Bay Area Bird Club

03/31/2026

Have you been seeing Tundra Swans lately? 🦢🥰

Two species of swans spend just some of their time in Wisconsin. Trumpeter swans nest here, while tundra swans make a quick stop on their way home.

03/06/2026

Since this year's Big Bay Birdathon is reaching a pretty big milestone, we'll be giving commemorative caps with this new design to all participants!

Sign up now to claim yours! We are almost 2 months away!
More details: https://www.facebook.com/share/1LCqVqfq6R/

02/22/2026

Thanks to everyone for joining our field trip today! It was a little chilly but now I'm really itching for duck and goose season to arrive!

Here is the trip report I have, 45 species! Not bad for a February trip!
If you'd like me to share the lists with you just let me know. 😊

https://ebird.org/tripreport/479739

Thank you Erin LeFevre for the pictures❤️

-Amanda

11/12/2025

Those who are members of the BABC and have emails that end in new.rr.com, your emails are not being received and bouncing back to me

Send a message to learn more

09/29/2025

The Bay Area Bird Club went to explore Whitefish Point area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the last weekend of September 25-28.

We started our trip visiting Portage Marsh near Escanaba. We stretched our legs and walked a bit finding Cooper's Hawk, Merlin, and Northern Harrier hunting the shoreline. Duck diversity was low due to low water levels in the Marsh, but the brush along the pathway held Blue-headed Vireo mixed in with a few expected warblers and sparrows.

Continuing our journey north led us to Seney National Wildlife Refuge. The lengthy auto-tour yielded many Trumpeter Swans, Wood Ducks, several passerines including Swamp Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat, and a Broad-winged Hawk riding an afternoon thermal.

The next day was our first on Whitefish Point. This world-renown Important Bird Area has amazing geography ripe for fall migration, sticking far into Lake Superior and only 16 miles from Canada. We were able to watch many waterbirds pass by the point including Common and Red-throated Loon, Red-necked Grebe, White-winged Scoter, and a couple American Golden-plovers.

The afternoon lull led the group to split up and explore other areas. North Preachers Road was quiet but a Spruce Grouse flushed by the road. Others went to Taquamenon Falls State Park to look at waterfalls and a nice pocket of warblers including Tennessee, Black-throated Green, and a few Palm Warblers.

Saturday was another "pick-your-trip" day. Some went to Seney for the morning, picking up Ruffed Grouse and American Coot for the trip. Those at Whitefish Point witnessed a quieter day for loons, but waterfowl was flying, landing Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, both Teal on the list. They also picked up Black-bellied Plover and Sanderling along the shoreline.

Sunday, everyone worked their way back to Green Bay at their own pace. Whitefish Point was slow for waterbirds, but passerines took the show adding Hermit Thrush, Northern Parula, Purple Finch, and Cedar Waxwing.

08/18/2025

You can still get out and watch a cool phenomenon like our Club did! Let us know if you want to participate!

Thank you for the great story, WLUK-TV FOX 11 and Eric Peterson!

As fall migration is getting underway in parts of Northeast Wisconsin, some birds are starting to appear.

06/04/2025

Another opportunity for input for a local hotspot

Joliet Park Input Meeting
📅June 12
⏰6:00 p.m.
📍UW-Green Bay, University Union, Room 306, 2430 Campus Ct, Green Bay, WI 54311

The City of Green Bay, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Robert E. Lee & Assoc., Inc. are working on habitat restoration planning for Joliet Park. This park has been identified as an Area of Concern site regarding degraded habitat concerns within the park and Bay of Green Bay. We are also exploring improving site access and possible amenities such as an open shelter as part of this planning. We are looking forward to your input as we continue our planning for the park.

Find more information online: https://www.greenbaywi.gov/calendar.aspx?EID=10720

05/25/2025

Interesting watch and shows how we can help

05/13/2025

2025 Big Bay Birdathon
Summary and Results

The Bay Area Bird Club held our 13th Annual Big Bay Birdathon on May 9-10, 2025. Our only fundraiser of the year benefits local organizations who are doing amazing things to preserve and conserve wildlife and wild areas, educating the community on conservation, or conducting research to save our natural resources. This year’s main beneficiary was the Brown County chapter of the Izaak Walton League – Osprey Point. Please consider becoming a member. More information linked below.

Brown County Chapter

It was a wonderful weekend for birding, but the real goal was to raise money for projects back in the community. There aren’t enough “thank you’s” to go around but I’ll try. Thank you to the participants. Without you this event wouldn’t be possible or successful. Thank you to the donors. Your support kept us motivated to push ourselves to make your investment worth it. Thank you to Russ Schisel for sponsoring the food, making arrangements to have our get together at Osprey Point, and raising the most money. Finally, thank you to Nancy Nabak for her help and support to help run this event over the whole life of our Big Bay Birdathon.
At the time of writing this we are well over $8000 raised (highest single-day record) with several pledgers/donors still sending money in. If you wish to donate, we are still taking donations. The more money we raise the more we can do in the community!
The weather really cooperated this year with a gorgeous Friday and south winds overnight to push some birds up for Saturday. Everyone planned their own routes and we covered many great spots in the state from Horicon NWR, Buena Vista Grasslands, Marinette County, and Lake Michigan. As a result, all ten participating teams reached 100 species or more and as a group we tied the all-time record with 211 species.
There were many great sightings. We added 6 new species to our record book, found by 4 different teams, showing how much everyone is involved and skilled. These species were Cackling Goose, Neotropic Cormorant, American Goshawk, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, and Kirtland’s Warbler! Some birds found for only the second time in 13 years include Eared Grebe, White-winged Scoter, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Iceland Gull, and Red-throated Loon.
With the good “gets” there always seem to be some “misses” but nothing expected was missed. The closest birds were Mourning and Canada Warblers, both cuckoos, and some flycatchers, but that was more due to them not returning to the area yet.
As for results, the team of Sarah Ellefson, Becca Jabs, and Adam Sinkula eked out one-bird win 158-157 over Tom Prestby and Jay Watson. Jayson Giese, Logan Lasee, and Erin LeFevre came in 3rd with 146. Sue Knabe and Mike Kile’s return put them in 4th with 139, barely ahead of Jack Swelstad and Wayne Kuhn (138) who rounded out our Top 5. Nancy Nabak, Russ Schisel, Whitney Froelich, and Bob Mead were just outside with 135. Final results below.

Final Results:
1. 158 Sarah Ellefson, Becca Jabs, and Adam Sinkula
2. 157 Tom Prestby and Jay Watson
3. 146 Jayson Giese, Logan Lasee, and Erin LeFevre
4. 139 Mike Kile and Sue Knabe
5. 138 Wayne Kuhn and Jack Swelstad
6. 135 Whitney Froelich, Bob Mead, Nancy Nacak, and Russ Schisel
7. 119 Jody and Sofia Speduto
8. 110 Sue Ascher, Helen Mitchell, and Linda Wallenfang
9. 109 John Devroy, Mike Gottfredson, and Jim Johnson
10. 100 Brenda Rank, Ben and Stephanie Rodgers