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WBCI e-News vol. 3, no. 6 (October 10, 2003)

The Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative: "A cooperative partnership to deliver the full spectrum of bird conservation emphasizing voluntary stewardship."

The WBCI (Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative) e-News is a periodic e-newsletter to quickly

share that is happening in bird conservation across Wisconsin (and occasionally beyond).

Quote: "Biologists, researchers, and volunteers counted 1,202 singing males during the 2003 official census period, compared to last year’s 1,050." (to find out which species we're talking about, see item II. below.)

In this issue:

I. Rivers & Bluffs Fall Birding Festival - Friday - Sunday, November 7, 8 & 9 -

Lansing, IA

II. Record Kirtland's Warbler Count

III. WBCI Committee Meetings Announced

Habitat Assessment & Management Committee; Coordinating Council, Thursday, Oct

23, 10 a.m. - Noon; 1 - 4 p.m. - USDA - NRCS, 8030 Excelsior Dr, Madison

Urban/Suburban Subcommittee, Mon, Oct 27, 9-noon, location to be announced

Issues Committee, Thurs, Nov 13, 9:30 a.m., Plymouth WDNR Service Center

IV. Proposed Rules for Resident Canada Goose Populations

V. Cooper Ornithological Society - Annual Meeting - LaCrosse - May 4-9, 2004

Invitation to contribute news

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I. Rivers & Bluffs Fall Birding Festival - Friday to Sunday, November 7, 8 & 9 -

Lansing, IA

You are invited to the 2nd annual Rivers & Bluffs Fall Birding Festival Friday to Sunday,

November 7, 8 & 9, headquartered at KBSB Community Center, 395 Main Street, Lansing,

Iowa, just 40 miles downriver from La Crosse, WI and 30 miles upriver from Prairie du Chien, WI.

This is the peak season for close-up views of thousands of Tundra Swans, hundreds of thousands

of ducks and geese, and numerous Bald Eagles and hawks. Search for Golden Eagles and other

interesting & unusual species along the majestic Mississippi River and beautiful bluff overlooks,

where 3 states meet. For more details and a complete agenda, contact Ric & Betty Zarwell

(zarxzar@salamander.com)

--submitted by Ric & Betty Zarwell, Lansing, IA, zarxzar@salamander.com

II. Record Kirtland's Warbler Count

From the Michigan DNR: "Biologists, researchers, and volunteers counted 1,202 singing [Kirtland's Warbler] males during the 2003 official census period, compared to last year’s 1,050. The lowest numbers were counted in 1974 and 1987, when only 167 singing males were found...The census was started in 1951 and has been conducted annually since 1971." Some were found again nesting in the UP: "The production of young has been confirmed in the UP each year since 1996." For more on this count and Kirtland's warblers in general, see http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153--72725--,00.html

--submitted by Joel A. Trick, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, joel_trick@fws.gov

III. WBCI Committee Meetings Announced

All WBCI meetings are open to everyone. Please attend if possible and pass along word to anyone

who may be interested in attending or joining any WBCI committee. Contact committee chairs for

more information and agendas.

Habitat Assessment & Management Committee - Gary Zimmer, Chair (rgszimm@newnorth.net)

Coordinating Council - Karen Etter Hale, Chair (masoffice@mailbag.com)

Thursday, Oct 23, 10 a.m. - Noon (Habitat meeting), 1-4 p.m. (Coord. Council) - USDA - NRCS, 8030 Excelsior Dr, Madison

Urban/Suburban Subcommittee - Ricky Lien, Chair (ricky.lien@dnr.state.wi.us)

"Please reserve the morning of Monday, October 27 for a meeting of the Urban Habitat Subcommittee of the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative. Some of you requested that we have these meeting in more "unique" places, so I'm trying to pin down just such a place. Contact me to find out where the meeting place is and for a general agenda, but for now please reserve that morning if you can. I'm guessing 9 a.m. to noon.

Issues Committee - Bill Mueller, Chair (iltlawas@earthlink.net)

The Issues Committee of WBCI is re-starting this year, with a meeting at the Plymouth WDNR Service Center, on Thursday, November 13, at 9:30 a.m. Agenda items include gull problems, cats and birds, and communications towers and related bird mortality. If interested, please contact Issues Committee chair Bill Mueller in Milwaukee, at 414-643-7279, iltlawas@earthlink.net

IV. Proposed Rules for Resident Canada Goose Populations

Gleaned from the electronic newsletter, The Birder Conservationist (American Birding Association), Vol. 2, No.9 – September 2003: During August, US Fish & Wildlife Service released a plan for rule changes to provide states with “flexibility in controlling resident Canada Goose populations". These new proposed rules will allow for early season hunts, nest destruction, trapping and culling, and other methods to reduce resident Canada goose populations. Current populations in the lower 48 are judged to be 30% above the

level where wildlife damage problems and conflicts with humans can currently be managed. See