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OSHKOSH WI
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OFFICERS
President: Janet Wissink
920-589-2602 / wiss@centurytel.net
Vice President: Pat Nichols
920-426-0261 / jvnichols@earthlink.net
Secretary: Zaiga Freivalds
920-233-5914 / zaigam@charter.net
Treasurer: Dave Moon
920-235-4429 / djmoon@northnet.net
DIRECTORS
Dave Hanke
920-688-2907
Carla Hansen
920-233-1129 / carlajhansen@sbcglobal.net
Evelyn Meuret
920-426-1656 / meuret@uwosh.edu
Tom Underwood
920-426-0349 / thomasj335@sbcglobal.net
Winnebago Audubon Society Mission Statement: Advance the mission of the National Audubon Society
to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of
humanity and the earth’s biological diversity through grassroots efforts of community outreach and advocacy.
SEPTEMBER 2008 All programs and activities are open to the public VOL. 29, NO. 3
P.O. Box 184, Oshkosh, WI 54903 l Published eight times a year
Editor: Janet Wissink, 7035 Mountain Rd., Pickett, WI 54964 l 920-589-2602 l wiss@centurytel.net
Check our website for up-to-date information: www.winaudubon.org
Catch and Tag a
RENEWALS: Your mailing label includes your membership expiration date above your
name. If you are a “Chapter Only” member the word CHAPTER will appear after the expira-
tion date. Please renew your chapter membership by filling out the application form below.
Migrating Monarch!
Thank you for helping us save on the cost of renewal reminders.
If you are a member of National Audubon, you will receive renewal notices from National
or you may renew by using the form below. 1:00 p.m.
TEMPORARILY AWAY? Please notify us of your address change. The post office will not
forward your newsletter and we pay for the returned newsletter. Contact Pat Nichols with any Saturday, September 6
questions regarding your subscription: jvnichols@earthlink or 920-426-0261.
(Raindate: Sunday, September 7)
Area children, parents and others can participate in the autumn migration
of monarch butterflies on Saturday, September 6, 2008 from 1:00 pm to 3:00
pm. Field trip participants will first meet at the Pickett Community Center for a
short orientation and a demonstration of the tagging process. Then
participants will drive to a local field to net monarchs and attach numbered tags to their wings as part of a nationwide
research project by the University of Kansas.

AUDUBON SOCIETY
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
q YES, I want to become a member at the chapter
level and receive the Winnebago Audubon newsletter.
I’ve enclosed a $20.00 check payable to Winnebago
Audubon.
q YES, I want to become a member of the National
Audubon Society, and the Winnebago Audubon Chap-
ter. My membership dues entitle me to Audubon
magazine, and all chapter benefits. I am enclosing a
$20.00 check payable to National Audubon Society.
q I do not wish to receive correspondence or solicita-
tions from National Audubon Society.
Name:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
Chapter Code: Z12 7XCH
Mail this form with payment to:
Pat Nichols, Membership Chair
P.O. Box 184, Oshkosh, WI 54903
2008 BIRDATHON A SUCCESS!
$985.70 raised, 96 birds seen, 9 dedicated birdwatchers,
and 40 generous contributors all add up to a successful
campaign to raise money for our programs and field trips.
There is still time to put the Winnebago Audubon 2008
Birdathon over the top. Help us reach $1000.00 in
contributions. Send your pledge of any amount to Winnebago
Audubon, c/o Carla Hansen, 4556 Island View Dr., Oshkosh,
WI 54901. I’ll send you a list of the birds we saw.
Thanks to our field volunteers: Carla Hansen, Jackson
Medley, Carmen Meuret, Evelyn Meuret, Janet Moldenhauer,
Brenda Reese, Gil & Sharon Roderick, and Janet Wissink
who saw all those wonderful birds.
Thanks to our generous contributors: Chris Binder, Mark
& Karen Burns, John & Susan Schuttenhelm, Carl & Kathy
Chapman, Alan & Terri Fuller, Charles Beyer, Don Meton,
Ruth Heinen, Doris Thomas, Gil Roderick, Dave Moon, Pat
Nichols, Evelyn Meuret, Janet Wissink, Jack & Cathy Kaspar,
Bruce & Sue Hansen, Dave Hodge, UWO Credit Union, Jan
Moldenhauer, Richard Hansen, Kimberly Clark Corporation,
Carla Hansen, Susie Gustke, Leanne Monroe, Keenan
Timm, Al Acherman, Terri Schumacher, Paulette Feld, Julie
Lemanski, Mary Hale, Susan Raasch, Nancy Norris, Carol
Smith, Kathy Schulze, Pam Spaulding, Jerry & Anita
Carpenter, Matt Nelson.
