De Soto – A Wisconsin Bird City – Come join us on the great river

De Soto Renews 2023 WI Bird City Designation

Read the 2023 Renewal Letter

Find out what others are doing in your region

view past issues of the Bird City newsletter

2023 Great Wisconsin Birdathon

World Migratory Bird Day / WI Birdathon

May 27, 2023

Funds from the Birdathon support:

Conservation of endangered Kirtland’s Warblers, Whooping Cranes, and Piping Plovers
Research, education, and habitat protection in Central and South America
Monitoring of waterbirds
Community engagement and habitat protection through Bird City Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II

The Great Wisconsin Birdathon has raised over $500,000 for Wisconsin’s birds since 2012.

De Soto Resolution – World Migratory Bird Day – 5-27-2023

Ten ways to help birds

We can make great strides to strengthen bird conservation when people take small but powerful actions to live out their bird conservation values.

Here are ten ways you can help birds and do your part to shape the future for birds.

Ten Ways you can help birds

De Soto – A great Place for Birding

Situated in the Great Lakes / Mississippi River Flyway with thousands of acres of prime habitat, the De Soto area is an outstanding place to enjoy all sorts of bird life.

The Bird City Wisconsin organization provides highly visible public recognition to municipalities that understand that healthy communities are the sum of many parts, including birds.

Better for Birds

Supporting the establishment of natural lawns and native landscaping is a very important aspect of creating a bird friendly environment in any community.

Bird-friendly landscaping provides food, saves water, and fights climate change.

Your garden is your outdoor sanctuary. With some careful plant choices, it can be a haven for native birds as well. Landscaped with native species, your yard, patio, or balcony becomes a vital recharge station for birds passing through and a sanctuary for nesting and overwintering birds.

Each patch of restored native habitat is just that—a patch in the frayed fabric of the ecosystem in which it lies. By landscaping with native plants, we can turn a patchwork of green spaces into a quilt of restored habitat.

Your Garden is your outdoor bird sanctuary

More native plants mean more choices of food and shelter for native birds and other wildlife.

To survive, native birds need native plants and the insects that have co-evolved with them. Most landscaping plants available in nurseries are exotic species from other countries. Many are prized for qualities that make them poor food sources for native birds—like having leaves that are unpalatable to native insects and caterpillars. With 96 percent of all terrestrial bird species in North America feeding insects to their young, planting insect-proof exotic plants is like serving up plastic food. No insects? No birds.