Bill Mueller specializes in avian studies related to wind power development, conservation planning, habitat assessments, endangered species surveys, and natural resource management projects. 

Mr. Mueller is actively involved with a number of ornithological groups around the state including the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative (WBCI), where he was former Chair of WBCI’s Issues Committee and a current member of the Issues and Outreach Committees. He is the current Conservation Chair of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, and a member of its Board of Directors. He was a member of the State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan Advisory Team.

Mr. Mueller is Project Coordinator for MCAMMP, the Milwaukee County Avian Migration Monitoring Partnership, a group of ten scientists and over 150 volunteers, operating in partnership with faculty and staff from Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center, the Wisconsin DNR – Bureau of Endangered Resources, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Hawai’i, and the University of Western Ontario. MCAMMP assesses habitat quality for migratory birds and changes in habitats within an urban matrix in Milwaukee County, WI.  To address this overall objective MCAMMP:  1) assesses habitat use and quality in riparian and upland sites; 2) studies habitat use by migratory species; and 3) trains citizen-scientists to monitor birds in Milwaukee, and work in conjunction with scientists in addressing urban ecology questions. 

Mr. Mueller coauthored the species accounts for Important Bird Areas of Wisconsin: Critical Sites for the Conservation and Management of Wisconsin’s Birds, and coauthored many species and wetland habitat accounts as part of the Wisconsin All-Bird Conservation Plan. He has completed numerous point count and transect bird surveys of several types for wind energy and utility clients, raptor and endangered/threatened avian species surveys, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources State Natural Areas Program, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge grassland bird monitoring program, bird surveys for the Federal Breeding Bird Survey, breeding bird surveys at the Cedarburg Bog/UW-Milwaukee Field Station, the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, the Western Great Lakes Owl Monitoring program, and he coordinates the avian transect surveys on the MCAMMP Project. He has experience with the Incidental Take Authorization process. He coordinates the Christmas Bird Count for Kewaunee County, WI.>

Mr. Mueller did his graduate research on the biogeography and recent decline of the Red-headed Woodpecker, and participates in several ongoing research projects focusing on migratory and wintering bird populations in Wisconsin. He authors the annual Annotated Checklist of Wisconsin Birds for the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Mr. Mueller operates a part-time natural history tour business, Land, Water, and Sky Tours.

RESEARCH GRANTS

Wisconsin Society for Ornithology Scholarships, 1999 and 2000.
Zoological Society of Milwaukee County - Graduate Research Grant in Wildlife Conservation; 2000.
Citizen-based Monitoring Partnership Program Grant, WDNR, 2006 and 2007. (MCAMMP).
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Grant, USFWS, 2006 (MCAMMP).
Wisconsin Society for Ornithology Grants 2006 and 2007 (MCAMMP).

EDUCATION

M.S. Geography, (Environmental Studies emphasis) - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
B.A. Biological Aspects of Conservation - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Authored site accounts for the recently-published book Important Bird Areas of Wisconsin: Critical Sites for the Conservation and Management of Wisconsin’s Birds. 2007. Y. Steele, editor -
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Issues Papers” of the Issues Committee of the Wisconsin Bird Conversation Initiative; all online at http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/IssuesPapers.htm
“Birds of Wisconsin – An Annotated Checklist”. 2008. by William P. Mueller. Wisconsin Society for Ornithology website, online at http://www.uwgb.edu/birds/wso/WILIST.PDF
“Threshold of Pane”, by William Mueller and Scott Diehl, in Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, April 2006. Volume 30, No. 2, pp. 17-19. Also online at http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2006/apr06/pane.htm
“Return of the Loud Redheads”, by Richard King and William Mueller, in Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine. August 2005. Volume 29, No. 4, pp. 14-17. Also online at http://www.wnrmag.com/stories/2005/aug05/red.htm
Species accounts: the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources publishes an online set of species accounts for Wisconsin’s birds as part of the Wisconsin All-Bird Conservation Plan. Each species account contains sections on status, monitoring and population information, life history, habitat selection, habitat availability, population concerns, management, research needs, information sources, and literature cited. Species accounts prepared by WPM as part of this project are available at: http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/plan/species/list.htm  - Examples of the accounts at this link are: Spruce Grouse,
Red-headed Woodpecker, Short-eared Owl, and Magnolia Warbler
Avian Influenza Fact Sheet, by William P. Mueller. 2006. Online at the WBCI website, at http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/avianflu.htm
“Birds of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin – 1840s to the Present: Historical and Present-day Ornithology and Management”, by William P. Mueller and John H. Idzikowski. The Passenger Pigeon, Journal of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, Vol. 66, No. 4, Winter 2004, pp.341-350.
“Seasonal Timing of Highway Mortality of Birds in Wisconsin – 1999”, by William P. Mueller. The Passenger Pigeon, Journal of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology; Vol. 65, No. 3, Fall 2003, pp. 139-147.
“The Population Decline of the Red-headed Woodpecker in Wisconsin and Illinois”, by William P. Mueller. Meadowlark: A Journal of Illinois Birds Vol. 11, No. 4, 2002, pp. 130-132.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Conservation Chair of Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
Former Chair and current member of Issues Committee of Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative
Project Coordinator of MCAMMP, the Milwaukee County Avian Migration Monitoring Partnership
Member of State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan Advisory Team
Organized statewide avian road mortality study in Wisconsin in 1999, with 90 cooperators
in 64 of 72 Wisconsin counties.

TECHNICAL TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION

Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory Certification

PRESENTATIONS

Changes in Population, Distribution, and Abundance of Wisconsin Birds, Urban Ecology Center, January 13, 2009, and UW-Milwaukee Conservation and Environmental Studies Program guest lecture, February 25, 2009.
Early Winter Bird Populations in Wisconsin: Lake Park Friends, December 7, 2008.
The MCAMMP Project: Citizens Behind the Science; presented as part of the Citizen Science Symposium at the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, August 9, 2008.
The MCAMMP Project – Background and Preliminary Results, Wisconsin   Society for Ornithology Annual Convention, May 29, 2008.
Guest lecturer, “The Red-headed Woodpecker: Conservation Lessons from Avian Research”. Whooping Crane Festival, Necedah, WI. September 15, 2007.
Guest lecturer, “Early Winter Birds in Wisconsin.” B. F. Goss Bird Club, Waukesha, WI. Jan. 15, 2006.
Presenter, Citizen-based Monitoring Conference, Manitowish Waters, WI, October 21, 2005. “Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative: Citizen Science: Past, Present, and Future Efforts in Wisconsin”. (Written by Bill Mueller and Andy Paulios).

CAREER HISTORY

Natural Resources Consulting, Inc., Avian Ecologist/Environmental Scientist
Milwaukee County Avian Migration Monitoring Partnership (MCAMMP), Project Coordinator
Wisconsin Important Bird Areas Program, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Contract Writer
Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative All-bird Plan, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Contract Writer
Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Graduate Teaching Assistantship