Birding doesn’t have to be a solo activity.
Joining a local birding club or meeting other people at birding events can bring you a sense of belonging and teach you things you didn’t know. No matter how experienced you are.
For this month’s Chirp Chat, Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez spoke with Rita Flores Wiskowski, a Milwaukee area coordinator with the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, and Caitlyn Schuchhardt, a leader for the Feminist Bird Club—Madison, Wisconsin.
They share ways to find community with other birders and the benefits of birding together.
How to meet other birders
Finding other birders can be easier than identifying a bird – Flores Wiskowski and Schuchhardt both recommend people join a birding club they connect with and attend walks regularly.
“Just go out there, find a group and talk to people,” Flores Wiskowski says. “Conversations naturally will happen because you all have that same desire to learn, to look at birds and to enjoy nature.”
But getting out of your comfort zone can be difficult. In that case, Flores Wiskowski and Schuchhardt encourage birders to join a club’s online community before venturing outdoors.
“We both [the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin and the Feminist Bird Club – Madison, Wisconsin] have really exciting online spaces where you can also connect with the groups in advance to see, ‘Is this the right environment for me?’ And see what bird pictures people are sharing and things like that,” Schuchhardt says. “You can build friendships in these online spaces and that can make it easier, I think, for you to show up at an outing when you already have a sense of… the space.”
Below is a list of birding clubs in Milwaukee and Madison that host free weekly and monthly outings:
- BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin: hosts monthly events and bird walks throughout the Madison and Milwaukee area.
- Feminist Bird Club – Madison, WI: hosts monthly events and bird walks in the Madison area.
- Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance: hosts monthly events throughout Madison and the southern region of Wisconsin.
- Milwaukee Birders: a one-stop shop of resources for birders and lists bird walks happening weekly throughout Milwaukee.
- Schlitz Audubon Nature Center: hosts a bird club on Wednesday evenings most months and bird walks every second Saturday morning each month.
- Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society: hosts a free bird walk every Sunday at the Wehr Nature Center. There is a $5 parking fee for the nature center.
The benefits of birding together
No matter how experienced a birder is, Flores Wiskowski and Schuchhardt agree that there’s always more to learn. Flores Wiskowski says birding with other people can help you learn different ways to identify a bird—whether that be a bird's characteristics or behavior.
“Going out with somebody new, they'll point out a robin or a chickadee that sometimes, as an experienced birder, we might overlook, because we see them all the time,” she says. “But when somebody new comes to your walk and they are amazed at the beauty of a robin or the cuteness of a chickadee, and then you stand there and watch it, you remember that they are… and so we have a lot to learn from the new birders.”
Schuchhardt says that the social aspect of birding with other people boosts her mood and improves her mental health.
“Being out with other people, being able to experience the rush of IDing [a bird] is so exciting, she says. “There's so much joy from the birds. There's so much joy from just being around people who are excited and celebrating nature in this way.”
Popular birding spots
Here's a list of birding spots Flores Wiskowski recommends birders check out in Milwaukee:
Here's a list of birding spots Schuchhardt recommends birders check out in Madison:
Chirp Chat’s Birds of the Month for February
“The Boreal owl is small, kind of chunky, and when it flies, its wingspan isn’t very big—I was surprised by that,” Flores Wiskowski says. “Since we’re talking about community, I met my friend… We took a road trip to the Sax-Zim Bog, which is in northern Minnesota, and they are having an eruption year of Boreal owls. We were in Duluth, actually, so we hadn't even gotten to the bog, and we were walking along a very heavily used trail, and… we were standing right underneath a Boreal owl. As we walked away, we looked at it and then gave it a little distance, because you don't want to be all up in a Boreal owl’s grill. But it didn't seem to mind. And it was the first time I ever saw one, and it was very exciting.”
“I’m going to spotlight the Black-capped chickadee, in part because it is a resident bird here in our area,” Schuchhardt says. “It’s probably the most active and exciting birds to watch in the winter because they're busy foraging. One of the other reasons, that I wanted to highlight them is because when you're out birding, finding chickadees can also help you find other birds. Today, when we're talking about finding other birders and finding community, to me, Chickadees remind me of that.”
