Sociedad Audubon del Metro de Wisconsin

Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society (WMAS) is a chapter of the National Audubon Society that encourages environmental stewardship through education and conservation. WMAS collaborates with Wehr to offer birding opportunities such as the Christmas Bird Count, The Big Sit, and leads the weekly Wehr Birders group. Public programs are typically held on the third Wednesday, February to April and September to November from 7-9 pm.

This month’s topic:

History of the Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station band migrating raptors and track long-term avian migratory trends with Daniel Erickson

The western shore of Lake Michigan has long been known to concentrate birds of prey during their annual southward migration each fall. To study this movement scientists established Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station (CGORS), the longest continuous raptor banding operation in North America, to band migrating raptors and track long-term avian migratory trends. Station banding director Danny Erickson will discuss the history of CGORS, WI raptor identification and banding, and the collaborative work the station does contributing to our knowledge of these charismatic birds and the conservation of raptor populations. Erickson is a field biologist from Milwaukee who studies raptor movement and population trends through banding. Since 2021, he oversees the count and banding operations at CGORS each fall. He is currently a MSc student at UW-Green Bay studying novel disease in migrating Sharp-shinned Hawks. Website: https://cgors.org/