Great Backyard Bird Count at Kishwauketoe
Friday, February 13, 2026
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy – 251 Elkhorn Road, Williams Bay, WI
Join members of our chapter as we participate in the 29th annual Great Backyard Bird Count at the Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy. We will hike the trails and count birds to provide data that will help scientists who work in the field of bird conservation. Weather permitting, we’ll enjoy some time birding being outside at the beautiful KNC. Meet at the pavilion on the west side of the property, which is located just across the street (Hwy 67) from the Lions Field House.
Please contact us if you would like to attend this outing. lakelandaudubon.com/contact
chapter meeting
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
7:00 PM
Lions Field House – 270 Elkhorn Road (Hwy 67), Williams Bay, WI
Free to attend and open to the public!
Guest Speaker: James Marshall
Topic: “Migratory Birds and the Spread of Invasive Non-native Shrubs”
Join the Lakeland Audubon Society at its February 2026 chapter meeting. This meeting will feature a guest speaker (James Marshall) who will give a talk about invasive shrubs and the role that migratory birds play in their distribution.
About the talk: Invasive bush honeysuckles are primarily dispersed by birds that feed on honeysuckle berries. Those berries, however, are relatively high in carbohydrates and poor in lipids. This is a combination that makes them low-quality food for most birds and leads to the question of why birds would consume honeysuckle in the first place.
Migration is one of the more widely recognized bird behaviors, even though not all birds migrate. Migration is a very costly behavior requiring birds to repeatedly find sufficient food in unfamiliar environments. Delays in finding food resulting in delayed arrival on wintering grounds can have costs that extend into future breeding seasons. Long searches for particular foods in unfamiliar environments can also increase the risk of being eaten by predators. These factors all increase the probability that migratory birds will settle for lower quality food in order to continue their migration quickly and safely.
Resident birds do not face these costs. For much of the fall, abundant food and reduced environmental stresses allow resident birds to be selective in their food choices. As a result, we predict that migratory birds are more likely than resident birds to choose low quality food like honeysuckle. To test this, we collected fecal samples from migrant and resident birds caught each fall at two sites in and around Rockford, Illinois. We then compared the number of migrant birds carrying honeysuckle seeds to the number of resident birds carrying honeysuckle seeds.
Bird dispersal of plant seeds is an example of a mutualistic relationship. These relationships have the potential to become very specific, with birds and plants both evolving features that increase their dependence on each other. Given that many of the bush honeysuckles in the Midwest are invasive species, it is uncertain whether native bird species can successfully disperse viable seeds. To investigate this question, we planted honeysuckle seeds collected from bird fecal samples to determine how often bird-dispersed seeds would germinate relative to seeds taken directly from honeysuckle bushes.
About the speaker: James Marshall grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He began his interest in birds through a Boy Scouts project, and his parents frequently brought him to meetings of the Prairie Woods Audubon Society. He has a degree in environmental science from TCU. He studied birds in power line rights-of-way for his Master’s degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and West Nile virus impacts on cardinals for his Ph.D. from Ohio State. He has been in the department of Chemical and Biological Sciences at Rockford University since 2010. There, he teaches ecology, conservation, and evolution courses, and studies how birds spread things we wish they wouldn’t.
Swainson’s Thrush (One of North America’s native fruit-eating migratory songbirds) Photo provided by James Marshall. 
Non-native Honeysuckle (A highly aggressive and problematic invasive shrub) Photo provided by James Marshall. 
Cedar Waxwing (A highly frugivorous native songbird of North America) Photo provided by James Marshall.
Bird Walks at Big Foot
Saturdays
11:00 AM
Big Foot Beach State Park – N1550 S Lakeshore Drive, Lake Geneva, WI
Join us for a Bird Walk near the shores of beautiful Geneva Lake. We will follow the park’s trails while on the lookout for birds and other wildlife. Meet in the main parking area to the right of the entrance station a little before 11:00 AM. A state park sticker: $28 or daily pass: $8 ($13, $3 if age 65 or older) is required to enter Big Foot Beach State Park.
Please contact us if you are interested in attending a walk.
Kevin Dickey – https://lakelandaudubon.com/contact/ or +1 (262) 729-9702
Visit the events page to see a list of our scheduled bird walks.
bird walks at white river
Sundays
11:00 AM
White River County Park – 6503 Sheridan Springs Road, Lyons, WI
Get out and enjoy one of the best parks Walworth County has to offer. We’ll walk the trails and be on the lookout for birds and other critters. We’ll also watch for plant blooms and other interesting elements of nature. Meet at the kiosk by the parking lot a little before 11:00 AM.
Please contact us if you are interested in attending a walk.
Kevin Dickey – https://lakelandaudubon.com/contact/ or +1 (262) 729-9702
Visit the events page to see a list of our scheduled bird walks.
Christmas bird count results
Lake Geneva CBC-2025 (Data)
For anyone who is interested in the final numbers of last year’s CBC, simply click on the link below:
Lakeland Audubon Society 