Birders across Wisconsin are heading outdoors to enjoy the colorful birds of spring migration, but it’s not an activity that everyone has felt welcomed to.
To help address this, the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin recently donated 20 “birding kit” backpacks to neighborhood centers and schools across Madison and Milwaukee.
The new program aims to make it easier for people who have historically been excluded from accessing nature and the outdoors to get started with birding.
“In order to get communities that have typically been excluded from the outdoors and outdoor activities like birding in Wisconsin, you have to start by meeting people where they’re at,” says Jeff Galligan, co-founder of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. “Everybody doesn’t have to become a rabid birder, but it’s a way for [children and families] to spend some quality time together while noticing and appreciating what’s going on around them in a natural area.”
Galligan says the organization participates in the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin's Great Wisconsin Birdathon every year. The funds raised through the Birdathon support the club’s efforts to get new birders from all backgrounds interested in birding and bird conservation, including the birding kit backpacks initiative.
People can participate in this year’s Great Wisconsin Birdathon for free from April 15 to June 15 and donations are accepted until June 30. For more information about Wisconsin’s largest fundraiser for bird conservation, visit the foundation’s website.
What comes in each birding backpack
- A pair of Nocs binoculars for adults
- A pair of Nocs binoculars for kids
- Sibley’s East Field Guide
- Field Guide for Kids courtesy of Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance in English and Spanish-language
- A "Birding Backpack Guide" created by the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin that has detailed information on parks near each center, travel time by car, bus, bike or on foot to each park, and what birds may be seen in each season.
Where people can check out a birding backpack in Milwaukee:
- Neighborhood House of Milwaukee
- Northwest Catholic School
- St. Margaret Mary Catholic School
- St. Catherine Catholic School
Where people can check out a birding backpack in Madison:
- Vera Court Neighborhood Center
- Bayview Foundation, Inc.
- Goodman Community Center
- Elver Park Neighborhood Center
- East Madison Community Center
- Meadowood Neighborhood Center
- Kennedy Heights Community Center
- Neighborhood House Community Center
- Lussier Community Education Center
- Forest Edge Elementary School
For more information about the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin or to attend one of their events, visit their website.
