As initially planned in 1939 by Owen J. Gromme, then curator of birds at the Milwaukee Public Museum, Wisconsin Birdlife would not only describe and document every species of bird known to have visited this state, but would also depict each species with his own original paintings. During the next two decades, Gromme concentrated primarily on the latter, resulting in the separate publication in 1963 of his now classic Birds of Wisconsin. Work on the present volume was assumed in the late 1960s by Samuel D. Robbins, whose labors of more than 20 years give us a veritable encyclopedia of the state's ornithological knowledge. A complement and supplement to field guides, picture books, and recordings, the book is designed to enlarge the reader's understanding and appreciation of statewide history, abundance, and habitat preference of every species reliably recorded in Wisconsin. The volume opens with a summary of the ornithological history of the state and an exposition of its ecological setting. The heart of Wisconsin Birdlife ensues: detailed accounts of nearly 400 species, with information on status (population and distribution), habitat, migration dates, breeding data, and wintering presence, followed by extensive discussion and commentary. Dr. James Hall Zimmerman, Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides a special discussion of bird habitats for the book. In addition, Wisconsin Birdlife features a comprehensive status and seasonal distribution chart, a detailed habitat preference chart, and an exhaustive bibliography. The ultimate resource, Wisconsin Birdlife belongs within easy reach of everyone from armchair appreciators and casual birdwatchers to ardent birders and professional ornithologists.

Art lovers and bird watchers, rejoice! Owen J. Gromme's classic Birds of Wisconsin comes to life again in a splendid new edition with completely rephotographed color plates and a new introduction by well-known ornithologist Samuel D. Robbins, Jr. This stunning revised edition features eighty-nine full-color portraits depicting the state's rich variety of native species and seventeen new paintings showing birds in their natural habitat. Bird watcher, ornithologist, or curious observer will find information here valuable in identifying birds accurately. When, where, and how abundantly each bird is present in Wisconsin is indicated with easy-to-read maps and datelines, updated by Robbins. This widely praised book is published in cooperation with the Milwaukee Public Museum, where Gromme worked as curator of birds and mammals for more than forty years. Gromme, who was born in 1896 and died in 1991, began Birds of Wisconsin in 1941. The book was finally published in 1963 and has since become a must for bird lovers everywhere. Nationally recognized as a pioneer in conservation and the dean of wildlife artists, Gromme was the recipient of numerous awards and honors during his lifetime. Among his accomplishments, Gromme painted the 1945 federal duck stamp as well as the first Wisconsin duck stamp in 1978.

Wisconsin Birds is a comprehensive and useful guide to the distribution and abundance of all common bird species found in the state. Meant as a supplement to the colorful field guides that identify birds, this little book of maps and graphs will tell you where to find them. Based on data collected on weekly checklists by members of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology since 1982, this book's first edition was the first of its kind for any state. Each page of the book is devoted to a single species - 266 in all - showing the areas of the state in which that species can be found, its relative abundance in those areas, and seasonal patterns of abundance in southern and northern Wisconsin. New to this edition are graphs showing whether the species has increased, decreased, or remained stable over the last fourteen years. Also included in Wisconsin Birds are an explanation of how to interpret the maps and graphs and a description of the Wisconsin Checklist Project.

Rolling green hills dotted with Holstein cows, red barns, and blue silos. The Great Lakes ports at Superior, Ashland, and Kenosha. A Polish wedding dance or a German biergarten in Milwaukee. The dappled quiet of the Chequamagon forest. A weatherbeaten but tidy town hall at the intersection of two county trunk highways. Ojibwa families gathering wild rice into canoes. The boat ride through the Dells. The upland ridges of the Driftless Area, falling away into hidden valleys. . . . These are images of Wisconsin's land and life, images that evoke a strong sense of place. This book, Wisconsin Land and Life, is an exploration of place, a series of original essays by Wisconsin geographers that offers an introduction to the state's natural environment, the historical processes of its human habitation, and the ways that nature and people interact to create distinct regional landscapes. To read it is to come away with a sweeping view of Wisconsin's geography and history: the glaciers that carved lakes and moraines; the soils and climate that fostered the prairies and great northern pine forests; the early Native Americans who began to shape the landscape and who established forest trails and river portages; the successive waves of Europeans who came to trade in furs, mine for lead and iron, cut the white pines, establish farms, work in the lumber and paper mills, and transform spent wheatfields into pasture for dairy cattle. Readers will learn, too, about the platting and naming of Wisconsin's towns, the establishment of county and township governments, the growth of urban neighborhoods and parishes, the role of rivers, railroads, and religion in shaping the state's growth, and the controversial reforestation of the cutover lands that eventually transformed hardscrabble farms and swamps into a sportsman's paradise. Abundantly illustrated with photos and maps, this book will richly reward anyone who wishes to learn more about the land and life of the place we know as Wisconsin.

Provides 214 two-page species accounts providing information on the species' geographic range, habitat preference, breeding biology, history, conservation concerns, and population trends. Another 23 species less common species are covered in additional accounts. The book also contains color photographs and maps. Data were collected from 1995-2000.

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