Two of the 153 monarchs that we tagged last year were recovered in El Rosario, Mexico! That’s a 1,800 mile trip!
This event is suitable for children 4 years and up. We recommend that children wear long pants, shoes and
socks. It is free to Winnebago Audubon members. The non-member fee is $5 per adult and $3 per child 17 years and
under. Pre-registration is not required. Non-members may join at the event. Butterfly nets will be available.
The Pickett Community Center is located 9 miles southwest of Oshkosh at 6687 State Rd. 44 in Pickett on the
south side of the road just past the Co-op.
For more information contact Janet Wissink, (920) 589-2602 or wiss@centurytel.net.
The Prairies of the Wiouwash Trail: Saturday, September 27, 9:00 am. Have you every walked or biked along this trail and
noticed the lovely flowers blooming and tall grasses waving in the breeze? Enjoy a beautiful fall morning on the trail with us and learn about the
remnant prairies in the three State Natural Areas along the Wiouwash Trail north of Oshkosh. More details to follow.
Bat Program Long-time Audubon Member
To Receive Environmental Award
CANCELLED !!! from Sierra Club
The bat program with
Jan Moldenhauer is this year’s recipient of the 2008 Fox Valley Sierra
bat expert Sue Saari, Group’s Environmental Award. She will be presented the well-deserved
scheduled for August 21, award on Thursday, September 11 at the Sierra Club’s 7:00 pm meeting at
was cancelled Bubolz Nature Preserve, 4815 N. Lynndale Dr., Appleton.
This meeting is open to the public. Please join me in congratulating Jan. She
because Sue had an accident
has been of a long-member of our Audubon chapter and served on our
that shattered her ankle.
We will reschedule board for many years. We appreciate her energy and dedication to
this program for next year. preserving a healthy environment for years to come.
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A Kid s Eye-View by Carmen Meuret
Some of you may know who John James Audubon is
and maybe even Roger Tory Peterson. Well, if you don’t,
they are two of the many great contributors to the birding
world. Roger Tory Peterson and Audubon are two of my
three idols. These two wonderful men have done much to
help our bird society and well, the only way Roger Tory
Peterson got interested in birding was because of the
Audubon Society.
I recently finished reading the book “The Race to Save
the Lord God Bird,” which is about the Ivory-billed
Woodpecker. I highly recommend this book for any age
birder. Anyway, this book tells how the Audubon Society
first started. Here is what they did for kids of any age.
The time is 1870–1920, the plume war in the United
States. The plume war was when great egrets, snowy
egrets and herons were illegally poached for their plumes:
the long, sleek and gentle feathers that appear during
breeding. These feathers were used to decorate
women’s hats all over the United States and the world.
During that time, kids from every state were saving up
dimes to purchase a kit that would help them learn to bird,
SULLIVAN S WOODS and Friends Audubon Adventures in the Classroom
Winnebago Audubon sponsors or finds sponsors for all fourth and fifth grade classrooms in the Oshkosh schools and
In the “good old days”, early 70’s perhaps, Oshkosh
the surrounding area that wish to use the Audubon Adventure program from the National Audubon Society. The
fourth and fifth grade classes began using Sullivan’s
program is described on the Audubon website as follows:
Woods, 40 acres of unused farmland west of Fisk. Buses
“AUDUBON ADVENTURES is an environmental education program for children in grades 4 to 5. Developed by
dropped off (and then left) the kids, teachers and any
professional environmental educators, AUDUBON ADVENTURES presents basic, scientifically accurate facts about
stalwart parents at Utica School. It was a mile walk to the
birds, wildlife, and their habitats. It comes packaged as a Classroom Kit (serving 32 students). Audubon Adventures
Woods where there were no porta-potties, shelters or
introduce young people, their families, and their teachers, to the fundamental principles by which the natural world
Leopold benches and only minimal trails. At lunch time,
functions. Our publications for students and teachers give readers compelling examples and activities that show those
they all walked back (one mile) to Utica School for their
principles at work. When we achieve our goals, our readers have the foundation necessary for recognizing our
lunches and relief breaks; going back the mile to eat and
individual and collective responsibility for the health of our environment. And out of that recognition comes
continue their day in the outdoors. And, of course, the
understanding that personal actions can have meaningful, positive, and far-reaching effects.”
