Horicon Marsh Bird Club
Jeff Bahls, President
N4686 Blackbird Rd
Beaver Dam, WI 53916
(920) 210-4832
For festival registration questions
call 920-485-4663
email the president
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Your Tour Guides
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Daryl Tessen
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Daryl was the Editor and Compiler for the last three editions of and is currently working on the 5th Wisconsin's Favorite Bird Haunts edition. He has lead/co-lead bird trips to AK, OR, AZ, WY, TX, CO and of course WI. He is a past president, associate editor for 27 years now retired and is the current awards chair for the Wisconsin's Society for Ornithology (WSO). Co-author of Birds of Minnesota and Wisconsin. 24 years as Western Great Lakes Region editor for North American Birds (retired).
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Dennis Gustafson
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Dennis holds a PhD in biology. He was a Biology teacher at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee for 35 years. He has birded for 48 years, primarily in southern Wisconsin. Dennis has been birding Horicon Marsh for most of those years.
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Jack Bartholmai
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Jack has been photographing birds in and around the Horicon Marsh for the last 15 years. Jack has also been doing frog surveys for the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge for the last 7 years. This has given him the opportunity to be in the marsh after dark and become familiar with not only the sounds of frogs and toads calling, but also the birds that call from dusk into dark.
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Marc Zuelsdorf
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Marc’s family has owned and operated Horicon Marsh Boat Tours since 1994. Marc, who purchased the business from his father, Roland, (founder of the business in 1963) has been guiding tours since the age of eleven. Marc enjoys leading and educating visitors through the marsh in an effort to preserve the natural state of Horicon Marsh. In March of 2007 the business received a “Travel Green” certification from the WI Dept. of Tourism and WI Environmental Initiative for there effort in environmentally sustainable business practices.
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Jeff Bahls
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Jeff is a life long resident of Dodge County, Wisconsin. He has been an avid waterfowler for the past 35 years. He has vast knowledge of the Horicon Marsh where he volunteers for the Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Is a Member of Horicon Marsh Bird club for the past 12 years and current President. Jeff was a member of 2007-search team for Ivory Billed Woodpecker in Arkansas..
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Marty Evanson
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Marty has been interested in bird watching since the early 1980’s. He has participated in various bird surveys such as the Christmas bird counts, breeding bird surveys throughout Wisconsin since the early 90’s. He participated in the Wisconsin bird atlas project. He has led numerous bird hikes for youth groups, co-lead bird walks for the Friends of the Nature Lakeshore Preserve (Picnic Point) and led bird trips for the Madison Audubon Society. Marty being a very active birder has accumulated a Wisconsin life list of over 315 bird species.
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Erin Railsback
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Erin works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Visitor Services Specialist at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. She is responsible for the environmental education, interpretive, and volunteer programs at the refuge - programs that provide opportunities for numerous youth, visitors, and volunteers to learn about and connect with the Horicon Marsh.
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Wendy Woyczik
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Wendy is the Wildlife Biologist at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and has been at Horicon for the last four years. Previous to working at Horicon, she was a biotech with the Leopold Wetland Management District for three years. Some of her duties include monitoring and adjusting water levels and conducting wildlife and vegetation surveys
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Bill Volkert
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Bill has been the wildlife educator and naturalist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at Horicon Marsh since 1984. Over the years he has conducted more than 3,400 education programs for 195,000 people through the wildlife education program. Bill is also a federally licensed master bird bander and has captured more than 9,000 birds over the past 27 years. In addition to his work at Horicon Marsh, he has also worked in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia and Mongolia and helped to develop a national bird conservation education plan for Nicaragua. In his spare time, Bill enjoys exploring remote lands and learning about the birds of the world and in his travels has seen over 2,100 species of birds.
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Mike McDowell
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Mike is an accomplished birder and photographer who gives talks on birding and is a field trip leader for Madison Audubon Society. He also contributes photos to various wildlife calendars and tourism guides, as well to the Wisconsin State Journal's Outdoors page.
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Barbara Harvey
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Barbara has been a Licensed Bird rehabilitator who has specialized in Raptors for over 17 years. She is an active speaker and educator with her focus being the life cycle and protection of all birds of prey. She has given programs and talks to schools, groups and events and is one of the most sought after raptor speakers in this part of Wisconsin. Barbara has left a lasting impression on 1000’s of school age children and adults who are in some way carrying on her goal of raptor and environmental protection.
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Lawrence Vine
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Lawrence worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a Wildlife Research Technician at Horicon Marsh since 1975. He was the Master Bird Bander for the DNR for five years at the time of his retirement. In 1984 he founded & designed Marsh Haven Nature Center with the help of numerous volunteers.
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Holly Bartholmai
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Holly became interested in birding when she and Jack moved to 22 acres of varied habitat in rural Beaver Dam a place they call Hickory Springs - and began feeding the birds in their yard. She has assisted Jack in monitoring their nest box trails. They are avid backyard birders with a list of 170 some species of birds that have visited their Hickory Springs home over the years.
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Brad Webb
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Brad started birding several years ago and it quickly became a passion. He is a founding member and tour leader of a new group scheduling bird walks in Dodge and Jefferson County. Brad enjoys introducing new members to the pleasures of birding and sharing birding moments with experienced birders as well. A member of the Horicon Marsh Bird Club, he is often found somewhere on the marsh checking out residents and migrants alike.
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Tom Schaefer
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Tom has been a Field Trip Leader for the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and was involved in updating the Pike Lake State Park checklist in 2008. An active birder for over 30 years, Tom is also a 10-year veteran Bluebirder, with over 60 nest boxes and has a backyard bird list of over 190.
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Noel J. Cutright
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Noel received his BA from Miami University (Ohio) in botany, MS from Cornell University in plant pathology, and PhD from Cornell University in wildlife science in 1973.
He is a Past-President and current Historian of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and Founder of the Riveredge Bird Club. Active with many bird-related and conservation organizations.
Noel completed a breeding bird marathon, the Quad 30 Campaign www.quad30campaign.org) in 2004. Served as Senior Editor for the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin that went on sale in May 2006.
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Gary Turk
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Gary has pursued birding throughout the Midwest since childhood. He has compiled a world life list of over 1000 species, and has kept a record of first spring migrants in Wisconsin for over 40 years. He has taught and guided individuals as well as school and Boy Scout groups. Over the past 20 years he has been active in several bird surveys in Wisconsin, and participated in the Wisconsin Breeding Bird
Atlas. He has birded in most of the 48 states plus Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Morocco, Costa Rico and Canada. He is currently retired and tutors in the Sun Prairie school system.
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Bettie Harriman
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Bettie Harriman is currently the Co-Editor with her husband Neil of the WSO journal, The Passenger Pigeon. She has been President of WSO and a Publicity chair for them. She served 9 years on the Board of Directors of the American Birding Association, and was the only female to serve as chair of that board. She is a member of the Oshkosh Bird Club and has held numerous positions of leadership for that club.
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Liz Herzmann
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Liz Herzmann is a naturalist for the Department of Natural Resources at the Horicon Marsh International Education Center. She is responsible for the educational programming and special events held at the Education Center. These programs allow people of all ages to experience the wildlife and natural resources of Horicon Marsh. Previous to working at the Education Center, Liz worked for Northern Illinois University teaching outdoor education at a field campus to 4th-8th grade students.
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