Chequamegon Audubon Society

01/06/2026

Birds don’t recognize borders and conservation progress doesn’t happen in isolation. From deserts and wetlands to working lands and rivers, 2025 showed that success is possible when communities, policymakers, scientists, and Indigenous leaders align around shared goals.

This National Bird Day, we reflect on four key “stopovers” of conservation progress from the past year, and the opportunities ahead in 2026 to build on that momentum. Read more about the flight path forward for birds and people here: bit.ly/3YXGoAp

01/06/2026

Controversial Conclusion to Bird Nerd Jeopardy!

Chequamegon Audubon and Honest Dog Books hosted a Bird Nerd Jeopardy competition on January 3. Thirty people attending the event divided into five teams to compete for the coveted "bird nerd" title. The friendly competition culminated in a photo finish with team #2 barely edging out team #4. However, the results have since been analyzed by our independent auditors Dewey, Cheatham, and How(k); and a discrepancy was uncovered. Auditor Huey Dewey noted that, "Errors were made in calculating the score for Team #2. A recount revealed that Teams #2 and #4 actually tied for first with 390 points each!" Assistant Will Cheatham exclaimed, " I haven't seen such an egregious misuse of a Sharpie since the Hurricane Dorian "Sharpiegate" scandal in September, 2019!" Second assistant auditor and Jeopardy host N. How(k) added, "A good time was had by all and in my book, everyone who attended the event was a winner!"

A possible rematch is under consideration...stay tuned.

01/05/2026

What a great way to measure the success of restoration work... recording bird song which is a reflection of forest health.

Birds are giving “Yelp reviews” of the forest, and a coalition of land trusts, tribes, and conservation groups in western Washington are listening. Using networks of audio recorders and artificial intelligence, they analyze birdsong to quickly measure forest health and the impact of restoration efforts—like thinning trees and creating wildlife snags—on habitat for declining bird species, without relying solely on traditional field surveys. The Listen Up Collaborative brings partners together to test, refine, and share climate-smart restoration methods, so they can be replicated across more protected forests in the region.

Listen Up is one of six Conservation Collaboratives under the Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative (LTBCI), which provides tools, resources, and guidance to help land trusts prioritize bird conservation and make smarter investment decisions. By building strategic, coordinated efforts like Listen Up, LTBCI leverages resources from multiple partners to increase the impact and cost-effectiveness of conservation across broader landscapes.

Learn more about this partnership and how Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative uses sound to make a difference: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/landtrust/listen-up-collaborative-2025

01/05/2026

The Hooded Merganser is a handsome diving duck with a taste for crustaceans, small fish, and aquatic insects, which they hunt entirely by sight. Their eyes are specially adapted to account for light refraction underwater, making them fearsome—but undeniably beautiful—hunters of crayfish.

01/03/2026

Iron County Land & Water Conservation Department is now accepting applications for a Conservation Specialist! If you have a passion for protecting our natural resources and a background in environmental science, apply today to help preserve our local landscapes for future generations.

For more information, visit our website: https://www.co.iron.wi.gov/Jobs.aspx?UniqueId=98&From=All&CommunityJobs=False&JobID=Conservation-Specialist-8

01/03/2026

GET THE LEAD OUT: Bald Eagles we admitted over the past eight weeks, who sadly succumbed to lead poisoning. These remarkable creatures, all five years or older with their beautiful white heads, had already overcome the toughest early years of their lives. It’s truly devastating to see them fall victim to a threat that could have been prevented.

01/03/2026

🌟 The Evening Grosbeak Needs Your Help! 🌟

Once a beloved winter visitor to backyard feeders, the brightly colored Evening Grosbeak has seen a staggering 90% population decline since 1970. Some regions, like the boreal forest, have been hit even harder.

To understand and reverse this decline, the Road to Recovery (R2R) initiative and partners have launched a groundbreaking project. Researchers are:
✅ Color-banding and tagging grosbeaks with satellite and radio transmitters
✅ Tracking their movements across seasons and landscapes
✅ Studying factors like habitat change, diet, collisions, and disease

This international effort, led by the Evening Grosbeak Working Group, is already making progress—but we need your support to keep it going!

💡 Why does it matter? Evening Grosbeaks are not just beautiful—they’re an important part of North America’s boreal ecosystem. Losing them means losing biodiversity and balance.

👉 The working group has created a project, https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/evening-grosbeak-window-collisions in an effort to learn more about window collisions of Evening Grosbeaks and serves as a friendly reminder to report banded birds to www.reportband.gov if they are found as the result of a collision.

All banding is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory.

📷 A flock of Evening Grosbeaks at a feeder during the winter. Credit: Matt Young

01/03/2026

Join our host, Chequamegon Audubon President Neil Howk, for a lively evening of bird trivia.
Where: Honest Dog Books (in Bayfield)
When: Saturday, January 3, 2026
Time: Bar opens at 6pm. Contest starts at 7pm. Come early to join one of 5 teams.
You could be the bird nerd of the bay! Did we mention prizes?!
See attached poster and view this link for more details.
https://honestdogbooks.com/events/4191520260103

Join our host, Chequamegon Audubon President Neil Howk, for a lively evening of bird trivia.

Where: Honest Dog Books (in Bayfield)
When: Saturday, January 3, 2026
Time: Bar opens at 6pm. Contest starts at 7pm. Come early to join one of 5 teams.

You could be the bird nerd of the bay! Did we mention prizes?!

See attached poster and view this link for more details.
https://honestdogbooks.com/events/4191520260103