mile back to catch the bus later in the afternoon. What a
You can read more about it at: http://www.audubon.org/educate/aa/in-school.html
day, eh? I’ve met parents and teachers who remember
Teachers at the following schools have signed up to receive Audubon Adventures for the 2008-2009 school year.
those excursions. And tell tales of first aid dilemmas and
Carl Traeger Elementary, Franklin, Green Meadow(2), Jacob Shapiro, Jefferson(2), Lincoln, Oaklawn, Oakwood(2),
thunder storms. No bus, no cell phones.
Read, Smith, Webster Stanley(2). Teachers will receive a packet of materials including newsletters for the students and
In 1986 some unidentified teacher was reported asking
a classroom resource manual for the teacher.
“what is there to do at Sullivan’s Woods?”. For those of
Do you know a teacher that might want to use these materials in their classroom? If you will let me know the name of
you who knew Katherine Rill, you can imagine her horror
the teacher and the school where they teach, I will contact them.
at those words. So Katherine and several other Audubon
Would you like to sponsor a classroom? The cost is $46.00. You can choose the school you would like to sponsor or
members including Louise Coumbe and Jan Scalpone
we will pick one for you. Contact Carla Hansen at 920-233-1129.
decided to set that teacher straight. An enthusiastic
group began identifying plants, trees, animals, habitats

draw birds and save birds. Roger Tory Peterson was one
of those kids. His seventh-grade teacher had encouraged
her class to join a Junior Audubon Club.
At first he thought he had wasted his allowance. But,
one day at school, while drawing a blue jay, he realized
he hadn’t. That kit made Roger a bird lover. It made him
so much of one that he wrote and illustrated the first field
guide published, “A Field Guide to Birds East of the
Rockies.” Now, Roger Tory Peterson lies in American’s
hearts as a beloved birder.
I hope that this article makes you realize that birds
truly need your help today. If you are interested in
helping birds, learn to bird and learn as much as you can
about birds. If you have any bird questions, I’ll be happy
to help. Happy birding!!
(Carmen is a sixth grader at Webster Stanley Middle School.)
On June 28 in Ripon, we
accompanied Dr. Memuna
Khan on the bluebird trail
she monitors for the Blue-
bird Restoration Associa-
tion of Wisconsin.She also
records and collects data
for her own research. Dr.
Kent Hall, who tallies all
of the Wisconsin monitors,
was also with us. We were
thrilled to see and hold
baby bluebirds, view blue
bird nests with eggs and
observe Memuna weigh,
measure, band, and re-
cord various data at each
box.
We are planning to
sponsor a nest box trail at
Lake Breeze Golf Course
in Winneconne. Look for
more information to come
on that project.
and all the other amazing things out there. Over time
they wrote, prepared and rewrote signs, developed a trail
system and found organizations to help. Boys Scouts,
Kiwanis, Audubon and others cleared paths, built board
walks, erected signs. Wild Ones planted woodland
flowers, Audubon planted a prairie. Trail guides and a
video of the Woods were developed.
But there were still teachers who brought volleyball
nets and baseball equipment and seemed unsure of what
to do. Thanks to a not so “retiring teacher”, Louise
Coumbe, Friends of Sullivan’s Woods was organized as
an ad hoc committee of Winnebago Audubon around
1994. Now there is a small group of Friends who
volunteer to help each of the 20 school groups that go out
in May and September. Some of us like to be “walking
field guides” trooping kids around the three miles of trails.
Others like to teach orienteering or binocular use or
support the teacher’s individual nature education plans.
I haven’t seen a volleyball net in over 10 years; almost
always the kids are prepared and ready to go. “When do
we see the lightning tree” is usually their first question.
This spring, a little girl told me that both her brothers had
been on the Woods field trip and told her it would be the
best one she ever had. Last year a fifth grader said that
her grandmother made tea from nettle and had explained
how in Laos they dipped water from streams like Eight
Mile Creek which borders the Woods. When I decried the
destruction of a bottle gentian two fifth graders drew me
pictures of them as a thank you for our walk.
