🦆 URGENT BIRD ACTION ALERT 🦅
📅 Great Backyard Bird Count – THIS WEEKEND!
Friday, February 13 – Monday, February 16th 2026
Join the 28th annual Great Bird Count! This global citizen science event brings together bird watchers from over 210 countries to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations worldwide.
How to Participate:
- Count birds for just 15 minutes (or longer if you wish!) at any location
- Submit your sightings at birdcount.org
- Use the free eBird or Merlin apps to report your observations
- Watch the live map light up with submissions from around the world!
Your participation helps scientists at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada monitor bird populations and protect our feathered friends.
Join us this weekend in counting the birds in your backyard!
🌟 Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance: Protecting ALL Birds
From tiny songbirds to majestic cranes and raptors, we fight to protect every species!
Our Comprehensive Bird Protection Work:
- Litigation & Legal Action: Filing lawsuits and appellate court challenges to stop harmful hunting seasons and protect migratory birds under state and federal law
- Legislative Advocacy: Testifying against destructive bills like the crane hunt legislation, working to strengthen endangered species protections at both state and federal levels
- Investigative Research: Producing white papers and documentation exposing corruption in wildlife policy that threatens birds and other species
- Coalition Building: Partnering with tribal nations, environmental groups, and bird conservation organizations across the Great Lakes region
- Education & Outreach: Weekly “Wildlife Wednesdays” strategy sessions, public speaking, and media appearances to raise awareness about bird conservation
- Preventing Removals from Protected Lists: Fighting to keep threatened species listed and opposing premature delisting that would expose birds to exploitation
Birds We’re Fighting For:
🐦 Songbirds: Warblers, thrushes, sparrows, and other species threatened by habitat loss and climate change
🦅 Raptors: Hawks, eagles, and owls facing persecution and poisoning
🦆 Waterfowl & Waterbirds: Ducks, geese, cranes, and shorebirds threatened by overhunting and wetland destruction
🕊️ Game Birds: Working to ensure sustainable management and prevent exploitation of species like mourning doves and wild turkeys
Unlike larger environmental organizations constrained by foundation funding, Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance takes an uncompromising approach – calling out bad actors by name, filing lawsuits when necessary, and applying endless pressure to protect wildlife. We do the work that others can’t or won’t.
🏡 Coexisting with Birds in Your Own Backyard
You can make a difference for birds right where you live! Here’s how:
Create Bird-Friendly Habitat:
- Plant native species – Native trees, shrubs, and flowers provide natural food sources and nesting sites for songbirds
- Leave leaf litter – Ground-dwelling birds like thrushes and sparrows forage in fallen leaves for insects
- Provide water sources – Bird baths, small ponds, or fountains offer critical drinking and bathing opportunities
- Install nest boxes – Help cavity-nesting birds like bluebirds, chickadees, and wrens raise their young
- Keep brush piles – Provide shelter and foraging areas for ground birds and winter visitors
Bird-Safe Practices:
- Prevent window collisions – Use decals, screens, or UV-reflective tape to make glass visible to birds
- Keep cats indoors – Domestic cats kill billions of birds annually; indoor cats live longer, healthier lives
- Reduce pesticide use – Chemicals harm birds directly and eliminate their insect food sources
- Turn off unnecessary lights at night – Artificial light disorients migrating birds; participate in “Lights Out” programs
- Use bird feeders responsibly – Keep feeders clean, provide appropriate food, and place them near cover for safety
Advocate in Your Community:
- Support bird-friendly ordinances – Encourage your city to adopt dark sky policies and bird-safe building standards
- Protect local green spaces – Attend city council meetings to oppose development in critical bird habitat
- Join local bird groups – Connect with other birders and participate in community science projects
- Report injured birds – Contact wildlife rehabilitators if you find birds in distress
Every backyard can become a sanctuary! When we all take action, we create connected corridors of habitat that support bird populations across the landscape.
🚨 URGENT: Wisconsin Crane Hunt Bill in Legislature
Senate Bill 112 (SB-112) / Assembly Bill 117 (AB-117)
The Wisconsin Legislature is pushing forward with bills to authorize a sandhill crane hunting season. This legislation threatens these iconic birds that Wisconsin provides critical breeding grounds for.
The Problems with This Bill:
- No scientific evidence that hunting will reduce crop damage
- Threats to endangered whooping cranes due to mistaken identity
- Widely unpopular – only 17% of surveyed Wisconsinites support the hunt
- Removed effective solutions – Legislature eliminated seed treatment reimbursement that actually works
- Weakened protections – Amendments reduced education requirements and DNR’s ability to protect the species
- Creates dangerous precedent – Opens door to hunting other protected migratory birds
The bill has passed committee hearings and could move to a full vote soon!
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance is actively opposing this legislation through testimony, coalition organizing, and public pressure campaigns.
⚠️ FEDERAL ATTACK: Migratory Bird Treaty Act Under Assault
In April 2025, the Trump administration reinstated the 2017 interpretation that eliminates protections for “incidental take” of migratory birds.
What This Means:
- Energy and utility companies no longer liable for bird deaths from oil waste pits, power lines, and communication towers
- No incentive for industries to protect birds at their facilities
- Could result in tens of millions of additional bird deaths annually
- Weakens a century-old conservation law that has prevented extinctions of species like snowy egrets, wood ducks, and sandhill cranes
- Eliminates accountability that led to $100 million in fines after the Deepwater Horizon disaster
This rollback comes as 3 billion birds have been lost since 1970 in North America – a 29% decline.
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance is monitoring federal policy changes and coordinating with national organizations to fight this gutting of bird protections.
✊ TAKE ACTION NOW – LOCAL ACTION IS YOUR BEST OPTION!
Wisconsin Crane Hunt:
- Contact your Wisconsin State Legislators and urge them to vote NO on SB-112 / AB-117
- Tell them: Support seed treatment reimbursement instead – it actually works!
- Share on social media – Use #ProtectWisconsinCranes #NoSandhillHunt
- Testify at upcoming hearings if possible
Migratory Bird Treaty Act:
- Contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives
- Urge them to support the Migratory Bird Protection Act of 2025
- Ask them to restore incidental take protections through legislation
- Demand accountability for industries that harm birds
Stay Connected – Watch for Action Alerts:
- National Audubon Society – Sign up for action alerts
- American Bird Conservancy – Subscribe to conservation updates
- Defenders of Wildlife – Join their advocacy network
- Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance – Local bird protection alerts
- International Crane Foundation – Crane-specific advocacy
- Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance – Weekly Wildlife Wednesdays strategy calls
Remember: Getting involved at the local and state level is where you can make the biggest impact! Federal protections are under attack, making state-level action more critical than ever.
Help Us Protect Every Bird – From Songbirds to Cranes!
Your donation powers aggressive advocacy, litigation, and investigation
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance fights for the birds that others won’t defend
🐦 DONATE NOW TO PROTECT BIRDS 🐦
Your contribution supports:
- Legal challenges to protect migratory birds
- Legislative testimony and lobbying
- Investigative research exposing wildlife policy corruption
- Coalition building across the Great Lakes region
- Education and public outreach
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