Goose Pond Sanctuary staff and Madison Audubon volunteers will present a program to the Friends of Pope Farm Conservancy, Madison Audubon members, and the public regarding their involvement in raptor research and citizen science projects. Join us in-person at Pope Farm Elementary School or online via Zoom to learn about these amazing birds of prey. See additional program topics and speaker bios below.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

In their December 2022 meeting, the Madison Audubon board of directors voted to change the organization’s name. In this presentation, Executive Director Matt Reetz will share with members the reasoning, process, and intentions of removing "Audubon" from the organizations name, and what the next steps will be for collaboratively selecting a new name.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Brigitte Fielder reads the racial resonance of birds in John James Audubon’s narratives alongside this historical context of antislavery bird imagery and also against another instance of flight—the “Flying African” stories of African American folklore.

Image by J. J. Audubon

Join us for to explore Antarctica’s wild landscapes and creatures with John Bates, curator of birds at the Field Museum in Chicago. We’ll dive into his travelogue, complete with stories and photos about penguins, albatrosses, seals, and more!

Photo by John Bates

Join us for this educational and engaging session with Dexter Patterson, co-founder of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. Known on social media as WiscoBirder, Dexter is on a mission to spread as much joy as possible by making his new hobby welcoming for all birders in the state.

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Join us for an evening with the wonderful licensed rehabilitation staff from the Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center, a program that treats over 4,000 animals each year. Staff and volunteers will share scenarios and answer your questions about how to identify whether a bird is sick, injured, or orphaned.

Photo courtesy of Dane County Humane Society Wildlife Center

Birding is an activity that can bring so much joy and empowerment to everybody, but not everybody is able to go birding easily. Birdability is a brand new non-profit, based in the U.S. but with a global reach. Through education, outreach and advocacy, the organization works to ensure the birding community and the outdoors are welcoming, inclusive, safe and accessible for everybody and every body!

Cover image by Wayne Jeansonne.

Have you ever wondered about the mushrooms you see popping up on logs in the forest? Join us for an evening of fungi appreciation with PhD student and mushroom enthusiast Nora Dunkirk as she discusses the role of fungi in our splendid world!

Photo by Nora Dunkirk

Join us in welcoming author and researcher Scott Weidensaul, who takes us around the globe—from the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China to the remote mountains of northeastern India to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus—to learn how people are fighting to save the world's great bird migrations.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Lead exposure is a serious problem for birds. Just a tiny particle of lead, if consumed, is enough to be lethal to a bird even as large as a Bald Eagle. Some of Wisconsin’s most beloved birds, including Bald Eagles, Common Loons, Trumpeter and Tundra Swans, and American Woodcock all face heightened risk for lead poisoning. Learn from Sean Strom, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Toxicologist, about what the WDNR has learned about lead levels in various bird species over the past many years, as well as what the causes and solutions are.

Photo by Pat Ready

What do healthy ecosystems sound like? Angela Waupochick, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses launching a bioacoustics project in vulnerable Black Ash forest-wetlands and shares long-term goals for restoration, protection, and management.

Photo courtesy of Angela Waupochick

The weather may be colder and the days may be darker, but the birds are just as rewarding as ever. Whether you're birding from the comfort of your car as you search for a snowy owl, or whether you're bundled up and wandering through pines as you listen for red-breasted nuthatches, winter has something to offer.

Photo by Monica Hall

With smartphones in hand and virtual schools, friendships, and experiences, Generations Y, Z, and Alpha face intense barriers from exploring birding and nature in person. However, the sustainability of conservation relies on an empowered and impassioned younger generation.

Extreme weather, including heat waves, droughts, and high rainfall, is becoming more common and affecting a diversity of species and taxa. Jeremy Cohen, postdoctoral fellow in Forest and Wildlife Ecology at UW-Madison, used data from eBird and NASA satellite weather data to examine how 109 bird species responded to extreme weather across the eastern US and Canada.

