Hello 2019!

Here we are! 2019!

Governor's Island, Dane Co, WI 1Jan2019

On New Year's Day we woke to a gorgeous blanket of thick snow across the southeast Wisconsin landscape. Despite my body having become acclimated to the warmer temperatures of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, I celebrated Wisconsin's snowy New Year's scenery.

Governor's Island, Dane Co, WI 1Jan2019

In usual fashion, I birded most of New Year's Day. It is the one day of the year I can tolerate a pseudo Big Day. The pace is typically more casual than spring Big Days and it's interesting to compare results each year.

Lake Mendota as seen from Governor's Island, WI 1Jan2019

This year Lake Mendota had an unseasonably large amount of open water, the most I recall in the four years I've been birding Dane County on January 1st. While waterbird diversity was increased from other years when water is more scarce, our overall species total came in second due to low passerine diversity. Results for the past four years are as follows:

YEAR   TOTAL      TOTAL   
           SPECIES     WATERBIRDS

2019     56                20

2018     38                4 (mainly birded UW Arb)

2017     51                 17
2016     65                18

For this year's January 1st count as well as last year's, most if not all birds observed were in my 7.5 mile radius (MR) birding patch. 7.5 miles is the metric that was established in 2014 for the Wisconsin Local Patch Challenge.

With 2018 marking my first full year living in Dane County since 2003, I made a targeted effort to focus my birding on my 7.5MR patch. My official eBird Wisconsin Local Patch Challenge 2018 total came in at 229 species. Unofficially I have 1-2 additional birds I neglected to eBird, bringing my actual total to 230 or 231. 

I believe I could have done better in my patch in 2018 with little additional effort. But when June rolled around my focus shifted to hummingbird banding. Plus the idea of chasing species where I had gaps in my year list did not appeal to me. Easy misses included Peregrine Falcon and Virginia Rail. 

Speaking of birding patches, "5MR Birding" seems to be all the rage for 2109. I'm not entirely sure of the reason for its rise in popularity this year. However recently I read something published by the American Birding Association encouraging birders to adopt this metric for birding locally this year. See #7 birding bastard Seagull Steve's fine discussion of the merits of 5MR Birding.

A few of my friends are doing 5MR Birding, so I decided to join the 2019 birding bandwagon. My 5MR patch is set in eBird. It's mostly for shits, giggles and comparatives. It should be mildly interesting to compare my 5MR versus 7.5 MR circles and see how my results stack up against others adopting 5MR Birding. However my birding focus will remain on my original 7.5 mile radius circle.

Shaded area=5MR Birding; outer yellow outline=7.5 MR Birding
Madison, WI

Adopting a 2.5 mile shrink in radius would come with significant consequences I'm not yet prepared to accept. Most importantly, 5MR excludes my favorite under-birded bird haunt, my beloved "gorge." If I were to confine myself to a single birding objective in 2019, it is to increase my birding effort at "the gorge." Therefore I'm not about to give that up for an arbitrary birding guideline! "The Gorge" is my refuge from other birders. Though I suspect the cat will be out of the bag on this place within the year as Dane County Parks is developing a new park across the street from my secret sweet spot. As it is several dog walkers have adopted the state, county and federal lands in this area as a veritable off-leash dog park. With essentially ZERO enforcement of leash ordinances in Dane County, we naturalists are pretty much fucked. AND THE ASSHAT DOG OWNERS KNOW IT. But I digress...

My beloved gorge, Dane Co, WI 

The second downside of a more compact 5MR is the loss of key shorebird spots in my 7.5 MR patch, Nine Springs and Ashton K Pond. However I still retain the Sub-Zero Pkwy Ponds (formerly known as Lacy Rd ponds) which has yielded 19 shorebird species and 4 tern species in recent years. So all is not lost with shrinkage (remember that guys when it gets cold--nyuk nyuk.) This is a compromise I could live with and am most likely to integrate into my 2019 birding habits. We shall see how my year shakes out. My intentions and choices undoubtedly will evolve as time passes. It would be unprecedented if they did not.

Cheers to the new year! I look forward to change, surprise and perhaps a greater shift toward butterflying more in Wisconsin.