Smith: For Wisconsin birders, 2023 has been a year of ‘celebrity’ sightings

For birders in Wisconsin, 2023 has been highlighted by “celebrity” sightings.

The feathered stars making appearances have included the roseate spoonbill, limpkin, flame-colored tanager, painted redstart and white-tailed kite.

Only one − the flame-colored tanager, confirmed in April in Milwaukee County − was spotted for the first time in the Badger State, but all were rare enough to send a “wow” through the state's birding community and beyond.

"It's been pretty exciting," said Ryan Brady, conservation biologist in the Department of Natural Resources' Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation. "We've had a great variety of rare and interesting species that have really captivated people."

Brady, who helps run the state's breeding bird atlas project, said sometimes birders are seeking quantity, such as a tree dripping with warblers or a beach full of shorebirds.

"But other times, you just want to see that one," Brady said. "This year we've had a bunch of those."

The roseate spoonbill, with its pink coloration and out-sized bill, frequented Ken Euers Nature Area in Green Bay in late July and drew large crowds of viewers. The species' normal U.S. range spans from Florida to Texas.

In terms of U.S. sightings, the flame-colored tanager is usually found only in Arizona and New Mexico, the limpkin in the southeast, the painted restart in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the white-tailed kit along the Pacific and Gulf coasts.

In fact, three kite species − the Mississippi, swallow-tailed and white-tailed − were in Wisconsin at the same time in 2023.

"You might only see that in Texas and a few other places way to our south," said Carl Schwartz of Fox Point, a long-time birder and member of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Another bird of prey, the black vulture, also made a rare appearance in Wisconsin.

But it wasn't just southerly species that found their way into Wisconsin in 2023.

Red crossbills, typically in regions to the north in summer, also showed up in the Badger State.

So it was a rare treat to have these species, and more, present in Wisconsin this year.

It begs the questions: Why? Was it an aberration? Or part of a trend?

There's no one answer, said Mark Korducki of New Berlin, a WSO member and former chairman of the organization's records committee.

But he said several factors likely are contributing, including climate change, severe weather events, increased number of birders and improved technologies such as digital photography and social media.

More:Here's what you need to know about fall bird migration in Wisconsin and across the U.S.

A warming climate favors a northward expansion of species that have historically been constrained to our south by temperature or other related factors.

As stronger storms occur more frequently, the odds of birds getting moved around also increases.

A fresh example was sightings of flamingoes in Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania in late August in the wake of Hurricane Idalia.

"Those birds were clearly pushed up there by the strong winds created by the hurricane weather system," Korducki said.

It also helps to have a larger army of bird watchers to make sightings.

While bird watching has always been a popular activity − the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated there were 86 million wildlife watchers in the U.S. in 2016, compared with 35.8 million anglers and 11.5 million hunters − Korducki said birding increased a spike in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And not only are millions of people looking for birds, but the modern birder is equipped with technology to swiftly document sightings.

"Just about every birder today has a digital camera, even if just on their phone," Korducki said. "And even if they don't know what they saw, they can share an image on social media and get answers in minutes. News of a rare find travels like wildfire."

It's a far cry from the mid-1990s when Korducki began serving on the WSO's records committee and paperwork for a potential new Wisconsin sighting often would arrive months after the bird was seen.

Wildfires can also cause birds to move. The fires in Canada are likely the reason red crossbills showed up in Wisconsin this summer, Korducki said.

Paul Smith:Founded on hope, International Crane Foundation is a 50-year global success story

History offers a caveat to the spectacle of rare bird species, however: this year, with only one record (so far) in Wisconsin, isn't remarkable. There were six "firsts" in 2000, four in 2002, four in 2011 and three each in 2018 and 2020, according to WSO records.

The records can come in spurts, said Brady, the DNR conservation biologist.

But with a trend toward more southern species making more appearances in Wisconsin and, eventually, some of them breeding here − such as the swallow-tailed kite and black-bellied whistling duck − state birders will have opportunities to add to their lists in the coming years.

"The rare sightings help get you out there, help get the blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing," Brady said. "Hopefully it also helps attract more birders and in turn helps us in our conservation efforts."