As the teachers have gotten more interested in the
Woods and how to work it into the environmental
curriculum and as the kids are prepared and eager, the
little bank of Friends has matured, too. Yeah we’ve not
gotten any younger. Each year one or two retired
teachers do come on board, but Friends of Sullivan’s
Woods could use more enthusiasts. It is really a gun gig,
9 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m., one day or more in the spring
and fall. Join us. Call Louise 920-231-4722. Submitted by
Jeanne Shiras, long time Audubon Friend and volunteer.
Monarch Passion
My name is Robbie Malliet and I am 7 years old. My passion
is monarch butterflies. There is nothing better than holding a
brand new monarch as it dries its wings in my hand, flapping,
turning, and kissing my fingers. Then just before its maiden
flight, it tinkles in my hand and gives me one last finger kiss: “up,
up beautiful orange and black miracle, away to Mexico. Be safe
and happy.”
Around the first week of August this year, I told my mom and
dad it was time because I had seen milkweed along the side of
the road. Some were already tall; some just short and bushy.
Milkweed is caviar for monarch caterpillars. I have watched
them devour large leaves; tiny caterpillars growing into big fat
ones.
So off we went for a drive. Large plastic jars bounced in the
back seat as we drove over bumps and holes down the country
roads near my house in Winneconne. “Stop”, I yelled from the
back seat, “there’s a great big patch of milkweed.” Out of the
car we jumped with our jars in hand, slipping down the ditch and
up the other side. “Shoot, there’s none here”, I said with a great
sigh. Back in the car, buckled up, frowning. Thirty or forty feet up
the road, again I yelled, “Stop!” And out of the car once more.
Maybe it was too soon to find my tubular friends. My face was
long and I just did not understand. So much to eat, they just
have to be here. We stopped four or five more times on the
north/south roads without a caterpillar in sight.
“Go the other way,” I told my dad. “Left or right?” he asked at
the stop sign. “Left”, I said, “there’s milkweed over there.”
Stopping once again, grabbing our gear, trudging through the
weeds, we finally reach the patch. Birds and grasshoppers
scattered with each step we took. “Got one”, I screamed out.
There he was, on the underside of the leaf. He was an
awesome striped wonder with black, white and yellowish green
strips. “You’re coming home with me,” I said as I gently lifted him
into his protective new home. This was our first little guy who
wouldn’t be lunch for a swallow or other critter of the ditch.
We ended our day with 10 new friends that I could raise and
love and help to get
to Mexico. Funny
how only the east/
west roads held our
treasures and not the
north/south. Maybe
it’s the way the sun
shines long in the
day and trees shade
the milkweed in the
very late afternoon.
I currently have 5
large containers on our kitchen counter and a Tupperware full of
milkweed in the fridge. They are very hungry and eat a lot.
Because they eat so much, you know what else they do a lot of.
We dump that our every day and put fresh leaves in. Then we
wait and watch.
“Mom, mom, he’s hanging in a J”. It’s a wonder to watch
them do this as they wriggle around turning greener and
greener; then it suddenly happens. Like an ooze they are slowly
wrapped in a blanket that seems to ever so slowly cover them
up and then they curl up like I do on a chilly night so just my
head is sticking out of the covers. Suddenly all of the
caterpillar’s body and head is inside the silky green chrysalis.
There’s a little golden zipper-like line toward the top and little
gold specks on the side. I wish I had a sleeping bag like that.
And now we wait, and wait. When will it happen? Days and
days go by, ever so long. I sit each day and watch; almost every
day there is a new chrysalis. What could they be doing inside
those really cool sleeping bags of theirs?
Then finally, almost two weeks later, it happens. The once still
and motionless chrysalis begins to move and crack, darken and
dry. “Oh, mom, come quick. Here he comes!” My mouth is open
wide and I’m grinning from ear to ear. I can’t wait to hold him,
and feel those little finger kisses once again. Wet my palm and
flap your wings. Mexico is far away but I know you will make it.
Catch the breeze and head southwest. I’ll throw you a kiss and
say goodbye. You are my passion! - Submitted by Sharon
(mom) Malliet