What We Do

WHAT WE DO

From dawn to dusk each day beginning in mid-August until mid-November we conduct trapping and banding operations. We tally all raptors and estimate numbers of many other migrating birds. During October and November, we capture owls in nets that are tended regularly during the night. Since inception more than 45,000 hawks, owls, and eagles, representing 24 species of raptors, have been banded at the station. We submit all banding data to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which reports to us recoveries of banded birds (see maps for example). Every year we help ornithology-focused interns enhance their avian knowledge by providing hands-on experience in raptor identification, luring, trapping, extraction from nets, handling, taking morphological measurements, photography for scientific purposes, blood drawing and banding. The application of geo transmitters is also demonstrated when possible. Our interns are provided with housing, food, and a small stipend supported by your donations.

CONSERVATION THROUGH RESEARCH
Responsible conservation activities are based on sound scientific research which can’t be done without volumes of accurate data. The daily fall migration monitoring data we provide to The Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) via HawkCount.org and the huge amount of banding data we’ve provided to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is all available for use by researchers. The station has had a long history of contributions to scientific literature, and has published more than 70 scientific papers during our 70 plus years of operation.

PARTNERING FOR GREATER CONSERVATION SUCCESS

We are active participants in research programs from other stations and universities across the country. We are happy to assist researchers in collecting the data needed to expand the current knowledge of raptors to help conserve them for the future. We contribute data and banding help to the Eastern Wisconsin Kestrel Project, The Red-Tailed Hawk Project, Project SNOWstorm, Sharp-shinned Hawk Project, and others.