Wisconsin Fat Bird Week Crowns a Winner

The public has chosen their favorite of 8 “chonky” contestants during an effort to raise awareness about the plight of Wisconsin’s native birds

The people have spoken—”Jiggly Junco” has flown its way to victory in the popular Wisconsin Fat Bird Week competition this year.

Each day from May 8-15, the public voted for their favorite of two particularly rotund native Wisconsin birds in a March Madness-style bracket hosted by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin and SOS Save Our Songbirds.

Jiggly Junco sacked Wood Duck with a Dad Bod in the exciting final matchup. The impressively large Junco received 59% of votes cast in the final round, and his opponent waddled away with 41%.

The purpose of Fat Bird Week is to turn the joy of looking at photos of “fat” birds into awareness about the plight of Wisconsin’s native bird population—and how the public can help keep them fat and healthy.

Lisa Gaumnitz from SOS Save Our Songbirds says, “We can all help birds around our home reach champion weight by planting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers. These plants provide more high-fat foods for birds: more seeds, berries, and insects.”

Throughout the contest, the organizers shared info and tips about how people can plant native plants. The public can also treat their windows to help prevent birds from colliding with them, choose bird-friendly coffee, and participate in the Great Wisconsin Birdathon.

“It can be easy to become overwhelmed and apathetic when you hear about loss of wildlife habitat, invasive species, etc.” said Shelly Torkelson from the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin. “But Wisconsin Fat Bird Week tries to inspire action through fun and friendly competition.”

The other contestants in this year’s Wisconsin Fat Bird Week bracket were:

• Massive Meadowlark (eliminated in Round 1)
• Bluebird Couple Who Let Themselves Go (eliminated in Round 2)
• Whoppin’ Wigeon (eliminated in Round 3)
• Tubby Tree Swallow (eliminated in Round 4)
• Chungus Cardinal (eliminated in Round 5)
• Ginormous Goldfinch (eliminated in Round 6)

The winning photo of a rotund dark-eyed junco, taken by Eric Preston, inspired a lot of commentary on social media. As commentor @dmint96 put it, “It looks like he is wearing a smaller, inferior bird’s wing as a disguise or perhaps a Halloween costume. He is about to burst.” Another commenter, @chelaverse, said, “That’s a lot of junc in the trunk.”

Helping Wisconsin’s Fat Birds

Ninety-six percent of North America’s land-based birds feed insects to their young. Native plants—those naturally occurring in Wisconsin before European settlement—provide far more insects than nonnative trees, shrubs and flowers common in our yards. Adding a few native plants to your yard (or for apartment-dwellers, to the planters on your balcony) can help expand the menu for native birds.

Contest organizers say that people can help our state’s native birds by:

• planting native species of plants
• preventing birds from striking windows
• buying bird-friendly coffee
• participating in the annual Great Wisconsin Birdathon

Fat Bird Week takes a page from, and has the blessing of, organizers of Fat Bear Week, which features bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska competing in an online tournament as the bears bulk up for winter hibernation. While the Alaskan bears gorge on salmon before a long winter’s nap, Wisconsin’s migratory birds eat fat-rich foods to fuel their dangerous, physically taxing flights.

Congratulations to Jiggly Junco! To see all the chunky contestants, visit WisConservation.org. For more information about how to help native birds in Wisconsin, visit SOSSaveOurSongbirds.org.