Photo by Jeremy Cohen

Learn about the wide diversity and amazing lifestyle of dragon- and damselflies with Dan Jackson in our summer Evenings with Audubon! Dan will share with you the life cycle of these creatures, most common species in southern Wisconsin, and some fascinating tidbits about these ferocious predators.

Photo by Dan Jackson

Collisions with glass kill up to 1 billion birds each year in the United States. Join us as Bryan Lenz from American Bird Conservancy discusses why birds hit glass, what you can do about it, and what he helped the Milwaukee Bucks do to make Fiserv Forum the first LEED-certified bird-friendly sports arena. We will also discuss the Bird Collision Corps, a local citizen science effort that studies the magnitude of this problem in Madison.

Photo by Kevin Harber

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) has experienced huge population declines in the past two decades. Here, we will explore how citizen science has impacted monarch conservation, what data gaps persist, how the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program seeks to fill these gaps while expanding existing citizen science datasets, and how to participate in any of these programs.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Cranes are among the most endangered bird families, and flagships for understanding the risks of climate change to biodiversity worldwide—especially where wetland loss and watershed degradation already impact biodiversity. To manage and secure wetlands facing climate change, we draw lessons from decades of crane conservation—that the needs of cranes, many other species, and people are linked strongly to healthy wetlands and watersheds.

Photo by Rich Beilfuss

Climate change is impacting life at all latitudes, with increasing temperature in the Arctic affecting polar bear habitat and populations in novel ways. Tricia Fry will sharehow climate change, specifically sea ice dynamics, is putting this flagship species at risk.

Photo by USFWS Alaska Region

Madison's lakes are in need of home owners and community members to take action and take care of them... from their own yards! John Shillinglaw will describe how folks can participate in protecting the Madison area watersheds by adding to habitat for pollinators, and provide ideas for ways you can make a real difference simply by managing your yard.

Photo by Richard Hurd, Flickr Creative Commons

Madison-local, author, and professor Steven Davis will present his recently published book, In Defense of Public Lands, which advocates that public land should remain in the public's hand, despite debate over whether these lands should be privatized.

Photo by Joshua Mayer

When night falls in the forest, foes real and imagined emerge: bears, mountain lions, escaped convicts, ghosts...oh my! Gavin M. Jones, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has spent five years roaming the forests of California's Sierra Nevada after dark studying the rare and threatened spotted owl.

Photo by Gavin Jones

Native bees are a wildly diverse and important group of animals! Christy Stewart from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will kick off our fall series with a presentation that opens your eyes to the beauty, variety, and significance of these little pollinators.

Photo by Madison Audubon

Join us for an event focusing on the wonderful chimney swift, due back in the state around this time. Sandy Schwab, a key player in the Wisconsin Chimney Swifts Working Group, will share information about the natural history, migrations, threats, and conservation tactics relating to these fascinating birds.

Photo by Waltarrrrr/Flickr Creative Commons

Join DNR bat biologist and state cave & mine specialist Jennifer Redell. You’ll be introduced to the amazing but secret lives of your neighborhood bats and will hear the story of WNS in Wisconsin. Jennifer will be accompanied by live bat ambassadors and will share a variety of actions you can take to help Wisconsin’s bats.

Bald Eagles have staged a remarkable comeback throughout the Midwest in the past 40 years. However, eagles continue to face a variety of challenges in Wisconsin. Learn about eagle nesting surveys in southwestern Wisconsin and a study using eagles as an indicator of environmental contaminants. You'll also learn more about the new citizen science program Madison Audubon is launching this winter, Bald Eagle Nest Watch!

Photo by Monica Hall

Alvaro Perez Cardenas, co-founder of Greenrainforest, a nonprofit focused on protecting critical wildlife habitat in Panama, will share what his organization is doing to protect the jaguars and larger rainforest ecosystem in the Boqueron Valley, a threatened wildlife corridor in northern Panama.

Photo by Rachel, Flickr Creative Commons