Target Species | Target Area | Useful Links
A
group of us from the Friends of Cherokee Marsh and Madison Audubon have begun
a project to document the birds in Cherokee Marsh, other north Lake Mendota
wetlands, and adjacent uplands. Our goal is to nominate this area as a Wisconsin
Important Bird Area (IBA).
The Wisconsin IBA program identifies sites that provide critical habitat for birds. The focus of the program is habitat, rather than birding. In other words, while many IBA sites are also good sites for birdwatching, this isn't a requirement. Approved sites gain public recognition and can attract funding and partnerships for management. IBA sites have no legal or regulatory status.
We're looking for volunteer birders to walk or paddle in Cherokee Marsh and surrounding areas and keep a record of the bird species heard and seen. More info.
Nominating a site requires submitting birding checklists and other documentation for a target species as defined by the Wisconsin IBA program.
For many species, the criteria require documenting a minimum number of nesting pairs. For birds in migration, the criteria are target numbers of individuals of mixed species in a category such as colonial waterbirds (herons, egrets, pelicans, etc.).
The species
listed below are some of the Wisconsin IBA target species that we believe are
likely to be present in Cherokee Marsh and nearby lands, possibly in enough
numbers to meet the criteria. The
full criteria.
Breeding, wintering, or migration
Requirement: >1% of state’s population or one of the 10 best sites
|
Species |
Spring Arrival |
Comments |
|
Henslow's Sparrow |
Mid-April - late May |
Fields with standing dead vegetation from previous year |
|
Osprey |
March, peaks in April |
Near open water |
|
Snowy Egret |
Late April- early May |
August migration |
|
Species |
Spring Arrival |
Comments |
|
American Bittern |
Early to late April |
Nests in thick marsh grass sometimes adjacent to willow and tamarack, usually within 6 m of water. |
|
Belted Kingfisher |
Mid April |
Nest in burrows, possibly 1 pair per 0.1 to 0.5 km along a stream |
|
Black-billed Cuckoo |
May 20-30, sometimes late April |
Eat caterpillers. Deciduos forest, upland carr, brushy woodland edges, marshes |
|
Hooded Merganser |
March-April |
Check wood-duck boxes |
|
Least Bittern |
Late April, early May (May 5 typical for S. WI) |
Nests in cattail or round-stem bulrush, late May - early June. |
|
Short-eared Owl |
Mid March - early May |
Nest on the ground in grassy vegetation |
|
Species |
Spring Arrival |
Comments |
|
American Woodcock |
March-April |
Displaying males in early spring include migrants. Nesting birds may continue to display into June and July. |
|
Blue-winged Teal |
early May, migrants gone by May 20 |
marsh |
|
Bobolink |
through late May |
Sing in June, wet to dry-mesic prairie, hay or idle cropland |
|
Brown Thrasher |
Mid April- mid May |
Thorny shrub |
|
Dickcissel |
Mid May- mid June |
Medium to tall grasslands with forbs |
|
Eastern Meadowlark |
Feb- March |
Open uncropped upland |
|
Marsh Wren |
Early May |
cattails |
|
Sedge Wren |
Late arrival, through early June, even into July, nesting begins late May |
sedge meadow |
|
Swamp Sparrow |
Late Mar., peaking in late Apr., early May |
First bird up, 4 am. Cattail marsh. |
|
Virginia Rail |
Mid April, peaks in early May |
Night, cattail and bulrush marsh |
|
Willow Flycatcher |
Late May, early June. |
Call at dusk, June. Nest in elderberry, dogwood, honeysuckle, willow. |
|
Yellow-billed Cuckoo |
Early to late May |
Open deciduous woodland with dense undergrowth, backwaters, slow creeks |
(Source for breeding information: Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin.)
Pelicans, herons, egrets, terns, etc. (excluding cormorants and gulls). Watch for migrating terns and pelicans on the river in mid April.
Breeding: regularly supports at least 50 pairs.
Migration/staging: regularly supports at least 100 individuals.
Loons, grebes, rails, bitterns, etc.
Breeding: regularly supports at least 25 pairs of any mix of species.
Migration/staging: regularly supports at least 100 individuals or at least 2000 cranes.
Landbirds include flycatchers, vireos, warblers, sparrows, etc.
Raptors include eagles, hawks, falcons, etc.
The site is regularly an important migratory stopover or seasonal concentration site for an exceptional number or diversity of migratory landbirds and/or raptors. Thresholds have not been set except where noted (see below) due to the scarcity of quantitative data, but the site should clearly be an outstanding staging area, migratory stopover, wintering area, or breeding area.
Short-eared Owl: 10 individuals.
An IBA
can encompass any collection of public and private lands that form an
environmental unit critical to bird habitat. The sites that make up an
IBA don’t have to be contiguous.
For this year, we plan to concentrate on the public lands around Cherokee Marsh:
Cherokee Marsh
Conservation Park (all three units)
Cherokee Marsh Fishery Area and State Natural Area
But we're also interested in data from other north Lake Mendota wetlands and natural areas such as:
Governor Nelson State Park and Dorn Creek Fishery Area
Waunakee Marsh State Wildlife Area
IBA Checklist (PDF)
Standardized North American Marsh Bird Monitoring Protocols. Detailed description of the national protocol for monitoring secretive marsh birds. From Arizona Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.
Bird Guide from All about Birds (bird information)