in the place where over 98% of the global population of the species is located in the winter months. For days I traveled around the lake with other researchers, and every time we saw white birds in the distance I would ask if they were Siberian Cranes. I kept getting disappointed when the when the white birds in the distance turned out to be storks, swans, spoonbills, or one of the other five species of crane that is found at Poyang. After about four days, we were parked on the edge of a lake and six Siberian Cranes flew low overhead. It’s a sight I hope I never forget.
Photo: Burnham takes a breather from crane capture in Wisconsin.
Today’s birding volunteer is another pro from UW. We’ll have lots of university bird-freaks on hand to head through our best camping birding location: Picnic Point!
Name: Adrian Lesak
Occupation: PhD Student/Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology
What got you hooked on birds?
As a child, receiving a field guide and binoculars as a gift definitely helped. Also, my paper route forced me to be outside around dawn, and for years, allowed me to experience every morning of our amazing spring and fall bird migrations.
Where’s your favorite place to see birds and wildlife in Wisconsin?
The Lake Michigan shore in winter, Wyalusing State Park in the spring, the Baraboo Hills in summer, and the Northwoods in fall.
What’s the coolest wildlife encounter you had this year?
I would have to say the White-winged Crossbill irruption this winter was a rare and welcome highlight.
Do you work or volunteer with birds or wildlife conservation? Please tell us about it.
I do. Currently, I’m a PhD student studying the effects of housing growth and land cover change on songbird populations in the Baraboo Hills and in the same study region, I analyze bird habitat measured by lasers mounted on airplanes. This semester I am also a teaching assistant for an introductory conservation biology course taught by Professor Zach Peery. I volunteer at my local city park restoring native vegetation and removing exotic plant species, have co-led a Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation field trip, and participate in Audubon Christmas Bird Counts whenever I can.
Below: Lesak meets a Whiskey Jack (aka Gray Jay) while hiking on Isle Royale
Einstein Bros. Bagels on State St. has graciously donated bagels for our Saturday and Sunday morning “Bagels with a Birder” events. Meet at the Picnic Point entrance at 7:30am Nov. 7 and 8 to check out the scene with expert local birders. Bagels and coffee provided!
Today’s MadBirder highlight and film fest volunteer is a Canadian ex-pat, and can tell you the bird names in French!
Name: Frederic Beaudry
Occupation: Postdoctoral research associate
What got you hooked on birds? I was offered a Peterson field guide for my 10th birthday. I read that book like it was a novel; I remember eating most of my meals that summer with the book in front of me, trying to balance my glass of milk on top of the pages to keep the book open. Then I would go out squinting at birds, trying to figure out what they were.
Where’s your favorite place to see birds and wildlife in Wisconsin? The Nicolet National Forest, with its vast bogs and deep woods.
What’s the coolest wildlife encounter you had this year? Just last weekend, while walking in a maple stand, I looked up at two trumpeter swans gliding across an opening in the forest canopy,framed by gold-colored leaves against a deep blue October sky.
Do you work or volunteer with birds or wildlife conservation? Please tell us about it. I’m a conservation biologist, and as a researcher at UW-Madison I try to incorporate the habitat needs of forest birds in the way we plan our use of the northern Wisconsin forests.
Photo: You can also catch Beaudry heading up north with his family for some fishing.
