Spring is a thrilling season for people who love spotting migrating birds. At a recent bird banding event in central Wisconsin, more than two dozen species were identified in a single day.
The BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin participated in the event. Members were as excited about the species they helped release as the growth of their club.
The morning sky still glowed a soft pink, and birdsong filled the air just after 6 a.m. on a recent Sunday outside Waupaca.
Bird bander Susan Schuller was already at work — identifying and tagging birds.
“Is she young or is she old,” Schuller asks.
“Well, look at the middle tail feathers and look for wear,” suggests master bander Bob Welch.
Welch owns the 165-acre field station where the bird banding was held. Madison resident Zachary Pickett seemed awestruck. He was the first BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin member to arrive.
“So how long do they live,” Pickett asks.
This is Pickett’s first bird banding and he was about to release a Baltimore oriole. “She’s kind of aggressive. She wants to go,” he says.
It’s one of 17 orioles that would be banded and released that day. Pickett was born in South Korea and adopted by a family in New York state. He says birds intrigued him for years, but when he learned a BIPOC group was forming, he found community.
“Birdwatching and birding, you know, has always been in America, has mostly been something that mostly the Caucasian population and a lot of older adults have always been into,” Pickett says. “So, it’s been a very good window to open up.”
More birders arrive including Jeff Galligan who co-founded the BIPOC birding club two years ago.
Galligan lives in Madison where he assists first generation, lower-income students, and students with disabilities to thrive at Madison College.
“It’s getting people that traditionally have not had, to have,” Galligan says.
That conviction spilled over into his decision to launch the club. “Not only get people out, but also let other people see, yeah we’re out here, and we are definitely out here and we have every right to be. And people should feel safe,” Galligan says.
But today’s mission is about sheer delight.
Birds of various colors and sizes are carefully removed from nets stretched across sections of the field station’s wooded and swampy spots. Each is carefully inspected, measured and banded. Then BIPOC members take turns releasing the birds.
Dexter Patterson admires a newly-banded black-and-white warbler. “One of my favorites. He’s mixed like me. This is bird joy, this is it,” Patterson says.
As a former student of Jeff Galligan, Patterson helped form the club. His boundless enthusiasm and Instagram feed “wiscobirder” are contagious.
“One bird, one song at a time. Trying to know it all can be overwhelming. I always tell people you don’t need to be a pro to be a birder. All you need to do to be a birder is pay attention. That’s what I tell people,” Patterson says.
Rita Flores Wiskowski’s enthusiasm is quieter but equally deep. She helped create of the club’s Milwaukee chapter.
At the moment she’s basking in the fresh memory of holding and releasing one of her favorite birds: a wood thrush.
“The song of this bird is somethin’ that like every time I hear it, like my heart jumps. To hold it and just to feel the warmth. And he bit me before (I released him). It was so beautiful,” Wiskowski says.
Experiences like these are unique, but Wiskowski says at least once a month members bird watch together in both the Milwaukee and the Madison areas.
“I think that we’re just going to spark interest in people and people who never even thought to love this. I think we’re doin’ that already. We’re just having fun, and bringing the joy and seeing what happens and I think it’s doing good things,” Wiskowski says.
The day reached a crescendo when a rare bird was found: a Connecticut warbler!
Dexter Patterson calls Rita Flores Wiskowski who has wandered off taking photos. “Rita come here, we’ve got to do a group photo of this,” Patter son says.
Field station owner Bob Welch hadn’t seen a Connecticut in nearly 50 years.
Club co-founder Jeff Galligan, who happened to be wearing a T-shirt bearing the bird’s image, had the honor releasing the warbler.
“On my god, this is too much,” Galligan says with awe in his voice. “ Oh man, this is just, wow!"
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