Wisconsin’s Vanishing Songbirds

Help keep our feeders, fields, and forests from going silent

Connecticut warbler. Jeremy Meyer

Can you imagine our world without songbirds?

North America has lost 30% of its birds since 1970. Warblers, finches and sparrows are among the hardest hit. Wisconsin is suffering these losses too and they’re continuing.

Our pleasure in seeing and hearing a variety of songbirds will go away if we don’t act now. We’ll lose a lot more, too.

  • Birds disperse seeds, pollinate plants, and help reduce crop and forest pests

  • Birds are “canaries in the coal mine,” alerting us to unhealthy conditions for people & wildlife

Take action at home to help birds

A Northern Parula perches on a pussy willow branch

Add plants for birds

A tree is reflected in a sliding glass door

Reduce window threats

Close up of freshly picked coffee beans

Buy coffee grown better for birds

Latest News

Bird News
2024 World Migratory Bird Day events

Migratory birds are winging their way back to Wisconsin and events celebrating them get underway in April and May. The importance of insects to birds year-round, but particularly during migration, is the focus of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, officially celebrated May 11 in the United States.

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2024 Native Plant Sales in Wisconsin

There are more options than ever to buy native plants that will attract birds to your home and feed and shelter them. See a list of native plant sales offered by nonprofit organizations.

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Growing options to learn about native plants through classes and presentations

Wisconsin residents wanting to add native plants to their yard to benefit birds and other wildlife will find a growing number of classes and presentations in 2024.

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Events and native plant sales to beat the weather, benefit birds and beautify your yard

The weather outside is frightful, even for those of us who love winter! The good news is there are many great indoor events in coming weeks to help boost our mood and benefit birds around our home.

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  • “I believe in the power of the small. I tell my students, you don't have to impact hundreds or thousands of people. Let's start with seven.”

    Trish O’Kane, “accidental ornithologist,” author of Birding to Change the World, and a senior lecturer at the University of Vermont

  • “Increasing the percentage of native plants in suburbia is a grassroots solution to the extinction crisis. To succeed, we do not need to invoke governmental action; we do not need to purchase large tracts of pristine habitat that no longer exist… We can each make a measurable difference almost immediately by planting a native nearby.”

    Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home and founder of Homegrown National Park

  • “So much of what we think about in environmentalism is finger-wagging and gloom-and-doom, but when you look at a lot of those examples where people are taking things into their hands, they’re joyful. That’s healing not only for land but for our culture as well — it feels good.”

    Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

  • “Another positive thing about working to address bird-window collisions at home is you don’t need permission from anyone. It’s your house, it’s your window. It’s also empowering. There’s not a lot of conservation issues where you can say, 'I want to do something' and the next day actually do the thing you’re talking about.”

    Bryan Lenz, Glass Collision Program Manager for American Bird Conservancy