Wisconsin is among the leaders for citizens reporting bird sightings to an international bird observation website.
Birding has become an increasingly popular pastime in the Northwoods and elsewhere, and a DNR biologist says this is eveident in the recent report on citizen participation on the 'eBird' website.
The DNR's Nich Anich says observations from Wisconsinites are many....
"...Wisconsin has been one of the leading states using eBird. Right now we're also doing the Breeding Bird Atlas which is a way to compare to the first bird atlas which was done 20 years ago. We're also running that through a special eBird website right now....."
In 2016, eBird gathered 1.4 million observations from 4,100 birders who submitted more than 110,000 checklists....
"....the website is ebird.org and all you have to know is where you were, and the birds that you saw and you pop on (the website), plot your location and up comes the checklist and you hit 'go' and it's as simple as that...."
Anich says the eBird site merges recreational birding with the conservation side of it. He says while many observations are routine, some sharp-eyed citizens have found a couple of oddities. One was a subtropical kingbird, and a documented falcon in the Superior area that has set a longevity record.
Another observer found a rare pinkish, green woodpecker normally found in the western states.
A link to the eBird site is here.
