2821 Ridge Rd
Highland Park, IL 60035
USA
For decades, no one knew what waterbirds could be found offshore in Lake Michigan beyond the reach of spotting scopes in the fall and winter. Leaders of the Wisconsin-based Lake Michigan Bird Observatory decided to find out, both to gain insights into offshore bird habitats and to help prevent any future wind turbine projects from being placed in key foraging sites. A team conducted offshore and nearshore waterfowl surveys in a twin-engine aircraft for five years, flying parallel transects between the shoreline and 15 kilometers from shore in rectangular survey blocks from Door County to the IL/WI state line. The surveys detected thousands of waterfowl, including over 25,000 Long-tailed Ducks on a single day. Bill Mueller, a driving force behind the survey and now the observatory’s Director Emeritus, will join us to discuss the findings and their importance for waterfowl conservation.